world war

Description

Barkarola miłości (Barcarole of Love) Tango (Petersbuurski /Włast) - Orkiestra taneczna z refrenem (Zymunt Piotrowski) (Uncredited dance orchestra with refrain by Zygmunt Piotrowski), Melodja Electro 1936 (Polish) NOTE: Althugh the technical side of this recording is - to put it mildly - rather imperfect, I decided to place it here for two reasons: first, the recordings of Zygmunt Piotrowski are really unique. He was a streetcar driver in Warsaw, who in 1930 was discvovered by composer Zygmunt Wiehler and contracted to his newly organised Wiehler's Revellers' Ensamble. Two years later, Piotrowski - whose expressive yet unobtrusive tenor voice ideally matched all kinds of polyphonic singing - was admitted to the new sensation of the year 1932: the Jurand's Choir. That new male vocal group immediately acquired outrageous popularity in Poland, becoming the real threat to Chór Dana - the current winner among numerous Polish revellers groups ot the 1930s. Piotrowski recorded solo only a handfuld of sides and he died during the Second World War from TBC of lungs. The second reason why I'm uploading this damaged record is its composer, Jerzy Petersburski: autor of one of the most famous tangoes in the world, "Oh Donna Clara" and also "The Last Sunday" - great Polish evergreen that was loved by the Russians so much, that they often publish it as one of original Russian hits of the 1930s (claiming, that someone whose name is "Petersburski" MUST be Russian). This tango, however, never became a hit in Poland and was quickly forgotten. Therefore I think, a complete oblivion from which that song has emerged as well as poor quality of its sound, make it perfect musical background for a short trip to the poorer and lesser known part of prewar Warsaw: city, that a few years later was supposed to be swept off the earth's surface by cataclysm of the 2nd World War.