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"Misirlou" is a folk song[2] from the Eastern Mediterranean region, with origins in the Ottoman Empire. The original author of the song is not known, but Arabic, Greek and Jewish musicians were playing it by the 1920s. The earliest known recording of the song is a 1927 Greek rebetiko/tsifteteli composition influenced by Middle Eastern music. There are also Arabic belly dancing, Armenian, Persian, Indian and Turkish versions of the song. This song was popular from the 1920s onwards in the Arab American, Armenian American and Greek American communities who settled in the United States. Listen to the podcast and hear how this old folk song has evolved into a modern day hit that has been transformed from rebetiko, to jazz, rock and ethnic genres over the decades: