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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 "Seni geordukje" (Seni gördükçe in Turkish, As long as I see you).
This is a re-issue from the record Columbia USA E-4249, which was recorded in November 1917 in New York by the violinist and singer Kemany Minas Effendi, the Armenian Minas Chaghatzbanian (for more information, see here). According to the Turkish website https://divanmakam.com (see here), it is a composition by Gypsy violinist Salih Efendi (Kemani-Bülbüli) with lyrics by Armenian [Hanende Hadji] Karabet Efendi. The piano score was published by the Christidis publications in Constantinople (Istanbul) in the early decades of the 20th century (see here).
The song, however, appears earlier in Turkish discography. It was recorded in Constantinople by the Sephardic Haim [Behar Menahem] Effendi (see here and here) under the title "Seni gördükçe" (Odeon Cx 1871 mz – X 54503 and Fabrication Ottomane 119) in June 1908. On February 27, 1909, it was recorded by Ibrahim Effendi under the title "Seni gördükçe titriyor yüreðim" [Seni gördükçe titriyor yüreğim, Constantinople (Istanbul), Gramophone 12269b – 6-12232 and reissue Victor 63072] and a few days later, on March 8, 1909, by Gulistan Hanim and Arab Mehmed on the zurna under the title "Séni ghiardukdjé titréyor ghuréim" [Seni gördükçe titriyor yüreğim, Constantinople (Istanbul), Gramophone 12423b – 6-12385 and reissue Victor 63058].
On the labels of the above records the song is characterized as "kanto". In other words, it is considered part of the repertoire of the kantolar, a term that seems to have been first used by Turkish-speaking Muslims mainly in large urban centers and especially in Constantinople (Istanbul) since the time when Italian troupes performed there. Although initially the kantolar were associated only with theatrical music, they soon became autonomous, when the term "kanto" (singular form of kantolar) came to describe any popular and light secular singing forms (see Pennanen, 2004: 9, O'Connel, 2006: 276, Beşiroğlu & Girgin, 2018: 49).
The tune can also be found in the Armenian repertoire. Manuel J. Tolegian, on the harmonica, recorded in the 1940s in Los Angeles the song "Seni Gordookja" [Seni gördükçe] (Electro-Vox 1541).
In Greek historical discography, the tune was recorded twice in Athens, in 1934, under the title "Feretzes", as a composition by Rosa Eskenazy: on January 8, 1934 by Rita Abatzi (His Master's Voice OT 1418-2 – AO 2091 and reissue Orthophonic S-634-A) and by Rosa Eskenazy for Odeon (Odeon Go 1957 – GA 1695 / A 190510 a).
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
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 "Seni geordukje" (Seni gördükçe in Turkish, As long as I see you).
This is a re-issue from the record Columbia USA E-4249, which was recorded in November 1917 in New York by the violinist and singer Kemany Minas Effendi, the Armenian Minas Chaghatzbanian (for more information, see here). According to the Turkish website https://divanmakam.com (see here), it is a composition by Gypsy violinist Salih Efendi (Kemani-Bülbüli) with lyrics by Armenian [Hanende Hadji] Karabet Efendi. The piano score was published by the Christidis publications in Constantinople (Istanbul) in the early decades of the 20th century (see here).
The song, however, appears earlier in Turkish discography. It was recorded in Constantinople by the Sephardic Haim [Behar Menahem] Effendi (see here and here) under the title "Seni gördükçe" (Odeon Cx 1871 mz – X 54503 and Fabrication Ottomane 119) in June 1908. On February 27, 1909, it was recorded by Ibrahim Effendi under the title "Seni gördükçe titriyor yüreðim" [Seni gördükçe titriyor yüreğim, Constantinople (Istanbul), Gramophone 12269b – 6-12232 and reissue Victor 63072] and a few days later, on March 8, 1909, by Gulistan Hanim and Arab Mehmed on the zurna under the title "Séni ghiardukdjé titréyor ghuréim" [Seni gördükçe titriyor yüreğim, Constantinople (Istanbul), Gramophone 12423b – 6-12385 and reissue Victor 63058].
On the labels of the above records the song is characterized as "kanto". In other words, it is considered part of the repertoire of the kantolar, a term that seems to have been first used by Turkish-speaking Muslims mainly in large urban centers and especially in Constantinople (Istanbul) since the time when Italian troupes performed there. Although initially the kantolar were associated only with theatrical music, they soon became autonomous, when the term "kanto" (singular form of kantolar) came to describe any popular and light secular singing forms (see Pennanen, 2004: 9, O'Connel, 2006: 276, Beşiroğlu & Girgin, 2018: 49).
The tune can also be found in the Armenian repertoire. Manuel J. Tolegian, on the harmonica, recorded in the 1940s in Los Angeles the song "Seni Gordookja" [Seni gördükçe] (Electro-Vox 1541).
In Greek historical discography, the tune was recorded twice in Athens, in 1934, under the title "Feretzes", as a composition by Rosa Eskenazy: on January 8, 1934 by Rita Abatzi (His Master's Voice OT 1418-2 – AO 2091 and reissue Orthophonic S-634-A) and by Rosa Eskenazy for Odeon (Odeon Go 1957 – GA 1695 / A 190510 a).
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
