Abul Hasan Khan (aka Abolhasan Eqbal Azar) was one of the great Persian singers of the 78 era. He was an Azeri, born in 1871 (some say 1866) in the village of Alvand, outside of Qazvin in the northwest of Iran, not far from the borders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Iraq. As a child, he moved to Qazvin where he studied music with the famed Haji Mulla Karim. He performed in major cities around the country and in 1914 made his first record for the Monarch label. This recording, made with the newly invented electrical recording gear, was recorded in 1929 in Tehran by Frank Rennie and released the following year. Abul Hasan Khan was still performing when he died at the age of 100.

New York was a hotbed of Greek recording after WWII, when small, independently-owned record labels such as Nina and Kalos Diskos seemed to be thriving. Despite all the recording activity, the famous bouzouki pioneer Ioannis Halikias (aka Jack Gregory) was barely recorded, despite being a well-known fixture on the New York scene. Halikias’ place in history was cemented when he first recorded 4 songs for Columbia in 1932. Those records were very influential and, to some extent, kicked off the bouzouki craze in Greece, despite being recorded in New York. Apparently he was angry with Columbia for the “fine print” in his contract and decided to cut ties with the company. Halikias did not record for some twenty years until he finally made a few recordings for the small Athena label in the mid-1950s. During those intervening years he hung out with various Greek musicians touring the states (one can find snippets on the web of home recordings made during this period, which, unfortunately, the Halikias family refuses to release in full unless they are paid an absurdly high price), and is rumored to have run an underground hashish joint. It’s also been whispered that after he died the police found his closet full of (other people’s) wallets (see comments section). Again, these are unsubstantiated rumors from the “rebetosphere.”

Here’s one of the Athena sides, never reissued, that includes his friend, Kostas Kalevas. Kalevas is presumably the singer, but was also a bouzouki player. While Halikias’ most revered records are all zembekika, the heavy 9/4 rhythm that was the backbone of rebetiko songs during the 1930s and 40s, both the songs on this record come from the demotika (folk) repertoire, rather than the urban rebetiko milieu. This song is typical of songs about shepherds, declaring his love his sweetheart and mountains. Admittedly, these recordings do not match the bouzouki virtuosity of some of Halikias’ classics, but it’s interesting to hear a bouzouki master in another context. It makes me wonder if he was merely backing up his friend. There’s also the possibility that it’s actually Kalevas playing bouzouki here, but I’m not familiar enough with his playing to make a guess.

Ah, the poor Stafithianos
he never gets old.
And wherever he has a secret love, he makes it known.

I picked up this record years ago and have always loved it, but I’ve never dug up any info on Artemis Roukounis. There was a thriving Greek recording scene in New York after WWII when Mr. Roukounis seems to have put together an eponymous vanity label, featuring his own mandolin playing and singing. I’ve only ever seen this first record in the series (R-101/R-102), and since I’ve come across several copies of it I’m inclined to think that it was the only record the label released. Likewise, the Dionysios Maniatis Greek discography lists only the one issue for the label, dated 1955. Both sides are traditional songs from Crete and his playing, although somewhat, um, idiosyncratic, is basically Cretan in style. The first part is an amanes, an improvised vocal that’s common throughout Greece, Turkey and surrounding regions, while the 2nd part of the recording is a stafithianos (or stafidianos), is a type of Cretan rhythm.

So who was Artemis? I’m assuming he is not related to the great vocalist Kostas Roukounas, who was not from Crete, but from the island of Samos. Was he a successful Cretan merchant in New York who could afford the luxury of a vanity recording? If this internet thing really works I suppose someone will come forward with details.