Lithuanian

Recorded in Lithuania and in North American communities, 1900s–1930s

These sides gather Lithuanian orchestra music as it reached emigrant listeners under names such as the Lithuanian Folk Orchestra of Boston and the Baltimore Lithuanian Radio Orchestra. Seven sides carry the Boston credit, five of them with Ona Ivaska; four come from the Baltimore group, variously with Don Gabor and with Clemenasas Andreikus or Clemensas Anreikus. Single sides add Jouzas Suildauskas, Brunon Kryger “King of the Polkas” and his International Dance Orchestra, the Folkraft International Orchestra under Frank L. Kaltman, Mahanojaus Lietuviska Maineriu Orkestra, and A. Jezavito Radio Orkiestra with G. Wally and P. D. Vich.

The repertoire stays close to the dance floor. Boston offers the 1950 pairing “OŽELIS (Billy Goat)” and “MIKITA (Stick Dance),” together with “USTAS,” “Kubilas (The Tub),” “Suktinis (The Twirlers),” “SUSTAS,” “RUGUČIAI,” and “MALŪNAS (The Mill).” Baltimore supplies “Lithuanian Girls’ Waltz - Lietuvos Mergaiciu,” “Vilna Polka - Vilniaus Polka,” “The Gay Bachelor - Bernuzeli Nes Voliok,” and “Do You Know? Ar Tu Zinai.” Elsewhere stand Suildauskas’s 1925 “Skamba kanklės ir trimitai,” Kryger’s “LITHUANIAN POLKA (Wedding Polka),” the miners’ “Lithuanian Wedding,” Folkraft’s “DZUKU (Lithuanian),” and Jezavito’s “Lietuviska Polka - Lithuanian Polka.”

Only two years are printed on the sides themselves—1925 and 1950. Most remain in the unknown rights class, a few sit in the 1947+ risky band, and a single side falls in the 1923–46 gray range. The word “orchestra” or “orch” appears on thirteen titles; “polka” on three, with a single waltz and a single dance.