[78-L] Question about "O Gero Amerikanos"

[Eric Byron]

> Benno

I can't thank you enough.

Eric
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <goldenbough at arcor.de>
To: <78-l at 78online.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 11:48 AM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Question about "O Gero Amerikanos"


> Eric,
> Here is what Dick Spottswood published in the booklet to
> Folk Music in America  - Vol. 6
> Songs of Migration & Immigration
>
> Quote
> D. Perdicopoulos  -  O Gero Amerikanos
> With violin, bouzouki and guitar, Athens, Greece, mid-1930s. (3:11)
> Orthophonic S-737
>
> RCA Records' files contain no information concerning the Orthophonic 
> label, whose
> releases were exclusively of Greek and Turkish music. Since the song is 
> directed
> to a Greek (as opposed to Greek-American) audience, we may assume that the
> recording was first issued in Greece and later reissued here. The song's 
> harsh tone
> offers and unusual glimpse of the conquering hero returning home to choose 
> a wife,
> only to find his age and wealth bitterly resented by a relatively 
> impoverished younger
> man whose intended is lured away from him.
> The reference to 'Castle Garden' indicates that the sond is about a 
> specific, though
> unnamed individual.
> Unquote
>
>
> The reference to 'Castle Garden' ( 
> &#922;&#945;&#963;&#964;&#953;&#947;&#954;&#940;&#961;&#953; ) in the 
> text, in fact, refers to 'Ellis Island'.
> (cf. this glossary of 'gringlish' here: 
> http://douridasliterature.com/glossari.html )
>
> I do not know whether Dick reads the 78-L forum, but he never posted 
> there, afaik.
>
> Benno
>
>
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