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 network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is 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”.

One of these fascinating networks concerns the Spanish world, which, through a variety of paths, meets the Greek one. A key chapter in this influence was the unparalleled international success achieved by a Spanish estudiantina in 1878 in Paris. Following its success, the band toured countless locations around the world. According to the sources, on February 28, 1886, the Spanish estudiantina gave a concert in Constantinople (Istanbul) and on April 26 and 29, 1886, in Athens (for the first Greek estudiantina, see Ordoulidis, 2021a: 88–100 and Ordoulidis, 2021b). The Spanish students mainstream the culture of semi-professional music bands, the culture of the banduria, the mandolin, the guitar, the “tuna”, that is, the street serenades, and the habanera. The latter follows a path that starts from the Afro-Cuban repertoires and ends up being appropriated by Greek musicians, finding its place even in the form of the manes (see, for example, the Smyrneiko minore (Smyrnaean minor), Gramophone 12574b). The network of the theater is a key environment for the circulation of music; and the relationship between the two (music-theater) is more than dynamic. The appropriation by Greek musicians is twofold: on the one hand are the lyrics, which are now in Greek (often, in fact, they have nothing to do with the original ones), and, on the other hand, the performance practices: different instrumentation, different singing style, often differences in melodic and rhythmic forms and in the harmonies. Greek musicians adapt what they hear to their own condition, based on their own capabilities. In 1894, when the play of the then most popular zarzuela “La Gran Vía” was played for the first time, a new path that led to the appearance of the Athenian revue opened. Spanish songs started being adapted into Greek since then. These songs arrived at the Greek-speaking world either directly or indirectly, through other repertoire networks. In any case, 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 was not only embedded in this context, but played a key role in its transformation. In various cases, often due to the great international success of the songs, the resulting network is extremely complex, and contains recordings in countless places, languages and aesthetical frameworks. Also sometimes, we stumbled upon pre-existing songs which, after being appropriated and re-arranged, obtain a new form in a different place than the one where their creators were born to and, by living a second life, they reach third places en masse where they spark a new cycle of creation. Such cases demonstrate the complexity regarding the issues of ownership of works, but also the problem of applying national signs to musical creations. One such case is the song "Matsis".

This is a Greek adaptation of the song "La Mattchiche" or "Polo". For the history, paternity and recordings of the song see here.

According to the website http://www.dutempsdescerisesauxfeuillesmortes.net the song was composed by Pedro Badia with lyrics by Léo Lelièvre and Paul Briollet, and arranged by Charles Borel-Clerc.

In 1905, the pioneer director Alice Guy-Blaché directed for the Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont Phonoscène entitled "La Mattchiche" (n° 155) in which Felix Mayol performs the song on stage (see here).

Regarding the paternity of the song, in the Sunday Illustrated Review Alitheia (December 2, 1907, p. 7) an article was published entitled "Maxixe or the Polo" signed by an author nicknamed "Mar-ch" who, citing reports from the French newspaper Liberté that originally came from the Spanish newspaper ABC, states that:

"The original aria came from a chorus [?] of the Spanish operetta (zarzuela in Spanish) "The Innocents" (Los inocentes) [text by José López Silva and Sinesio Delgado, music by Ramón Estellés, premiered on December 28, 1895 at the Apolo Theater in Madrid] presented in 1895 at the Apolo Theater in Madrid - hence the name of this march, Polo - and composed by the conductor Estellés, conductor of the orchestra at the same theater. The play was moderately successful and did not exceed one hundred shows.

The music of the "Innocents" was quickly forgotten. But the famous reformist Fregoli [Leopoldo Fregoli] [...] who was then on an art tour in Madrid, was thrilled by the liveliness of this small piece and included it in his repertoire. In Italy, the conductor Yacopeti [Ugo Jacopetti] prepared it for an orchestra, orchestrated it, as our conductors would say, and then played it almost everywhere, in Austria, in Germany, until a French musician, Borrell-Clerc, combining it with motifs from another Spanish paso ntopio [pasodoble], or Giralda, made out of those the now world famous aria of Maxixe, this North American dance, imitation of a local popular dance.

In the meantime, Estellés and Jacopetti were dead and their families, who were living almost in misery, each claimed on their own behalf the proceeds from Maxixe’s rights. A trial was held, but, unfortunately for Estellés’ heirs, the latter's original operetta had never been handwritten or printed, so it was naturally impossible to further support their claims”.

According to Thodoros Chatzipantazis and Lila Maraka (see 1977: 469–470), lyrics for "To tragoudi tou Koutsavaki" from the second act of the revue "Kinimatografos 1908" (text by Polyvios Dimitrakopoulos and music by Nikolaos Kokkinos) were adapted to the melody of the song. The revue premiered on June 24, 1908 at the Syntagma Theater by the Nika troupe starring Rozalia Nika, Dim. Chrysomallis, Mich. Iakovidis, Giannis Papaioannou and others. According to the above source (see 1977: 170: note 1): "The oldest appearance of a koutsavakis on the stage of a revue took place in "Ypaithries Athines" [1894] by Laskaris and Kapetanakis, and was repeated in the revue "Kinimatografos 1908", the year in which, according to the oral tradition of the guild of puppeteers, Giannis Moros created the character Stavrakas the koutsavakis on stage".

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis