(Wikipedia) The song [Misirlou or Miserlou] was first performed by the Michalis Patrinos rebetiko band in Athens, Greece in 1927. As with almost all early rebetika songs (a style that originated with the Greek refugees from Turkey), the song’s actual composer has never been identified, and its ownership rested with the band leader. The melody was most likely composed collaboratively by the group, as was often the case at the time; the initial lyrics were almost certainly written by Patrinos himself. Patrinos, who originally lived in Smyrna, named the song Mısırlı or Misirlou which means specifically a Muslim Egyptian girl, as opposed to Egyptian Christians who were referred to as ‘Aigyptioi’ in Greek.
Initially, the song was composed as a Greek (Asia Minor) tsifteteli dance, in the rebetiko style of music, at a slower tempo and a different key than the orientalized performances that most are familiar with today. This was the style of the first known recording by Michalis Patrinos in Greece, circa 1930 (which was circulated in the United States by Titos Dimitriadis’ Orthophonic label); a second recording was made by Patrinos in New York, in 1931.
In 1941, Nick Roubanis, a Greek-American music instructor, released a jazz instrumental arrangement of the song, crediting himself as the composer. Since his claim was never legally challenged, he is still officially credited as the composer today worldwide, except in Greece where credit is variably given to either Roubanis or Patrinos. Subsequently S. Russell, N. Wise, and M. Leeds wrote English lyrics to the song. Roubanis is also credited with fine-tuning the key and the melody, giving it the oriental sound that it is associated with today. The song soon became an “exotica” standard among the light swing (lounge) bands of the day.
You can read about the amazing Korla Pandit here.
