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 relevant evidence demonstrates the musical exchanges between the Balkan repertoires 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. One such case is “I Tasoula”.

The recording, a reissue in the United States from the record Concert Record Gramophone 4-14503, took place in Constantinople (Istanbul) on September 20, 1912, by Estudiantina Zounarakis.

In the Greek historical discography, two additional recordings can be found under the title “Kato stin Agia Marina”. The first was recorded in Athens in 1930 by Ilias Litos on clarinet and Lazaros Roubas on laouto (“Kato stin Agia Marina – Choros Ipeirou” [Dance from Epirus], Pathé X-80217 – 70300). The second was recorded in 1957 by Stefanos Paschalis, as his own composition, and Popular Orchestra with Filippos Rountas on clarinet (“Kato stin Agia Marina – Syrtos”, Parlophone Go 5483 – B 74429-II).

The tune also appears in Albanian discography. In the 1930s, the group of Albanian clarinetist Selim Efendi, also known as Selim Asllan Tare, Selim Leskoviku, or Selim Stambolli, a member of the  Leskoviku musical family from the town of Leskovik in southern Albania, recorded probably in Constantinople the instrumental song “Kato stin aya marina” (Polydor 1183 BN – 51112).

From the findings in discography, it is clear that the tune is still active, producing new performances and arrangements. For example:

– “Kato stin Agia Marina”, Savvas Siatras with Stavros Kapsalis on clarinet (Athens, 1979, LP “Aide Maro sto pigadi”, Kyklades LPKG 68)
– “Kato stin Agia Marina”, Antonis Kyritsis with Petro-Loukas Chalkias on clarinet (Athens, 2000, CD “Ta Ipeirotika”, General Music GM 5010)
– “Kato stin Agia Marina”, an adaptation by Kostika Çollaku, born in Korçë, featuring Ilektra Karali on vocals and flute, 2023.