Jean Moscopol (; real name: Ioan Moscu; February 26, 1903 – 1980) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n singer of the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

, who spent his last years in the US.

Biography

Moscopol's parents were

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. His mother, ''née'' Constantinidi, was from

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

, while his father originated in

Mesembria Mesembria ( grc, Μεσημβρία; grc-x-doric, Μεσαμβρία, Mesambria) was an important Greek city in ancient Thrace. It was situated on the coast of the Euxine and at the foot of Mount Haemus; consequently upon the confines of Moe ...

on the shores of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. From there he settled in

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...

, where he opened a pastry shop and then worked as a jeweller, like one of his sisters. Jean Moscopol was born in Brăila, where he showed ease of learning from his early days. He could play several instruments (including the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

) and, besides

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

, spoke French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

fluently. His first formal education took place at Brăila's Greek school, and he continued learning in that city, also taking classes at its Lyra conservatory, before finishing high school in

Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most par ...

. From 1921–22, he was a clerk at the M. Embiricos et Co Maritime Agency. He then spent two years at the P. Macri et Son Agency in Brăila, and from 1925 to 1929 worked at the in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. While an aeronautics student, someone advised him to put his musical talent to use and make some recordings. At that moment, music became his profession. He made his performing debut in 1929 at the Zissu bar on Șerban Vodă Street, Bucharest. He would spontaneously create epigrams for the clients and banter with them. He also published a book of epigrams, ''101 răutăți'' ("101 Naughty Sayings"). Around this time he also made his first gramophone recordings and first appeared on radio. He took music lessons in 1930, passed an examination and was confirmed as a professional artist. H. Nicolaide hired him at the Alhambra Revue Theatre, where he sang in the operettas ''Alhambritta'', ''Lăsați-mă să cânt'' and ''Contesa Maritza''. In 1931, he toured Romania with , an actor at the

National Theatre Bucharest The National Theatre Bucharest ( ro, Teatrul Naţional "Ion Luca Caragiale" București) is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest. Founding It was founded as the ''Teatrul cel Mare din București'' ("Gra ...

. That year he signed an exclusive contract with the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. By 1936, his repertoire included some 300 songs of various genres, both Romanian and foreign; he helped popularize the

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

in his native land. In 1932 he went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he recorded discs with famous orchestras such as Hönigsberg and

James Kok Arthur James Kok (January 24, 1902, Czernowitz - October 18, 1976, Berlin) was a Romanian bandleader, violinist, and arranger. He led dance bands that played light music and jazz. Kok learned to play music from his father, a violinist. He also cou ...

, and took

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

lessons with Professor Korst. With the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Moscopol's fortunes changed, as his political opinions stood in marked contrast to those of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

then gaining ascendancy. Not wishing to serve the régime, he managed to flee to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1945. Arriving in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he worked as a hotel porter, investing the money he earned into a small musical ensemble. With this group he continued playing the songs that brought him renown in 1930s Bucharest, as well as anti-communist and exile-themed music. He played an active role in the Saint Dumitru

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...

parish. He died in exile in 1980, never having married. In the 1970s, Moscopol recorded a series of songs with the help of , director of the newspaper ''

Universul ''Universul'' was a mass-circulation newspaper in Romania. It existed from 1884 to 1953, and was run by Stelian Popescu from 1914 to 1943 (with a two-year break during World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbrevi ...

''. These were released in Bucharest in 1993. Songs of his include "Vrei să ne-ntâlnim sâmbătă sara?", "Mână, birjar" and "Tot ce-i românesc nu piere", as well as "Dă-mi gurița s-o sărut"."Dă-mi gurița s-o sărut"
at Romanian Music: Songs from old Bucharest Due to his vehement opposition to the

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

policies put in effect during the

Soviet occupation of Romania The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania. The fate of the territories held by Romania after 1918 that were incorporated int ...

, the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

tried to erase Moscopol from the

national memory National memory is a form of collective memory defined by shared experiences and culture. It is an integral part to national identity. It represents one specific form of cultural memory, which makes an essential contribution to national group coh ...

by marginalizing him. Around 2005, director Ștefan Gladin met with great difficulties when he sought information about Moscopol for a

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

; few archival documents about him remained.

Notes

External links

"Jean Moscopol, trubadurul graseiat" ("Jean Moscopol, the Trilling Troubadour")
Vali Blănaru, ''

Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Bucharest ...

'', October 25, 2004.
"Jean Moscopol - erou de film" ("Jean Moscopol - Film Hero")
Călin Stănculescu, ''

România liberă ''România liberă'' ("") is a Romanian daily newspaper founded in 1943 and currently based in Bucharest. A newspaper of the same name also existed between 1877 and 1888. History and profile The name ''România liberă'' was first used by a dai ...

'', August 5, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moscopol, Jean 1903 births 1980 deaths People from Brăila Romanian people of Greek descent Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Romanian people of World War II Romanian anti-communists Romanian expatriates in the United States Romanian singer-songwriters Romanian cabaret performers Tango musicians Romanian mandolinists Banjoists Romanian humorists Romanian male poets Romanian epigrammatists 20th-century Romanian male singers Romanian emigrants to the United States American people of Romanian descent