Modern Tango World #8 (Moscow)

After a while, their love faded and Strok returned to his
family in Latvia. During this period, he wrote his most famous
tangos — When Spring comes again, My Last Tango
and Oh, those Black Eyes.
The success of Oscar Strock’s tango was underscored
by the London Symphony Orchestra under the leadership
of Marek Weber. This orchestra recorded Strok’s
tangos at the famous firm Victor Gramaphone Company,
also known as HMV or His Master’s Voice. Around
1930, Strok’s friendship with a singer and dancer Petr
Leshchenko began, when the latter came to perform
at private closed evenings and in restaurants in Riga.
The composer was inspired by the voice and manner of
Leshchenko’s performance and invited him to take part
in his jazz and tango project.
Petr Leshchenko was an artist of Ukrainian roots who had
participated in musical ensembles and survived the First
World War in his youth. He toured Latvia and developed
a friendship with Strok led to his enormous popularity.
In the 1930s, more than 80 recordings were made
of his tangos, foxtrots and ballads, including Senorita, Tatiana,
Lola, and of course, the famous Dark Eyes (Ochi
Chornya). This last tango turned out to be so popular all
over the world that Strok and Leshchenko were invited
to tour not only throughout Europe, but also Japan.
The fate of another popular Russian performer of tangos
and ballads, Vadim Kozin, was cast in the 1930s. During
the 1920s, Kozin, who had a gypsy roots, became known
for his vivid romantic ballads, combining the seemingly
impossible the gypsy passion with the intellectual dreaminess
of the Russian aristocracy. When tango recordings
became popular in Russia, Kozin recorded such works
as Autumn, Forgotten Tango, and reinterpreted Tango of
Death, originally performed by Iza Kremer.
In 1929, Alexander Vertinsky recorded his Palestinian
Tango, dedicated to emigration and a sad journey into
that unknown country. In 1931, while in Bessarabia, he
produced the famous tango Magnolia which begins with
the words In banana-lemon Singapore. This tango is almost
comically ironic, but it has a lyrical overtones and symbols
of the unattainable dream of the Russian aristocracy — to
travel to a distant country, in happiness and safety.
This theme of emigration continued in 1934, when Vertinsky
wrote a another tango The Yellow Angel about the
inglorious life of an artist performing in a jazz cabaret far
from his native country.
AlexanderTsfasman
Another phenomenon in the history of Russian tango is
Alexander Tsfasman’s orchestra. He began his band in
1926 as a jazz ensemble. But by the 1930s, when tango
reached the peak of its popularity, the orchestra began
to play tangos together with other foreign genres. After a
while the tango I’m Infinitely Sorry became the signature
calling card of the group. The authorship of this melody
was mistakenly attributed to Tsfasman himself, but it was
only his arrangement. Its origins are France. Nevertheless,
rumors only contributed to its popularity.
Another tango hit was The Wearied Sun, which is probably
the best known than all other Russian and Soviet
tangos. This melody came to Russia from Poland, its author
was Jerzy Petersbursky, the first lyrics was written
by Zenon Friedwald. The name given by the author
was This Last Sunday. People later began to call it Suicide
Tango. The song instantly won the Polish popularity and
became famous in neighboring Russia. Since the Polish
lyrics could not be performed in Russia, three variants of
lyrics were written in Russian: the author of the first was
Asta Galla — Song of the South, and a second by Alexandr
Volkov — Leaves are falling from the Maple. However,
certainly the most popular version was by Joseph
Alvek — The Wearied Sun.
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