A series of great  Arabic, Greek, Armenian and Turkish records, from early traditional music and Rebetiko to the famous performers of the inter-war period on 78 rpm Victrola Records

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Great recording by   Anatolian Turkish Armenian Oudist and early Greek Singer

Kemany Minas / M. Papagika* – Memo / Kioutsouk Hanoum

Label: Columbia – E-5272

Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk
A Kemany Minas– Memo

B Marika Papagika– Kioutsouk Hanoum
Record Company – Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.

Cello [Uncredited] – Markos Sifnios (tracks: B)
Clarinet [Uncredited] – Nicolas Nikos Relias (tracks: B)
Cymbal [Uncredited] – Constantinos Gus Papagika (tracks: B)
Soprano Vocals – Marika Papagika (tracks: B)
Tenor Vocals – Kemany Minas (tracks: A)

Turkish Folk Songs
A. Violin, Oud and Canoon Accomp.
B. Clarinet, Cymbal and 'Cello Accomp.

A side (mx. 59523) recorded New York, NY, ca. November 1917.
B side (mx. 59718-1) recorded New York, NY, ca. June 1922.

Originally released in 1923.

Please see top of the page for condition

Marika Papagika

Real Name: ?a???a ?apa????a Profile: Marika Papagika (Greek: ?a???a ?apa????a, 1 September 1890 Kos, Ottoman Empire [now Greece] – 2 August 1943 New York, NY) was a popular Greek singer in the early 20th century and one of the first female Greek singers to be heard on sound recordings.

She was born on the island of Kos on September 1, 1890. In late 1913 or early 1914, she recorded for the Gramophone Company in Alexandria, Egypt. Only one of these recordings has been found so far.

She emigrated to America through Ellis Island in 1915 with her husband, Constantinos Papagika, a cymbalom player who was also her accompanist. In December 1918, she made her first recording in the States for Victor Records. In July 1919, she also began recording for Columbia Records. By the mid-20s, Marika and her husband Kostas opened a café aman called "Marika's" on W. 34th St near 8th Ave. in New York, likely the first café aman established in the States. Over the next ten years, she recorded more than two hundred performances of café-aman styled songs, including kleftiko demotik? (Greek traditional songs about Klephts, heroic brigands), rebetiko, and light classical pieces, many of them overlapping with her chief rival in Greek music sales in the United States, Koula Antonopoulos (known on her recordings as "?a ????a" or Mme. Coula).

At her club and at recording sessions during the 1920's, Marika was often accompanied by her husband Kostas "Gus" Papagika, cellist Markos Sifnios, violinist Athanasiou Makedonas, and the Epirot violinist Alexis Zoumbas. Marika was a noted exponent of the Smyrnaic style of the rebetiko tragoudi, including old songs about hashish, prison, and street-life. Located on 8th Avenue, "Marika's" wasn't just a café aman, but a speakeasy for Greek people as well as for other Mediterranean immigrants. Marika Papagika recorded her first commercial song, "Smirneiko Minore" for Victor. Along with her rival ?a ????a, she introduced Greek music to the Western community. Her early recordings have constantly appeared on compilations and been revived by contemporary singers.

Marika died on Staten Island, New York, on August 2, 1943.

Little is known about Kemany Minas Effendi other than that he was an Armenian violin player and singer who made numerous records in 1916-1917. “Kemany” (Kemani) is a term indicating that he was known as a violinist, from the Turkish word “keman” (violin). During the 1916-17 sessions Minas collaborated with Karekin Proodian, for whose singing he provided violin accompaniment, and Merdjan Garabet Effendi, an oud player and singer who Minas also accompanied, and who seems to have been the oudist on most of Minas’ records as well. Armenian historian Dzotsigian in his “Arevmdahye Ashkharh” (Western Armenian World), published in New York in the late 40s, states that Armenians from Malatia claimed Minas as one of their own, but that inhabitants of other villages also tried to prove he was from their own regions. This would indicate that he was probably dead by the 40s and didn’t have any family to prove or disprove these claims. (Or that Dzotsigian simply didn’t care enough to research much further into who Minas was). Dzotsigian refers to Minas as a “kusan” (minstrel). In any case, Minas was undoubtedly born in Ottoman Turkey. All of Kemany Minas’ recordings were sung in the Turkish language. Some of them, for example, Eghin Havasi, are well known in Armenian folklore as Turkish language songs with an Armenian context. Minas’ version of Eghin Havasi is possibly a reference to the 1896 massacre of the Armenians of the town of Eghin (Agn) following the Bank Ottoman incident.