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.

This recording was made by Kostas Doussas, probably in Chicago, in May 1931. Both its tune and style bring to the surface issues that have not been discussed so far in the debate surrounding Greek-speaking urban popular song; above all, the issue of the parallel discography in America, where Greek musical activity has been extremely rich, with recordings that may reach (if not even exceed) 10,000 in total. The analysis of these recordings leads us to rethink the discourse expressed in recent decades about Greek-speaking urban popular music, mainly for two reasons: on the one hand, the examination so far of the music that came from Greek-speaking communities outside the Greek state has not dealt with the sound that these left in discography. On the other hand, discography's urban popular sound was almost exclusively associated with Athens. Analyzing American discography, questions arise regarding "the policies of the labels, the parallel discography of the laiko genre outside the country and the mainstream sound. What do the protagonists seek to do in contrast to what they can actually do? Which ears are they addressed to each time and in which market environment? What identity do they want to give to their product and how this identity is transformed, depending on the context?" (Ordoulidis, 2021: 419). Such questions take on other dimensions when the musical tunes that are reshaped concern "flagships" of the laiko, like Doussas’ "Eche geia Panagia", which for years has become an ideological symbol. What happens when such "flagships" emerge in various forms, depending on the context in which they are found?

Could any of the performances in the discography be considered more authentic than the others? "More correctly performed, based on tradition? Is there a final text of the work? Ultimately, is it the same work? [...] Although the record would obviously be aimed mainly at Greek immigrants, could someone consider that the New York market, as a framework, helps him not to follow the demands of the mainland market and to simply follow his artistic taste? [...] Can we apply a kind of 'laikometer' with which to measure the aesthetic differences between performances?" (Ordoulidis, 2021: 420).

Two distinct features of Doussas’ cover concern the following: while the label on the record says "chasapiko", he accompanies himself by playing a bolero. Furthermore, while the modal analysis of the tune's melody would result in the Hitzaz scale, the chord progression indicates the Major scale.

In addition to the present recording, the tune is found in two other instances in Greek historical discography: the song "To salepaki" was recorded in 1926 in the USA by Theodoros Mytilinios (Pharos PH-828 – VB-444, with Charilaos Piperakis on the lyre and Markos Melkon on the oud), and "Eche geia Panagia" was recorded on December 22, 1928, probably in Constantinople, by Kyria Pipina (Homocord H-C 88 T – G. 4-32073).

The recording of “Kasapsko”, made in 1948-1949, in the USA, by the Elia E. Kalkoff Orchestra, for Elinden Records (109), is of particular interest. The clarinetist Elia E. Kalkoff or Elo Calcoff was born in the village of Visheny (today Vyssinia or Vyssinea of the Municipality of Kastoria, in Greece), in 1891, and died in 1962 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the USA (see here). In addition, on the website Библиотека “Струмски”, where 14 recordings of Kalkoff's orchestra are posted, it is mentioned that he was a member of the MPO (Macedonian Patriotic Organization). For more about Kalkoff see here.

in 2011, the band The Inheritance from Austin, Texas, released the album "Kalimera". This album includes the instrumental "Ehe geia Panagia", which is based on the musical tune in question.