The unknown luthier A. Politis

Revealing the craftsmanship of a master luthier - Part II!

On February 15th 2011 David Murray, a musician from Oakland California, owner of the beautiful blog http://oldbouzoukia.wordpress.com/, had asked me if I had any information regarding an unknown luthier named Alexandros Politis from NY.

David owns a beautiful bouzouki instrument dated from 1951, with a pre-war style, design and dimensions very closed to Anastasios Stathopoulos bouzoukia.

The label inside reads “867 Forest Ave. New York, NY. 1951″. The maker’s name was handwritten but seemed to say “Alexandros Politis” followed by “Professional Violin Maker."

David Murray's 1951 Alexandros Politis bouzouki

Back then.  together with David, we done a small research regarding the unknown luthier and we were able to collect some basic information.

The luthier  had constructed in NY fine violin instruments  during the years 1930-1933

A.Politis violin dated 1930

On November 13, 2011, the grand granddaughter of Alexandros Politis (Aletheia Chaconas) posted a reply regarding her grand grand father in  David's blog.

Accordingly to Aletheia , Alexandros Politis immigrated from Chios, Greece and he was the composer of the traditional song "Ena karavi apo ti Xio" (A boat from Chios)

 

I decided 3 years later to revisit my notes, and continue my research regarding this luthier in an attempt to collect further information. 

The first information regarding the luthier comes from September 1927 in the newspaper Atlantis of NY , where an advertisement is placing A.Politis  in a workshop with K. Kastrouni  at a different address: 316 W 42nd Street NY  

Taking in consideration the information of  A. Politis'  grand granddaughter, stating that her grand grandfather was also a music composer, we find him to have composed the poem of  Ioanni Polemi "Dio Glyka Matakia" (two sweet eyes) in  the Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions August 21st 1935. Very interesting information as the credit for the music (we don't know if is the same music for the same poem) has been given  to Dionysis Lauragkas (?)

  

In the book "The Hammered Dulcimer" A History By Paul M Gifford, we find the author referring to A.Politis as the luthier who was constructing "small instrument with the appearance of a santouri, but with Hungarian tuning and three legs "

And in an article of  the newspaper, Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume XCIX, Number 107, 25 April 1955, once again the name of A. Politis mentioned by  Dr. Paul A. Smiths ,Davies Professor of mathematics at Columbia University, as a repairer of Balkan musical instruments.  

Please see further information collected,  on * notation at the end of the post

The US Census in 1940 refers to an Alexander Politis immigrated from Greece,  married to Theodora, having 5 children, but I could not verify if this is our luthier A. Politis.

Please see further information collected,  on ** notation at the end of the post

In the Rebetiko forum under the section "Instrumnets for sale" an  A. Politis bouzouki from 1952 was sold on January 2011, with appearance and dimensions very close to the 1950s bouzoukia and far apart from the appearance of David's Murray 1951  A. Stathopoulos style pre-war bouzouki

A good friend  of David Murray, Alan Davidson also owns an A. Politis bouzouki very similar to David's and to the A. Stathopoulos pre-war style .

Alan kindly sent me photographs from his  A. Politis bouzouki. 

It has no label, just the luthier's name penciled inside. 

A. Politis bouzouki Property of Alan Davidson

A. Politis bouzouki Property of Alan Davidson

A. Politis bouzouki Property of Alan Davidson

Once again the good friend, talented musician, and enthusiast of Greek traditional music,  Yiannis (Ioannis) Pappayiorgas aka John Pappas (http://www.greekfolkmusicanddance.com/) did the honor to send me photos from his A. Politis laouto carrying ebony wood bowl.

The pickguard is not the original, but John  still keeps the original pick-guard,   which had started to peel off, some 25 years ago.

The label inside reads :

Alexander Politis

Manufacturer and Repairer of

Professional Musical  Instruments 

Accordingly to Yiannis the sound of the laouto is very sweet , mellow and particular due to the woods used for its construction 

The rescued Politis instruments  these days are also few.

A.Politis Laouto (C) John Pappas
Please do not reproduce the following images without permission by John Pappas

A.Politis Laouto (C) John Pappas
Please do not reproduce the following images without permission by John Pappas

A.Politis Laouto (C) John Pappas
Please do not reproduce the following images without permission by John Pappas

I am still in a small debate with myself on why some of the survived luthier's instruments have a label with his full name printed  on label , others with the label and just the name hand printed on label  , and finally others with no label and just the name penciled inside the bowl.

Also how the luthier was constructing in 1950s bouzouki instruments with prewar style of a 1910s era , and at the same time bouzouki instruments with style of 1940s trichordo era. 

One explanation may be that luthier repaired in 1950s his own instruments created by him in much earlier years.

Another possible explanation is that the older style bouzouki were custom orders by clients in 1950s who had requested the construction of  musical instruments of a bygone era.

A very small possibility stills hangs  in thin air , with the scenario that the luthier repaired in 1950s instruments with prewar style which were not his own instruments.

Definitely the research regarding the luthier A. Politis of NY will have to continue in an attempt to collect further information regarding the luthier's life and creations.

I kindly urge friends of the blog especially residence of NY state , to help towards this direction by  researching in regards of the luthier A. Politis  and contacting me with any further information they may have collected. Thank you. 

Updates 

-Couple of hours after posting the article regarding the luthier A. Politis , Dave Murray contacted me remembering a forgotten email he had from luthier's grandson, Mr.George Chaconas accompanied also by photos of two A. Politis musical instrument.

"Hi Dave. I am attaching a photo of the bouzouki and the mandolin to this e-mail. 

The bouzouki in the photo was unfinished when my grandfather died (1957).

 It needed only pegholes, pegs, a bridge and the tail piece. We had it finished as a 6 string, but I'm not sure what the original intent was.

A.Politis bouzouki Property of Chaconas family

A.Politis bouzouki Property of Chaconas family

A.Politis bouzouki Property of Chaconas family

A.Politis bouzouki Property of Chaconas family

I'm afraid that this bouzouki does little to help with your 1951 old style instrument. 

Perhaps he had a request to build an older style bouzouki (which he would have made plenty of in the past based upon his age and the fact that 1951 was near the end of his career). Or maybe he made it earlier and repaired and relabeled it.

The mandolin was made earlier, but not sure when. I believe that there are other unfinished instruments in someone's basement remaining from the time of his death and I need to check this out."

A. Politis mandolin, Property of Chaconas family

A. Politis mandolin, Property of Chaconas family

A. Politis mandolin, Property of Chaconas family

A. Politis mandolin, Property of Chaconas family

The following information have been shared by the grandson of A. Politis with a small reservation regarding the accuracy of the information and dates 

"Alexandros Politis was born in the town of Ziffias on Chios, a small Greek island (then under Turkish rule) off the cost of Turkey, in 1889. We know little of his early years. He spent time in Constantinople (Istanbul) where we believe he learned his craft. He married Theodora Foutrakis (from Chalkios, Chios). In 1916 he emigrated to the US through Ellis Island and settled in the Bronx, NY. He made stringed musical instruments including bouzoukia, mandolins, laouta, zithers, violins, bows and guitars. He had a shop on Forest Ave in the Bronx and later on Tremont Ave. "

- Mr. George Chaconas verified (by sending me the music sheets, for the  traditional song " Ena karavi apo ti Xio" ) that the credit for the music composition  belongs to his grand father ,  luthier Alexandro Politi. 

New Information collected from Mr, George Chaconas testimony, regarding documents from my earlier research

*"I found the article about Dr. Paul Smith personally very interesting. The reason for this is that I play renaissance and baroque lutes (as a hobby)  and am a member of the LSA (Lute Society of America). Suzanne Bloch (married to Paul Smith) was one of the founding members and served as President of the LSA in the early days of the society. She was a pioneer in the lute world. So what a pleasure to find a link between my grandfather and lutes made for her by Paul Smith." written by George Chaconas

 

** Accordingly to luthier's grandson Mr George Chaconas ,the above cart from US Census is the correct one,  but in the list of children is missing  one more child ,  Olga who was the oldest child and probably married and out of the house by then. The youngest child, listed as Frances is Mr George Chaconas'  aunt, Fereniki who is still alive.