Maria Tanase

Entertainer. She was a popular Romanian singer of both traditional and popular music. Some of her many recordings include, "Toderel", "Jandarmul", "Marioara", "Si-Ar Fi Batut Dumnezeu", and "Butelcuta Me". Born in the Bucharest suburb of Caramidari, Tanase studied at the Scola Primara, and then at the Ion Heliade Radulescu High School before dropping out. She soon joined the Carabus Theatre under the guidance of famed Romanian actor Constantin Tanase (no relation) in 1934 and appeared in a few stage productions, but it wasn't until four years later when she began making a name for herself. In 1938, she began to make her first recordings for Romanian Radio, but unfortunately these were later destroyed by the Anti-Semitic Iron Guard (or fascists) under the pretext that they were distorting Romanian folklore. The real reason was probably because she maintained Jewish friends, among them noted journalists and ethnologists. During the Second World War she sang in musical shows for soldiers