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”.

The recording, which was made in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1906 by sound engineer Max Hampe, was first released under the Zonophone (X-102810) or Gramophone label (14-12955), and reissued in the USA by Victor (63547-B).

The real name of the singer Giangos Psamatianos, who is written as Psamathianos or Psomathianos on the record labels, was Giannis Kalaitzoglou. Obviously, he came from the Psamathia neighborhood in Constantinople (Istanbul). During the 1920s, he had a gramophone shop there, near the Peran Teke (Kalyviotis 2020: 146).

Based on the findings so far found in historical discography, the song was also recorded two times in America, during the 1920s, with different lyrics and under two titles:

- "Gia magia, magia", Kyria [Mrs.] Koula, New York, 1920 (Panhellenion PAN 8051)
- "Ta magia, magia mou 'kanes", Charilaos Pyrris  – Antonis Sakellariou Orchestra, New York, 1926-1927 (Pharos 434 – PH 819)

The tune, however, can be found in the Jewish (klezmer/Yiddish) repertoire. Specifically, on February 18, 1926, Naftule Brandwein's orchestra recorded in Camden, New Jersey, the instrumental song “Araber tanz” (Victor BVE-34629 – 78658A).

About three years later, in March 1929, the Columbia Greek Orchestra made four instrumental recordings in New York for the Greek market in America, among which is included "Magia mou kanes - Syrto" (Columbia W 206206-2 – 56174F). Despite its name, and judging by the sound, but also by Dick Spottswood's notes (see 1990: 1143), the Jewish musicians Abe Schwartz (Romania 1861 - New York 1963) and Dave Tarras (Teplyk, Ukraine, 1895 or 1898 – New York, February 13, 1989) participated in the orchestra.

Syncretism, which is observed in the musical actualizations of the areas where Greeks lived and recorded, mainly in the area of folk-popular traditions, is monumental. It only takes one to listen to historical discography, which begins in New York, Smyrna (Izmir), Constantinople (Istanbul), Athens and Thessaloniki since 1900. An essential part of this syncretism concerns the Jews, who constitute one of the main conduits in the uniquely diverse cultural heritage of the Greek-speaking world. They borrow and lend, but they also carry more distant traditions from the places where they have previously lived and the places they have traveled to. They are the central interlocutors in the Greek and Ottoman ecumene, together with Turkish-speaking Muslims, Orthodox but also Catholic Greek-speaking and Armenians, Levantine Protestants, Europeans and Americans, and compose a rich musical mosaic which consists of heterogeneous but co-existent palimpsests: a reservoir to which everyone contributes but from which also everyone receives.

The sources show the timeless existence of a Jewish element, at least since the Hellenistic period, in areas that millennia later formed the modern Greek state. After the “Edict of Milan” in 313 AD and the gradual Christianization of the Eastern Empire, the Jewish element found itself in a difficult position. The Jewish populations that have since been established in these lands became known as Romaniote Jews (Rome – Romios). Their historical geographical center of reference was the city of Ioannina, and they speak Greek with various linguistic mixtures. After 1492 and the “Alhambra Decree” by the joint Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, those Jews who did not accept to embrace Christianity were expelled from the Iberian peninsula. They became known as the Sepharadi Jews (or “Sepharadim”), one of the largest Jewish ethno-cultural categorizations (Sepharad in Jewish texts is referred to as the region of present-day Spain). Thessaloniki was one of the main destination points of this displacement, as the ties with the city were older and already close. Apart from the role played by the Greek Jews in the musical developments on the Greek peninsula, there were also important mutual influences between the Greek-speaking Orthodox and the Jews in various other areas where the two communities lived together. As, for example, in Odessa, with the Eastern Ashkenazi Jews, who mainly speak Yiddish, a sui generis Semitic-Slavic language (in Jewish texts, the Kingdom of Ashkenaz, a descendant of Noah, is connected with north-eastern European territories). Their orchestral repertoire is often called klezmer. In other words, apart from the geographical limits of the modern Greek state, the cultural conversations between the Greek Orthodox and the Jews also concern other parts of the world, both in Europe and America, where they met as immigrants.

In the USA “national” repertoires live a new, parallel life. This situation is not static and, to a large extent, is molded by discography, which attends to and “tunes” the overlapping relationships that have already developed in the “Old World”. Repertoires communicate with each other once again; a familiar and already dynamic condition in Europe. The circulation of musics is 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.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis