North Africa from Szolnok by Daniel Weltlinger Quartet

'Le Chant Des Partisans' and 'North Africa' represents the time during the Second World War when my grandfather fled the Vichy government in Marseilles and escaped across the Pyrenees to the border of France and Spain narrowly avoiding death at the hands of Francisco Franco's forces. After being rescued from a jail in Algeria by the Red Cross he ended up as a chief of the French Resistance in North Africa, joined the British Eight Army in the North African and Italian campaigns, and quite possibly also liberated Paris along with Charles De Gaulle and the Free French Army. He ended up settling in Morocco in the years following the Second World War during which time he met my grandmother - his second wife - and my mother was born. He was also briefly reunited with his one remaining brother who had himself escaped two concentration camps and made his way to Morocco via Marseilles, and had a son who today lives in La Charité sur Loire in France and has 6 children. The remainder of my grandfather's family by all accounts were killed in the Holocaust, and as with so many other Hungarian Jewish families most of the family disappeared with barely a trace. I don't know whether the violin was stored in a safe house in Marseilles during this time (possible) or was stored in a safe house in North Africa (also possible) but he definitely had the violin with him in Casablanca before he, my grandmother and my mother emigrated to Australia during the uprisings against French rule that took place in Morocco during the mid 1950s. My grandmother’s sister lived in Sydney with her husband and no children and offered them safe passage all the way to Australia.

Australian born, Berlin-based violinist/composer/producer. Regularly performing with a number of musicians and ensembles including my quartet under my name, The Asthmatix, Zohar's Nigun, Lulo Reinhardt Latin-Swing Project, Karsten Troyke, Sharon Brauner, Suzanna, Radio Django and Ensemble Olivinn amongst many others.

danielweltlinger.com
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