Jerzy Petersburski, King of Polish Tango

I was born in “The Land of Tango.” That’s the Uruguayan side of the Río de la Plata, which separates and unites two capitals, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. To my generation, tango was “passé,” outdated, male chauvinist, even reactionary, but as I left Uruguay for the USA in 1976 at the age of 20, I began looking at it nostalgically, and with new appreciation. It became a cultural marker for me, even more important after I met my late honorary mother, Nina Polan (Janina Katelbach, founder of the Polish Theatre Institute) in 1977. She exposed me to Polish Tango and the works of Polish musical “legend” Jerzy Petersburski.

The beautiful melodies and attractive rhythms of his tangos, waltzes and foxtrots were reason enough to fall in love with his music. Polish tango, like all European tango, is different from the original South American tango. They share the mostly square, strongly marked 4-beat rhythm and the influence of the older Habanera – a concoction of Spanish rhythms and Afro-Cuban influences. They differ, however, in the amount of “rubato” (rhythmic flexibility). South American tango is rich in such rubato. The singers are often extremely free with their rhythm, singing behind and ahead of the beat all the time. Polish and European tango is more “square,”  more formal, and the same goes for the dancing.

Besides the musical fascination, there was the historical interest. Firstly, Jerzy Petersburski was a Polish Jew, like my parents. While he was fully assimilated, while many other important Polish composers of the time, like Mordechai Gebirtig from Kraków were not, he was a direct descendant from a noted Klezmer family (Melodysta).

Petersburski’s Jewish identity became an immediate danger upon the German invasion of Poland in 1939, and he saved himself by escaping East to Ukraine (Soviet Union at that time) and joining the Red Army. The Russians made him conductor of the Byelorussian Jazz Orchestra (pretty nifty name!), and he started translating his songs into Russian.

“To ostatnia niedziela” became “Утомлённое солнце” and „Niebieska chusteczka” –  „Синны платочек,” and both of them became widely popular in Russia. In fact, Russians believe the songs to be “Russian.” I had an argument with a noted Russian musician in Moscow and I could not convince him that “To ostatnia niedziela” had been composed by a noted Polish Jew…  A great film about the terrors of Stalin’s time, The Burning Sun, is also titled after the Russian version of “To ostatnia niedziela.”

This was the beginning of a very long international trip for Petersburski: Cairo, Palestine, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela… (It fascinates me that while I was a child in Uruguay, Petersburski was living in my continent and speaking Spanish in Venezuela.) Finally, he went back to Warsaw, where he died in 1979 at the ripe old age of 84.

Before WWII, Peterburski’s songs had already become famous internationally. “Tango Milonga” became famous in English and German as “O Donna Clara”, for example. After the war, they remained popular in their Russian translations, in Hebrew (I would speculate that many Polish emigrés to Israel wished to translate them) and Spanish.

Doing a show dedicated to Petersburski was a long-time dream for me. When Izabella Laskowska approached me about doing a performance celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the Polish Theatre Institute, I proposed to her the Petersburski project, and she kindly acceded. She also supported me in my vision every step of the way. Together we chose three sensational Polish singers: Zuza Ducka, Dominika Handzlik and Krystyna Tyszkiewicz. Working with them was a great pleasure, and they delivered, together with Izabella, who shared in the narration, a beautiful performance on November 2, 2025 at the Kościuszko Foundation. We now have added the equally talented Marta Jonik to the cast and hope we can bring this beautiful show to more venues in the Tri-State area and beyond.

Preparing the show was a monumental task. I had to listen to hundreds of songs to select the ones that were the very best. For some, I had musical scores, for others I had to create a score by listening to the recordings and writing down the words and melodies. This alone took dozens of hours.

I decided not to take an academic, literal approach to the music. I did not wish to copy the 1930s recordings “to the letter.” The quality of those recorded performances ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, and I couldn’t avoid putting my own imprint on them. While respecting the original melodies and words, the accompaniments and arrangements I had prepared reflect my 21^st century point of view, as well as the influences of my Latin American background, classical training and admiration for jazz, adding the original touch to Petersburski’s songs.

Then there was the issue of assigning the songs to each singer, taking into consideration their respective talents and voice ranges, and creating some trio arrangements, such as “Maniusiu Ach” and “Ty i moja gitara.” While 80% of the songs are in Polish, the remaining are sung in German, English, Russian, Hebrew and Spanish, reflecting Petersburski’s life journey.  I am particularly proud of the fact that the singers have learned the foreign words and pronunciation.

I am looking forward to bringing our Petersburski show to the Polish Slavic Center in Brooklyn this coming May 30. Hope to see you there.

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Jerzy Petersburski, 1926

Jerzy Petersburski (1895, Warsaw– 1979, Warsaw) – composer, pianist, accompanist, and bandleader, Jerzy Petersburski was one of the important figures in Warsaw’s popular music scene between the wars. He studied in Warsaw and Vienna. In the 1920s, he collaborated with Artur Gold; together they formed a popular dance orchestra that performed in Warsaw cabarets, revue theatres, and venues including Qui Pro Quo, Morskie Oko, and Adria. After the war, he lived successively in Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. In 1968, he returned to Poland and settled in Warsaw - the city from which his music had emerged and which remained its important stage.

Pablo Zinger is an Uruguayan-born conductor, pianist, composer, arranger, writer, and teacher, specializing in Spanish and Latin American music. He toured for ten years with the Valencia-based Zinger Septet; conducted the Costa Rica National Symphony and Montevideo Pro Opera, as well as Bronx Arts Ensemble with jazz greats Tito Puente, Dave Valentin, Néstor Torres and John Faddis. Most recently, he conducted Piazolla’s María de Buenos Aires with Opera San Antonio, where he also directed a two-week workshop Cantemos Zarzuela. The highlights of his 50-years long musical career include accompanying Plácido Domingo and legendary diva Sarita Montiel, conducting for Paquito D’Rivera’s at Carnegie Hall, and narrating Piazzolla’s Pueblo Joven in Tokyo and New York. 

His CDs include Tango Apasionado (with Piazzolla), The Clarinetist (with D’Rivera), Las Puertas de la Mañana (songs of Guastavino) and two albums of Carlos Suriñac’s music with Bronx Arts Ensemble. He was Musical Director at Repertorio Español, NYC (1980-1993) and of the Patty Disney Zarzuela Series at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM (2004-2011). Presently he is Musical Director of New York’s Teatro Círculo.