They carried Lviv's music and Lviv's humor into the world. About the artists of the "lwowska fala" in exile in the light of materials from the Leopolis Collection

Abstract

The “Lwowska Fala” („Lviv Wave”) was a continuation of the “Wesoła Lwowska Fala” („Cheerful Lviv Wawe”) operating in Lviv from July 1933 until the outbreak of the war. The most popular authors were the native Lviv inhabitants of Szczepko (Kazimierz Wajda) and Tońko (Henryk Vogelfänger). The texts were written by Wiktor Budzyński, the ensemble’s artistic director and announcer. In September 1939, the artists left Lviv. From November 14, 1939 to March 8, 1940, they performed in Romania as the Polish Artistic Group YMCA “Lwowska Fala”. Then they toured France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium. The “Lwowska Fala” ceased to exist at the end of 1946, and the life paths of the artists permanently diverged. Materials illustrating the activities of the “Lwowska Fala” can be found in the Museum of Independence in Warsaw and are a valuable part of the Leopolis Collection. They also document the individual fates of artists who had to deal with the plight of emigrants after the war. Concert programs, Włada Majewska’s diaries and commemorative books show that the artists of “Lwowska Fala” took Lviv’s humor and music into the world, giving them a new life among Poles abroad, far from Lviv.