Helēna Sorokina mezzo-soprano, jazz ensemble Eddie Luis und die Gnadenlosen (Austria)
The story is as old as the world: a naive girl from the provinces is eager to shine on the big stage. The rise of Swedish actress and singer Zara Leander (1907-1981) coincides with a terrifying period in 20th-century European history, so her story is inextricably twisted. Initially, the ambitious redhead was not accepted into acting school for lack of talent, and when, by a happy coincidence, she finally makes it onto the stage in Stockholm in 1929, she is already a married mother of two.
The ensuing rapid popularity in Sweden in the early 1930s and the successful premiere of the operetta Axel at Heaven’sGate in Vienna in 1936 are no guarantee of lasting success, so the ambitious Zara Leander cannot refuse the offer of a long-term contract with UFA, the largest state-owned film studio in Hitler’s Germany. Although called upon to conquer Hollywood, she takes no chances, preferring to stay close to her children in Europe. In Nazi Germany, Zara Leander, as the biggest European film star of the time, continues to make films and record songs in her low alto until 1943, when pressure from Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to move permanently to Germany and accept German citizenship forces Zara Leander to return to her homeland. Sweden, however, is no longer waiting for her; her fame as a Nazi collaborator and propaganda film actress will follow her throughout her life; Zara Leander will never again enjoy the heights of her former fame. Over the years, there have even been rumours that she was in fact a Soviet spy who, as a convinced communist, worked without pay.
Working in Nazi Germany or collaborating with the dictatorship is the main accusation against Leander. Joseph Goebbels does not like the actress and once asked her in a conversation if “Zara” was not a Jewish name, to which Leander did not hesitate to ask if “Josef” was not a Jewish name. Goebbels, however, is pragmatic: the popularity and income of the diva’s films are beneficial for the German government, which starts to use the actress for its own propaganda purposes during the war. She does not have the image the regime needs: instead of a fragile, blonde Gretina, she is a dark-eyed redhead, alien, mysterious, un-German, one could say an independent femme fatale, although she also plays a heroine full of patience, modesty and suffering. Hiding in the world of the film industry from reality, Zara Leander portrays a Swede, a Dane, a Russian and even Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland in various films of the period. She probably did not really take sides politically and the statement that “politically I am an idiot” is true, for whom the most important goal is to please the audience, not the leaders. This is evidenced by her interactions with people of different political views and nationalities, her singing of a song with a clear message against Nazi racial policies in 1934, and the Jewish song Bei mirbist du schön, recorded in the late 1930s.
Zara Leander’s films have lost their meaning over time, but her low, gorgeous voice has become a sign of the times and her songs continue to resonate. And who knows whether Zara would have ever thought of turning to the performing arts if her mother had not sent her to the big city of Riga for a year as a teenager to study German with her “aunt” Ruta, who introduced her to the capital’s wide world of music and theatre.
-Ewart Black Alder-
Eduard Louis (Austria) – vocals, violin, trombone
Milos Milojevic (Serbia) – clarinets
Nobuo Watanabe (Japan) – piano
Vasilis Koutsonanos (Greece) – double-bass
Luis Oliveira (Brazil) – percussion
Director Joel Walcott (USA)
Idea and concept by Helen Sorokin (Austria) and Nobuo Watanabe (Japan)
Movement and style consultant Angela Ratej (Austria)
Text consultant Ewart Melnalksnis (Austria)
