1956 “Good Record”
Mitsakis Orfanidis is excellent, as is Kaplanis!
The comments are from YouTube.
<Excellent Minore Manes (“What does he care about the garden?”). Recorded in the USA in 1956. Performed by Mitsakis Orfanidis. The bouzouki is played by Kostas Kaplanis. Good Record label, 341-B. The first photograph features an “inspired” article by Zacharias Papantoniou against the amanes: an “eternal possession” of a self-conscious intelligentsia. Information about the recording can also be found on the rebetiko.sealabs.net website.
Minore Manes, Ti tone meli ton mpakse, Mitsakis Orfanidis>
The truth is, I didn’t know him and just happened to come across him by chance. The bouzouki is lovely, really, and perfectly captures the spirit of the amanés. And the voice is excellent. I wasn’t expecting such a recording or such a beautiful tone from that era either.
Kostas Kaplanis was a very good bouzouki player. They say that, in terms of playing, he was Tsitsanis’s alter ego, and his sound reminded people of Tsitsanis. When he returned to Greece in his old age, his hands could still play beautifully. He also made a record with new songs of his own and performed at various venues. Here he is on a television programme performing “The Minor of Dawn”, for which he too claimed authorship, with Margaroni on piano, no less, and an excellent ensemble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghpyGQDIHZo
Honestly, what a song this is too! A solo based on the Smyrnaic minor; presumably the lyrics and music are by Hatzichristos. But then along comes the “prolific” Matsas, claiming the lyrics, Peristeris claiming the music, and Kaplanis wanting a share in the composition as well (perhaps for the solo, I suppose?). Honestly, this Matsas must be the composer-lyricist with the most songs of every kind to his name. Perhaps the money he received from his company wasn’t enough, and he wanted royalties as well.
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ZARAZ
(Κουνάβης Ευώδιος, ποιητής (εκ του προχείρου και εν πλήρει φορμαλισμώ))
2902
All I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground..
Well done, Tsila, for reminding us!
They keep saying that Tsitsanis didn’t have a good voice?
Go on, you lot, do his backing vocals.
Michalis Souyioul’s participation on accordion is interesting here.
And the others are:
Tsitsanis’s backing vocals are, at their “worst”, exemplary (if not excellent) in the majority of recordings, with very few exceptions such as “The Pasha’s Slaves”.
Even as a lead singer (e.g. “The Son of Gerakina”, “On the Upper Stairway of Life”, “Don’t Wind Me Up”, etc.), he is noteworthy.
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ZARAZ
(Κουνάβης Ευώδιος, ποιητής (εκ του προχείρου και εν πλήρει φορμαλισμώ))
2906
Like the Castle of Orea.
Featuring Rita Abatzi. Pre-war traditional songs.
Sideris Andrianos (Koulouriotis) plays the lute here — the father of Mimi Andrianos and grandfather of the younger Sideris, who has been playing and singing in America for years now!
