RIENCD22

He who betrays love shall be punished by God ...
At her début on Bucharest Radio in February 1938, Maria Tanase sang CINE IUBESTE SI LASE (La Malédection d'amour), a curse on all who "betray love". This moment, over sixty years ago, marked the beginning of Maria Tanase's career

...a name by no means forgotten in today's Rumania. Just a few months later she was performing in the Revue theatres of Bucharest such as the famous ALHAMBRA. At this time the cosmopolitan Rumanian capital was celebrated as the Paris of the east, and Maria Tanase performed in many of its elegant Garden restaurants.

Just a year after her début, Tanase appeared in New York in the Romanian pavilion of the World Exhibition. So who was this young woman the warmth of whose voice, and the power of whose musical interpretations, struck critics and audiences alike?

She was born in September 1913, the third child of Ana Munteana and Ion Coanda Tanase. The father, Coanda, was a passionate gardener and the family lived on the outskirts of Bucharest. It so happened that in her father's garden she learnt not only to walk, but also how to sing. The Tanases employed women from all parts of Rumania to work in their garden. These women brought the local traditions of the regions they came from with them, in the form of their favourite songs, which they loved to sing. The little Maria was immediately fascinated by the magic of these folk songs, and many of them later became a part of her impressive repertoire.