Marika Papagika, born Maria-Konstantina Katsori on September 1, 1890, in Kos, Ottoman Empire, was a pioneering Greek singer. She recorded for the Gramophone Company in Alexandria, Egypt, and emigrated to America in 1915 with a husband, Kostas Papagika, a cymbalom player. In July 1918 she made a first trial recording in the United States for Victor Records. Between 1918 and 1929, Papagika recorded at least 232 performances of café-aman styled songs. She opened Marika's, a nightclub in New York. A recording career ended in 1930, except for four sides recorded in 1937. Papagika died on August 2, 1943. Posthumously, her music experienced a revival starting in the 1970s with LP reissues and continued through CD releases in the 1990s.
