Music For A While
Monday July 15th, 2024 with David Cavlovic
Liebeslieder Waltzes that are not gloomy

Ukrainian born cabaret singer Piotr Leshchenko was easily the most popular male vocalist in Eastern Europe, nowhere more so than in the Soviet Union. There was one problem though: as an anti-Bolshevist he fled the country and lived in exile. Nevertheless, Leshchenko's recordings were smuggled into the USSR and radio broadcasts were picked up from neighbouring countries in spite of the official ban. Leshchenko's Russian version of the Hungarian song Szomorú Vasárnap (Gloomy Sunday) was the most popular version of the song outside of Hungary. The song, composed by Rezső Seress, is quite brilliant and dramatic for a popular song of its time. Maybe a little too dramatic. There are legions of stories of people listening to it becoming so depressed, most often because of love-loss, they committed suicide. And so, the song garnered the nickname, even in North America, as The Hungarian Suicide Song. Some countries even banned its playing over the radio because of its reputation. Seress achieved a modicum of fame and fortune with the song. But after the Second World War, and, being Jewish, barely surviving the Holocaust, Seress fell into disfavour during the Communist era. He fell into poverty, depression---and he committed suicide... On a bit of a brighter note, and somewhat of a non sequitur, the Ukrainian song Karije Otschi (Auburn eyes) was a particular favourite of my maternal Baba.