The mysterious Misirlou

Abstract

My article deals with an unusual story on the roots of a song that has left a significant imprint on the twentieth century popular music all over the world. It is the song Misirlou, created somewhere on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, probably in Asia Minor. The author of this song is unknown. It was created in the so-called rebetiko musical style, typical of the Greeks from Asia Minor, who developed that style after the World War I. The first recordings of this song were made in the 1930s by Greek musicians Tethos Demetriades and Mihalis Patrinos. In no time, there was a true proliferation of different versions of this song, in almost every possible musical genre: jazz, latino, taksym, klezmer, makam, Serbian folk, hip hop, trash metal, pop and rock'n'roll. A number of these versions are mentioned in the article. The fact that this song is considered by many nations - Greeks, Turks, Arabs, Serbs, Jews, Americans - as their own, demonstrates its aptitude for incredible metamorphoses. What attracted me to this song was the story on how it was appropriated into Serbian folk music by the remarkable composer and singer Dragoljub Dragan Toković. The song was called Lela Vranjanka [Lela, the girl from Vranje] and became a standard in the so-called 'Vranje folk music', marvelously interpreted by the singer Staniša Stošić. I also compare various textual versions of Misirlou, in different languages, in order to show its parallel development in verse.

Naš rad se bavi pričom o poreklu pesme koja će obeležiti popularnu muziku XX veka širom planete: reč je o 'Misirlu', nastaloj na prostorima Male Azije. Najstariji poznati snimak potiče iz 1927. godine. Uslediće veliki broj verzija pesme, u gotovo svim poznatim žanrovima popularne muzike: džezu, latinu, taksimu, klecmeru, 'vranjanskom melosu', popu, roku, rokenrolu, hip hopu. Činjenica da je svojataju mnogi - Grci, Turci, Arapi, Jevreji, Jermeni, Srbi - smatrajući je svojom, pokazuje da postoji veliki broj njenih varijanata. Ono što je nas privuklo njoj jeste priča o njenoj adaptaciji u naš narodni melos, zahvaljujući srpskom kompozitoru i pevaču Draganu Tokoviću. Ona će, naslovljena kao 'Lela Vranjanka', postati jedan od 'standarda' vranjanske muzike, kako je percipiraju slušaoci u Srbiji. Rad je u najvećoj meri zasnovan na podacima iz izvora dostupnih preko Interneta.