Aleksander Zabczynski

In recent weeks, I have been spending time on YouTube discovering some of the 1930s era Polish recordings that people have been kind enough to upload. Until the Internet came along, access to such recordings was all but impossible for the average person here in the United States.

Here is one of the vintage Polish recordings that I discovered and fell for immediately. It is called "Nadine" and is performed by Polish film star Aleksander Zabczynski with a really charming and peppy band in the background. While this recording was made in 1934, it still retains a certain "Roaring '20s" spirit that, by then, had all but disappeared from American popular music. The evening I discovered this, I must have played it back a dozen or so times.



I had never heard of Zabczynski before I discovered this clip. But you can learn more about him by going to the clip's page on the YouTube website and look for the "About This Video" section on the top right hand portion and click on the "more" link to show the details. The story of his life and career is actually rather sad. Five years after this grand and happy recording was made, as was the case for so many Europeans and certainly for all Poles, Zabczynski's world was suddenly transformed into a living hell at the hands of not just one but two of history's most brutal and murderous totalitarian regimes. For Poland, the nightmare of totalitarian rule would last for a full half century.

The good news is that Poland has regained its freedom and people around the world can now access and enjoy wonderful recordings such as this that, even in the 1930s, were virtually unknown here in the United States.

While I do feature a limited number of European recordings on Radio Dismuke your best source of for exploring vintage European recordings from the 1920s - 1940s is Weimar Rundfunk. The easiest way to tune in is though the station's tune-in page on the Live365.com website.