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Co tam panie w Ameryce ? / What's up in America? (IV)

ed-al.ward ed-al.ward Kultura Obserwuj notkę 1

As you probably know, « The Varsouvianna », « Varsovienne”, “Varsuvienne”, “La Varsovianna” or “Warszawianka” (in Polish) is a dance:

“Perhaps the most graceful and most delightful of all the round dances... It originated in War­saw, Poland, and from that city, with a few accidents of orthography, it took its name. The dance spread all over Europe and took on different national characteristics. It moved on to our West, its name corrupted to ‘Varsouvianna’, and is a regular feature of our old-time dances. (So easy is oral corruption, I have even heard it unsmilingly called the "Varsity Anna.") It has its own special music... Down in Texas, we call this dance ‘The Varsity Anna.’

‘Oh come along, oh come along, Take a little trip with me…’ " ¹,

see for ex.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lxsdAScKf8 

and/or: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzNe470iuHs 

Another Polish ‘musical accent’ in Texas was the famous 19th century "hit" by Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska [1834 – 1861] entitled "The Virgin's / Maiden’s Prayer", here performed by “Bob Wills and his Texas playboys”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6V8JHnJsPw 


(Some might even say that Tekla's fame has reached not only Texas, but even the planet Venus, since a certain crater there bears her name)!

However,« Warszawianka » is also a well known polish patriotic song from the times of so called « the November Uprising 1831 ». The Polish lyrics are a translation of a French poem (by Casimir Delavigne) entitled "La Varsovienne": "Today is the day of blood and glory, May it be the day of resurrection! 

(translated by Karol Sienkiewicz). The music was composed by Karol Kurpiński (conductor of the Warsaw Opera) :

https://youtu.be/KWN0P0iUhcY   (« Warszawianka 1831 »)

Another « Warszawianka », the one from 1905, is a revolutionary socialist song - one of the most famous and still extremely popular. It was written in 1879 by two Poles, Wacław Święcicki and Józef Pławiński. The well-known Italian portal:  https://antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?id=6506&lang=en 

which specializes in politically involved or socially commited songs (protest & political songs...) and their translations lists an impressive number (62) of its translations into the most exotic languages… And also various variants of it - e.g. 'anarchist version', 'Swedish feminists' or 'Indonesian rap' style...

Currently, there are about 445 Polish songs on this website, (e.g. songs by J.Kaczmarski, W.Młynarski, etc).

The melody of this Polish revulutionary song was also taken up by one of Casimir Delavigne's compatriots, and became the traditional tune of the French army’s 1st Parachute Hussard Regiment :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=194SCjjOz88      ( “Les Hussards de Berchény”)

The French paratroopers are considered politically rather right-wing, even very right-wing in France... But the music itself does not express any political opinion, does it?

And on the French website:

https://jepleuresansraison.com/category/pologne/

there is also a number of Polish poetic, cabaret, folklore songs, Christmas carols, etc... You can also find there some famous artists singing in Polish (Frank Sinatra and others). And even the Polish anthem performed by a band of locomotives led by a famous musician/conductor!

On both websites, you can freely add new songs and comments (also in English) - without having to open an account.

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¹

Cowboy Dances - A collection of Traditional Western Square Dances By Lloyd Shaw 

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