The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My dad passed four years ago at 91 and my mom just passed at 93 years. While going through their home I found a photo album from a trip we took when I was eight years old. It was Christmas break December 1969 and we traveled to central Florida. I remember visiting many of the popular tourist haunts; Wiki Wachee, Sunken Gardens, the Circus Museum, and the Bellm Cars & Music of Yesterday Museum. I had not seen that photo album in many years. Distant memories, yet that trip from 43 years ago held seeds to my interests today.
Being of Greek descent, Tarpon Springs was next to experience. At St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral we viewed the weeping Icon, which had made headlines that December. On another day we saw a Greek band playing a Philoptochos event. Philoptochos is an church organization raising money for various charitable endeavors.
My dad listened to Greek music often. I, being a young American kid, couldn't stand most of it! Today, I enjoy a wider variety of music. A few months ago I saw the following disc on eBay. Prior to bidding I heard a sound clip, liked it enough to bid, and won my first Greek record. The music is a Greek Blues called Rebetiko. I'll add a few more Greek 78s to my collection as I find the ones I like.
LISTEN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udvsbCk-SOA

The musical treasures seen at the Bellm and Circus museums impressed me... but who would have guessed that the guitarist pictured in that band is recognized as the patriarch of Rebetiko... and yes, he too is the performer on my very first Greek 78! His name, George Katsaros.
Synchronicity is awesome.
Performing at 107 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i75-zh8t0W0

Some information about him from his obituary...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 49521.html

James.

Here is my one and only Greek 78, given to me recently and not yet played :

Roaring20s, that's a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it. May I add mine? At the 1964 World's Fair in New York, ten-year-old me bemused my parents by falling in love with Demotic music at the Greek pavilion -- not the least because my ancestry is 100% Polish, and, coming from a small mill town in Connecticut, none of us had heard Greek music before. I insisted that I had to have an LP, and when I got it home I played it and played it and played it. A year or two later, a neighborhood friend and I retrieved a box of 78s from a cubby in back of his mother's couch. He wasn't too impressed with them, but I was off and running. Soon I bought a nice oak Pathé machine at an auction for ten dollars in paper-route money.

Among those records, for no apparent reason, (no one was Greek there, my friend was African-American), was one green-label Columbia disc with a Greek song called As Pan' Na Doun Ta Matia Mou by Marika Papagika. Gosh, I loved that record, but of course lost it many years ago.

Your story called it to mind, and I searched for it -- where else? -- on YouTube, and found it. Here it is -- more synchronicity in action!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3onJsCt ... 2B6BECEC78

Such a lovely, haunting melody. It's part of a playlist of old Greek music that seems to keep auto-playing...I hope you'll enjoy it!

Cody

epigramophone, I did a few searches and found a translation to one side of your disc, Thalassa Galazia is The Blue Sea.

Cody, I am glad that my post jogged a sweet memory. Marika Papagika is another successful musician that came to America. She also recorded songs in the Rebetiko style. She sings on a Turkish record I have. I don't know if she she sings in Turkish or Greek on it. (It's all Greek to me) . The song that you have posted is very nice and I like it too. It will be on my wish list.

My family lived on Long Island and I too have memories the N.Y. World's Fair as a four year old.

James.

PS - two years ago I posted this on the ATM forum. Mom was visiting Tucson and I got her to clown around with a horn as an ear trumpet. Thanks Mom!

James, Nietzsche of course loved the Greeks--so you are synchronized there as well.

As for great Greeks, never forget this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLR3lSrqlww

How bizarre. I, too, was at the 1964 World's Fair (still have the pennant) and made a small white cardboardy- plasticky record with some cousins in a novelty recording booth set up there.

The first Victor Scroll I ever saw and found as a 10-12 year old budding record collector was a 12" Greek release I found in a Salvation Army. I don't remember what it was or who it was by, and it's long gone now as is the little record I made with some cousins at the World's Fair.

The synchronicity of random memories...

The first 12" Columbia black "notes" recording I ever saw and bought was Hungarian by Kiraly Erno- a two- sider of the same long Magyar song- and the first green label Columbia was in Russian by Nicola Doneff.The Greek Scroll came first, though. Lots of ethnic folks in NYC and Ohio that must have bought lots of records before the Depression.

Thanks for reading and sharing your kind words and memories.

Since originally posting this I have added a few discs for my listening pleasure.
I am glad to have found this on-line to share...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxZ5BP4y4jk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v5TsNrvPLg

James.

pughphonos wrote:James, Nietzsche of course loved the Greeks--so you are synchronized there as well.

As for great Greeks, never forget this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLR3lSrqlww

Ah, the great Callas!

Clay

Things do show up in odd places. Record batches I have picked up here on the Space Coast have included, at various times, groups of Italian and Polish records, and 3 International Series Victors--one from Brazil, one from Cuba, and one from Japan. Wish I knew the back stories of how they got here.

Clay