At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe was living in peace and prosperity. The "Belle Époque" was an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that were created and which evolved funneled both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It was within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction was invented. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favored polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also releases in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolved dynamically and anisotropically formed 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 had already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between "national" repertoires. Within these networks, already existing tendencies and aesthetic currents are often created or integrated, especially during the period when the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction takes on commercial, mass and universal dimensions. A typical example is exoticism, as manifested in its various representations.

It has been found in the European vocabulary since the end of the 16th century, although its widespread prevalence as a trend was associated with the colonial imperialism of the 19th century (Netto, 2015: 13). Since then, the term has incorporated various levels of reading and interpretating anything “Other”. Its meaning concerns, on the one hand, the characteristics of that which is outside the sphere of identity and, on the other hand, the attraction exerted by that which has such characteristics. The widespread acceptance of the phenomenon of exoticism is obvious: the multidimensional linguistic, musical and visual wealth accumulated around and within exoticism created a common stock of knowledge that perpetually feeds the collective and individual imaginary.

Focusing on the modern Greek communities, we find very early established traces of exoticism in poetry and literature, which are quickly transferred to the theater, enriched in terms of their visual and dramatic texture. The explosion of popular forms of spectacle and mass entertainment in the 20th century will radiate their reach. In Greece, among all artistic fields, the most persistent and most obvious presence of exoticism is found in singing. In the era of discography, the advance of exoticism is irresistible and leaves a very strong imprint. However much it seems to be defined by the principle of "locality", exoticism is a global aesthetic constant, a "common" language of the new age strongly marked by modernism and inscribed in a complex and lengthy process of osmosis among "national" musicians, which produces repertoires with "ecumenical" or global characteristics.

The locations represented in exoticism, that is, the East, Latin America, Spain, Hawaii, are par excellence imaginary, disconnected from the real world. They are revealed like a theatrical stage, with alternating scenes, where fantasies are dramatized, overwhelm the senses and release intense emotions, offering the "visitor" an ideal experience, outside the limitations of the conventional world: an eternal feast, pleasures, adventure.

At the center of the Eastern stage (which is always represented as Islamic) stands the palace, synonymous with pleasures and opulence, within which every imaginable intemperance is put into practice. Violent and despotic pashas, maharajas and sheikhs enjoy lavishness while indulging in proverbial laziness. The figure that dominates the ethnoscape of the East is certainly the female, an object of desire. Through a series of roles, almost exclusively leading ones, women embody the mysticism, eroticism and sensuality of the imaginary East. The ultimate symbol of lust, a trademark of the East, is none other than the harem (Lewis, 2004: 12-52). The slavery of the female body contributes decisively to the ethnoscape of the East, bringing the narrator face to face with transcendental acts of heroism. In the East, calendar time is polarized, with the atmosphere almost always described as nocturnal. Darkness is a powerful symbol of escalating emotional tension, as it is synonymous with a metaphysical fog.

The song "Ta Chanoumakia" (Harem girls) comes from the finale of the first act of the revue "Panorama tou 1920" (Panorama of 1920) written and lyrics by Timos Moraitinis and music by Giannis Oikonomakos, which premiered on June 12, 1920 at the Kyvelis Theater by the Fyrst troupe.

The song is not a typical representation of the Other, but uses elements of exotic otherness as a counterpoint to the Self, addressing a major national issue that preoccupied public opinion in the early 1920s, the Greco-Turkish War, the so-called Asia Minor Campaign (May 1919-October 1922). It is an expression of "national integration" but also of the cultural direction dictated by the Megali Idea (Great Idea).

As seen in the published commercial musical score (see here), the song is a duet between Smyrna (Izmir) and Thrace. The practice of personifying regions, states, even ideas or values, seems to be popular in the revues of the time, as one can see, for example, in the "Iroika Panathinaia tou 1923" (Heroic Panathenaic Games of 1923), where among the characters of the play the following can be found: England, Germany, Fire of War, Eirini (Peace) and Niki (Victory), interpreted by the actresses Elli Myro, Aliki Papachristou, F. Loui, Ch. Myrat and Α. Peridou respectively (see here).

Smyrni (Smyrna) and Thraki (Thrace) are initially presented as Turkish Girls, which are described with implied but clear terms of exoticism (enchanting dreams, golden palaces). In the Turkish Girl, the Ottoman Empire and the attempt to establish a neo-Turkish "national" self are synecdochically recalled. They are presented as alluring (I like being seduced, Come with me inside golden palaces, Like a temptress witch I’ve broken many hearts), while the fact that their claim led to a war is also commented on (They bewitch my eyes, they make me crazy and the world becomes a killer).

In the fourth couplet, the "Greekness" of the regions claiming freedom is highlighted (I’m not Turkish and I unjustly pierced you, I’ll tell you who with a loose tune). In the end, Smyrni and Thraki renounce being Turkish, the Greek "national" element is emphasized (blue costumes, dew from Attica) and the expectation of a happy end to the war is expressed (With laughter and songs and joy, with two free wings, and now life and feasting). However, this war conflict would end with the destruction of Smyrna, the displacement of nearly 1.5 million Greek-Orthodox people and the death of many tens of thousands.

Political satire has always been a goal of the revue. But from the first decade of the 20th century and in the midst of the National Schism, numbers and songs with a nationalist-patriotic character began to increase in number (Georgakaki, 2013: 30-32): Theofrastos Sakellaridis writes the song "Skaouts Mpoy (Ethnofrouroi)" [National guards] for the "Panathinaia tou 1912" (Panathinaia of 1912), evzones and soldiers march in the "Panathinaia tou 1915" (Panathinaia of 1915), the culmination of patriotic fantasy according to Chatzipantazis (1977, 1st volume: 122), the "Iroika Panathinaia tou 1921" (Heroic Panathenaic Games of 1921), closes with "Hagia Sophia which is opened by a Greek general and wakes up the Marble Emperor" (that is, Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor, who became known in later Greek folklore as “the Marble King”, reflecting a popular legend that Constantine had not actually died but had been rescued by an angel and turned into marble, hidden beneath the Golden Gate of Constantinople awaiting a call from God to be restored to life and reconquer both the city and the old empire).

The nationalist outburst of the time would also be reflected in historical discography, as several songs with similar characteristics can be found (see "Eleftheria" and "Smyrniotopoula-Politissa").

Research and text: George Evangelou, Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis