At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The networks in which the Greek-speaking musics participate, constantly conversing with their co-tenants, are magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.

Naturally, in the large urban centers of the Ottoman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea, the “conversations” of the Greek-speakers with their Turkish-speaking Muslim “co-tenants”, the Catholic Greek-speakers, the Armenians, the Sepharadi and Ashkenazi Jews, the Levantine Protestants, and the Europeans and the Americans, were more than intense. Very often, the scope of this network extends to the Balkans, to Eastern and even to a part of Central Europe. Especially regarding relations between Orthodox and Muslims, the relevant evidence demonstrates the musical exchanges between them and elucidate an ecumene where everyone contributed to the great musical “melting-pot”, and where everyone may draw from it, as well as redeposit it, in a new form, with a reformulated text and its meaning, with sometimes clear and sometimes blurred references to its pre-text, until someone else pulls it out again, through the “melting-pot”, so that it becomes clear that there is no end in this recreational and dynamic process where fluidity prevails. A case that comes from such repertoires is the song “Se zografisa Vlacha”.

This recording, which was made in 1936 in Athens by Roza Eskenazy, is a reissue in the USA of His Master's Voice record 0GA-429 – AO 2359. It was also reissued in the USA by Orthophonic (S-739-B). According to the label on the record, the song is attributed to Lampros Savvaidis.

In Greek historical discography the tune was also recorded in Turkish on June 2, 1960, in Athens, by Stelios Kazantzidis, under the title «Oglan oglan kalk gidelim» (Columbia CG-4193 – DG-7589).

We found the following recordings made by Armenian artists in the USA in the Turkish-speaking repertoire:

– "Oglan oglan" (Oğlan oğlan), Marko Melkon Alemsherian, New York, February 15, 1937 (Orthophonic BS-04849 – S-2831 and RCA-Victor 26-2053)
– "Oglan oglan" (Oğlan oğlan), Ashot Yergat, New York, around 1940 (Panhellenic P. 151 B)
– "Oglan oglan" (Oğlan oğlan), Marko Melkon Alemsherian, New York, 1940s (Balkan No. 4003-A and Me-Re 4003-A
– "Oglan oglan", Arziv orchestra, with Krikor "George" Kalayjian (vocals and oud), Bernard Koundourajian (violin), M. Kalemkerian (fingan) and Krikor "Tommy" Nersesian (dumbeg), Philadelphia, 1948 (Arziv Record 66 A – Κ 31).

It seems that this tune also passed into the repertoire of Cyprus, titled "T' Ai Filippou" (Saint Philippe's).

America, where this recording re-released, was a microcosm of the globe: a "successful Babel". Naturally, a unique syncretism also dominated in the field of music. The birth, on the other hand, of discography, built a condition that favored debates and osmosis between the innumerable ethno-cultural groups that made up the population. These processes led to the re-imagining, the update and the renewal of old musical trends arriving in the United States and, at the same time, to their re-exportation to the "old worlds", thus setting up a uniquely multi-layered network. "National" repertoires live a new, parallel life, largely molded by discography, which attended to and "tuned" the overlapping relationships that had already developed in the "Old World". Repertoires communicated with each other once again; a familiar and already dynamic condition in Europe. The circulation of music was already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation. This time, the network is adjusted in a programmatic manner, under new terms and via new paths.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis