Belina (singer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Belina (born February 6, 1925 in Sterdyń near Treblinka , Poland , † December 12, 2006 in Hamburg ; actually Lea-Nina Rodzynek ) was a Jewish folk singer. She was fluent in six languages ​​and sang her songs, chansons and international folklore in original texts in 20 different languages ​​and dialects.

Life and artistic work

The singer was born Lea-Nina Rodzynek in a village near Treblinka. Her musical talent, which was encouraged by her parents, showed up early on. The folk and sacred chants in the family were the first impulses for her later artistic activity.

After the German troops marched into Poland in 1939 , most of the family were kidnapped and killed, including their parents and three brothers. The 16-year-old managed to escape under a false name, but she was picked up and placed as a forced laborer in a Hamburg armaments factory. Denounced by Polish compatriots, Lea-Nina was sent to Fuhlsbüttel prison . There she cut off part of her thumb out of fear of death and thus escaped deportation . With the help of a pastor, she fled from the hospital to Lübeck, where she hid until the end of the war. In 1949 she married an Auschwitz survivor in Bergen-Belsen . They had a son, Michel, but the marriage did not last long. Lea-Nina moved to an aunt in Paris in 1953, where she also received French citizenship. She completed her training as a beautician and worked for several months in Elizabeth Arden's beauty salon in Zurich. Lea-Nina took singing lessons in Switzerland and met the pianist Tibor Kasics. The first radio recordings were made under the stage name Nina Pola. She returned to Paris and had her first engagements in the Jewish theater and in Russian cabaret. In Paris she received her first record deal with the French label President under the stage name "Belina" and released two EPs with ghetto songs and Yiddish folklore. In 1960 she happened to meet a music producer on the train. She moved to Cologne, where the record company Odeon / Columbia tried to build her up as a pop singer. But she didn't like banal German hits.

She made a name for herself as an actress and showed herself from a completely different side. In 1960 she played the role of Polly in Brecht's “ Threepenny Opera ”. A little later she appeared in the crime thriller The Secret of the Black Widow on the side of OW Fischer , Karin Dor and Klaus Kinski .

In 1962, the director Truck Branns helped her achieve her international breakthrough. The later " hit parade " maker dedicated his first personality show Belina - portrait of a singer (this was followed by Hildegard Knef , Françoise Hardy , Alexandra ) and made her famous overnight.

While filming Branss' award-winning television program, Belina met the popular guitarist Siegfried Behrend (1933-1990), who at the age of 30 had more than 1,000 compositions, mostly folkloric or inspired by old masters. He had already given acclaimed concerts in Moscow, Rome and Madrid, but also outside Europe, and played before the Shah in Persia, before General Nasser in Egypt and before the Emperor in Tokyo . The two were henceforth guests in numerous TV shows ( music from Studio B , one will win ). In 1963 they held a folk session in Berlin, which was recorded live on the LP 24 Songs and one Guitar and stayed in the charts for 40 weeks. In 1964/65 the duo embarked on their first world tour on behalf of the Goethe Institute and the Foreign Office , and the criticism was literally overflowing with enthusiasm. For months, the two traveled around the world, sometimes in regions where concerts had never been held before (e.g. in Lambarene with Albert Schweitzer ) or in countries that were shaken by political unrest. Belina and Siegfried Behrend represented the young Federal Republic as musical ambassadors in an unprecedented form, their long-playing records with songs from all over the world became bestsellers.

Siegfried Behrend married the actress Claudia Brodzinska-Behrend in 1970 and turned to avant-garde music with her as a singer. Belina was hit hard by the separation from her guitarist. She switched to the record company Polydor and sang songs from the musical Anatevka and the world hit Those Were The Days . The record industry tried again - as at the beginning of her career - to reduce Belina to cheap hits. She refused. She moved to the south of France, to the artists' colony St. Paul de Vence , where Marc Chagall , James Baldwin , Curd Jürgens , Yves Montand and Simone Signoret also lived in the neighborhood. Belina only accepted a few offers (including with the guitarist Roberto Legnani). In 1981 she recorded one of the last very beautiful, but unfortunately neglected, LP Meine Fantasie with the guitarist Ladi Geisler , who played a key role in the sound of the legendary Bert Kaempfert Orchestra. After a farewell concert in 1993, Belina withdrew from show business. Until her death she lived with her son, the journalist Michel Rodzynek, and her two grandchildren, Sharon and Marco, in Hamburg and enjoyed her unique collection of souvenirs from all over the world. After her death in 2006, she found her final resting place in the Jewish cemetery in Hamburg at her own request.

Film biographer Marc Boettcher summed up Belina's voice and work in a TV interview with the words: “I was fascinated by Belina's history, that as a Polish Jew she represented Germany after the World War, sang in 17 languages ​​and was in 120 countries To represent the perpetrator, i.e. Germany. She called for forgiveness and was the voice of reconciliation. For Belina it was important to show that music is a universal language that connects people, far removed from origin, religion and skin color. "(February 8, 2020, RBB, Kowalski & Schmidt)

Discography (selection)

LPs:

  • Everyone dreams their own dreams (LP for the portrait in music by Truck Branss - Columbia / EMI C 83372)
  • 24 Songs and one guitar - Folklore-Session in Berlin (Columbia / EMI - C 83510, was made in Japan under the same name - Angel Records)
  • Leaves in the Wind (Columbia / EMI - SMC 74179)
  • Music around the world (Columbia / EMI - SMC 84014)
  • Russian - Belina (Columbia / EMI - SMC 80993 like "Russian soul" Die Volksplatte C 048-28110)
  • It Burns - Jiddish Songs (Columbia / EMI - C 83715)
  • When the hidden laugh (Electrola SME 74137)
  • A voice and a guitar (VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin, 1967 - Amiga - 855113)
  • Warsaw (Polydor 2371015)
  • Sleep my prince, sleep (Polydor 2371151)
  • Foci (Polydor - 249214)
  • I am Belina (Polydor 249276)
  • Bazaar - Belina and Behrend - songs from all over the world - (Polydor 249283, working title "Zwischenlandung")
  • My Fantasy - Belina (RCA PL 28461 - 1981)
  • The most beautiful songs in the world (Electrola - special edition “Listen” - SHZE 130 - was made in Japan under the same name - Angel Records)
  • If I could wish for something ... (Electrola - special edition “Listen to” SHZE 218)
  • Songs and dances from all over the world (Opera - Europ. Phonoklub - 74783 - from the repertoire of Electrola)
  • Around the world (German book club - Stereo 6080 - from the Electrola repertoire)
  • Belina - Behrend (SR International - 72752 - from the Electrola repertoire)
  • Songs of this world (SR International - 77253 - from the repertoire of Electrola)
  • Songs of the World (German Record Club - H 013 - from the Electrola repertoire)
  • Belina and Siegfried Behrend (crystal - the people's plate SMVP 6085 - from the Electrola repertoire)

Singles:

  • Chants Du Ghetto (France, 1959, EP, President, 7 XPR 509 LP. 1800)
  • Belina (France, 1959, EP, 7 EPR 491, President PRC 145)
  • A Yiddish Momme / Solitude (Blue Melody) (1960, Odeon 21560)
  • Give me love, Monsieur / Life is like this (from: Die Brücke des Schicksals) (1960, Odeon 21647)
  • A country is mine (Exodus) / No, I'm not sorry (1961, Non, je ne regrette rien, Odeon 21821)
  • White roses from Athens / In Istanbul everything hits the heart straight away (1961Odeon 21945)
  • Moscow at midnight / Blue Balalaika (1962, Odeon 22064)
  • Tamburino / Le Bonheur (1963, Odeon 22266 and 29451)
  • A Yiddish Momme / Everyone dreams their own dreams (1963, Columbia 15 CH 1056)
  • Who looks in your eyes / Vanya (1963, Columbia C 22476 45)
  • The black widow (from the film: The secret of the black widow) / Which way do I have to go? (1963, Columbia 22601)
  • White orchids / L'amour in the evening (1963, Columbia 22670)
  • Sirtaki Time / When the Bouzoukis sound (with Siegfried Behrend, 1965 - Columbia 23066)
  • There is no such thing as white love / Longing is on the way (1966, Columbia 23268)
  • Yiddish daughter / Tumbalalaika (1966, Columbia 23270)
  • Roses bloom everywhere / When I think of home (Dom-Didi-Dom) (1967, Polydor 52839)
  • If I were once rich / Anatevka (1968, Polydor 53011)
  • On that day / Memories (1968, Polydor 53079)
  • La Foule / Le Temps des fleurs (1968, Canada, Polydor 541.511)
  • Those Were The Days / Memories (1968, Japan, Polydor 59238 / DP-1606)
  • Qué tiempo tan feliz / Que seas feiiz (1968, Spain, Polydor 60037)

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Heino Eggers: Belina - Siegfried Behrend. Around the world with the guitar . Berlin 1965
  • Helmut Richter: Siegfried Behrend 1933-1990. Stations . Oberhausen 2000, expanded new edition 2018 with an additional BELINA biography by Marc Boettcher.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Belina: Tell me where the flowers are, In: Youtube (accessed on August 17, 2020)
  2. ↑ Short portrait of Michel Rodzynek, In: mrodzynek.info (accessed on August 17, 2020)
  3. ↑ A documentary about the singer Belina, by Kowalski & Schmidt, February 8, 2020, In: rbb-online.de (accessed August 17, 2020)
  4. ↑ Siegfried Behrend - Stations, In: Amazon (accessed on August 17, 2020)
personal data
SURNAME Belina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rodzynek, Lea-Nina (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish folk singer
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH near Treblinka , Poland
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 2006
Place of death Hamburg