olga valia dimitrievitch

During the reign of Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881), a Kalderash Roma won a music competition, he was called “Dimitri”. From then on, his family would become known as “Dimitrievich”. During the last decades of the 19th century, the family travelled throughout the Russian Empire. Tinning and boilermaking were their traditional trades, but the great “gypsy” fashion led them to increase their musical performances. Ivan Dimitrievitch, married to a Siberian Gypsy - Evdokia (Eudoxie) Mikhailovna - was the head of the family. When the echoes of the 1905 revolution reached the West, Ivan Dimitrievitch and his family were in Liverpool - like many Kalderash - about to leave for the United States. It was there that Valia was born. When the First World War broke out, they were in the Balkans, where Alexis, known as “Alyosha”, was born in Negotine, Serbia, the youngest of the four brothers (Nicolas, Dimitri, Ivan and Aliocha). In 1920 they were in Russia and, fleeing the civil war and famine, they left for the east to reach Vladivostok. In Vladivostok, then in Harbin, Ivan set up a program with his children, the “Dimitrievich Gypsies” troupe was born. His four sons were dancers, acrobats, singers and guitarists, his daughters Valia and Maroussia sang and danced with their sisters-in-law. They worked for the Beijing circus, in restaurants in Nanking, Shanghai, Hong Kong. In 1925, they left for Japan, then soon for Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia), India, the Middle East and finally Egypt, from where they made excursions to Algeria and Morocco. In 1930 they arrived in France. They performed at the “Ermitage” then at the “Poisson d’or”. From 1934, the cinema called on them to recreate on screen the splendor of Russian and Parisian nights. In 1934, they starred in “Les nuits moscovites” - a film by A. Granowsky, with H. Baur and Annabella -, and in “Caravane” - a film by E. Charell, with Annabella, C. Boyer and P. Brasseur -. In 1935 they starred in “Les yeux noirs” - a film by V. Tourjansky, with H. Baur and S. Simon -; in 1937 in “Raspoutine” - a film by M. l’Herbier, with H. Baur, M. Chantal and J. Worms -, and in “L’innocent” a film by M. Cammage, with Noël – Noël, M. Robinson and H. Wassiet. During the summer period the cabarets closed, so the Dimitrievitch performed in the casinos of the seaside resorts on the Atlantic coast, as well as those on the Mediterranean coast - depending on the holiday clientele. Some members of the troupe worked regularly for the Bouglione circus. In 1940, the debacle of the French army and the advance of German troops prompted Valia, who was married to a Brazilian diplomat, to convince almost the entire family to leave for Sao Paulo. The Dimitrievitches spent two years in Brazil working, in turn, for restaurants and casinos in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, then continued their journey in Argentina. But the family would experience a succession of bereavements. The three eldest brothers, then Ivan Sr., died at the end of the 1940s. Valia returned to her husband in Sao Paulo, and followed him when he was appointed vice-consul of Brazil in Paris in 1953. Alyosha remained in Argentina, necessity brought him to the large Argentine farms where he worked as a “gaucho”. His sister Valia, who had been working with her daughter Theresa and his nephews Sonia and Stéphane for several years in Paris, brought him back to France in 1960. They performed for a while at the Tsarévitch (formerly Palata), hosted by one of the great heiresses of gypsy nights, Lida Goulesco, daughter of the conductor Jean Goulesco. Valia was then the star of the group. In 1963, Valia and Aliocha worked at Chez Vodka, the Russian cabaret of the Grande Séverine. Joseph Kessel, who had met the family in the 1930s, suggested in 1965 to Valia and the singer Volodia Poliakoff to record a record that he would nostalgically call "The Last Gypsy Voices". Their music was also on the radio programme. Marc de Loutchek, a young musician and conductor at Chez Vodka, helped in this by Francis Morane, had Valia and Aliocha record a 33 rpm record. For five years Valia and Aliocha would work alternately at the Novy and the Shéhérazade. In 1970, Régine hired the Dimitrievitchs to open her Russian cabaret, the Réginskaïa. Finally, in 1971 they returned to the Raspoutine restaurant, which would be their last stop. Valia stopped working in 1981 and died in 1983.

We find the graves of her brother Aliosha (1913-1986) at number 5290 and of her sister Maroussia (1913-1960) at number 5381.

Bibliography: - Dimitri Galitzine: "Aliocha - from Dimitrievitch to gypsies" and "The world of Russian gypsies in Paris"

and Wikipedia