#slovak blogger

[simajfit]

[mika-no-sekai-blog]

Po rokoch som si splnila svoj stredoškolský sen a založila si blog, kde si môžem bláboliť o čom len chcem

After years I finally fulfilled my dream and made an own blog. It's written in Slovak, so please use a translation option on the right to translate to other languages(WARNING: Google translation quality)

[thedigwriter]

THE RIGHT TO BE A CZECH CITIZEN

The lost ties of a citizen inheritance

Article by: Juan Carlos Matyáš Saab

Total Words: 1954

Reading time: About 10 minutes

Synopsys

How to get the proof of Slovak non-citizenship without losing your mind. The journey of a Czech citizenship application that is taken more than a decade.

Masreactions: https://masreactions.wixsite.com/multiservicios/en/post/the-right-to-be-a-czech-citizen Blogger: https://socialprofitability.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-right-to-be-czech-citizen-lost-ties.html

Something that I will never understand about the current migration policies of the Czech Republic is the way in which, through the accommodation of dates, they choose who, how and when can be a citizen of the country, despite the fact that many of us have the legal descendants of relatives born within the territory, and that, by location on the map and the proof of their documents, it should be absolutely obvious and sufficient.

The reality is that for us who live abroad are practically excluded from all the benefits that, I would think, we are entitled to by right.

When Czechoslovakia was dissolved, instead of opening the doors of Czechia to its citizens and making things easier to bring back its people and their families, incredibly the opposite happened. The borders have closed and politics, bureaucracy, seem to be the ones who hold the reins, making more difficult to claim the rights that should already be granted.

This is my story. The story of many people trying to get what they rightfully deserve. The story that tells of the difficulty of being legal despite the energy, talent, knowledge and passion that identifies our family heritage.

The fact

While living abroad, my father, who is a Czech citizen (along with my deceased grandfather), notified me that it was possible to claim citizenship by inheritance and descent directly at their embassies.  This excellent news would allow me to be legally part of my family, and of course, invest my professional and personal experience in my grandfather's land, which would become mine very soon. I began to collect every penny to start my process and be able to arrive at my new home with the financial cushion that would give me the opportunity to start my own business, and at the same time, work legally while learning the language.

The reality

And well, I finally went to the embassy. I submitted my father and grandfather's papers thinking that this would be enough. Big mistake: All the members of my family qualified, except me. The explanation received at the time was:

You do not qualify for Czech citizenship, according to the dates stipulated within the "Law No. 186/2013 concerning citizenship of the Czech Republic".

Wow!  This for me really was a bucket of cold water...

According to this law, at the time of my birth, Czechoslovakia had already been divided. Therefore, if my grandfather was not within the territory, they could not determine which side he belonged to; Whether next to the Czech Republic or next to Slovakia.

Please note that, in my grandfather's birth register, his parents were Czech, they had lived within Czech territory, my existing relatives are located within Czech territory, my grandfather's passport is Czech; That is, everywhere you can determine that my descendants are definitely Czech.

In summary and to clarify, all the documents and evidence provided were not sufficient for the country's authorities...

My entire family received their citizenship and passport, except for me. With great pain in my heart and despite the efforts of having traveled to another city, starting a procedure, having paid and waited for it, I had to realize that it would not happen, and that I would have to leave things like this, move away and continue life with this disappointment.

Resuming

After a few years I returned to my native country, and my father again convinced me to apply again through the Czech embassy located in the city, as he had been told that the laws had changed and that it was now possible for me to obtain Czech citizenship. So, we finally did it.

We went there, spoke directly to the consul and at some point, his answer was clear and forceful:

“Yes, sir. You have the right to Czech citizenship, but in order to start the process you will need to prove that you are not a Slovak citizen.

What? That was my logical response to hearing such nonsense.

The instructions

Then, the consul went on to give me the instructions of the procedure:

You will need to contact the embassy of the Slovak Republic in Brazil and process through them a form of "proof of Slovak non-citizenship". Once you have this document in your possession, you can go back to this embassy and we will gladly start the process of applying for your Czech citizenship.

Wow! Incredibly, I would now need to prove that I have no connection with the Slovak Republic; But anyways, trying to be calm and focused, if that was the requirement of the embassy, we would comply with it to have the necessary legality.

Memories

I will mention that this situation was in 2018 and that a few days later I tried to contact the embassy of the Slovak Republic in Brazil by emails, since no embassy was open in my country at that date and the only one designated for the entire region was located in that country. So, I sent several messages to different emails that appeared in "Google" since I didn't know exactly which one to target and no one was provided at the moment of my appointment.

These emails were not answered, and I decided to directly contact the consul of the embassy of the Czech Republic in my country again and explain the situation. He, the consul, very kindly replied saying that he could not do anything and finally gave me an email to write to, as some people was successful in contacting the Czech embassy in Brazil in the past. So, I started sending the same emails to this new email address.

They finally answered one of my emails. Just one, telling me that I had to make an appointment and pay for the procedure in the local currency of the country.

Another information was that I had to do the procedure in person and it would take about 1 year, and that when I arrived, I would have to return to claim it in person, since they did not send anything by email or by any international transport company, due to the sensitivity of the document.

Ok. Understood. I took notice and responded to this email requesting information about the date available for the appointment schedule, the amount to pay to take the money in local currency and of course asking what documents would be needed for this procedure.

Disappointments

Do you know how many emails I received again in response from them? Zero. I never received even the notification that they had been reeded. Frustrating, right?

After several months of not receiving any response, I decided to leave things like that, since I did not know how to obtain that document. I wasn't going to buy flight tickets without having anything prepared, travel to another country without having an answer, an appointment, a price or a specific date.

Time passed, the pandemic came and went, and with the resilience of the case, we reinvented ourselves and started again. We continue our life, our work, our education and we adapt more in each of the steps.

Resuming

At that same time and after 5 years of doing nothing about that respect, I began to wonder why it was so difficult to get this Czech citizenship, being clear that my father, my grandfather, my sister and even my niece were already citizens and had their passport...

So, in September of 2023, I wrote again to the Slovak embassy in Brazil hoping that now they would respond to me; And I tell you that, until today, October 2024, I have not had any answer. More than a year waiting for a miserable message...

I needed to find another way to solve this teaser; So, at the beginning of the year I started looking on the internet for more information about where else I could get that Slovak non-citizenship proof" or another legal way of I could apply for Czech citizenship, but nothing.

Nowhere was any mention of the need for the "Slovak non-citizenship proof" or where I could write or submit questions.

The situation was totally incredible to me and although I respected it with suspicion, I could not realize in my head the little common sense this policy had.

I exchanged messages with the consul of the Czech embassy of my country during that time, telling him about all I had done, especially about the issue with the embassy of Slovakia in Brazil, but always obtained the same answer: I needed to go to Brazil, no matter if they answer or not.

And, like this, I found a second option: I decided to start contacting immigration lawyers directly in the Czech Republic. I had analyzed in my head that, if I had to spend a fortune going to Brazil to apply for the proof document in person, wait 1 year to get a response back, bring it to my country, submit the application and wait another year for the decision, I could do the same in the Czech Republic.

I figured out that through lawyers from the same country the application would cost me the same and also the trip, but at least I would be sure that my case would be done within the Czech territory; and if I needed anything else, Slovakia would be just around the corner.

The research

I prepared a generic message, which included the description of my situation, the legal information of my father and grandfather with attachments and images, the family tree, and of course mentioning the need for the document "proof of Slovak non-citizenship" in order to start the process.

Many of them (the lawyers) started to contact me a few days later, and others, the following week. The most incredible thing is that everyone told me that it was the first time they had heard about this “proof of Slovak non-citizenship”, which made my situation even stranger. At this point I understood that perhaps there would be a different approach to this situation, more objective and realistic.

After some time an answer arrived from one of the contacted lawyers:  They explained to me that in the event that the document was needed, we could fill out another sworn form saying that I was not a Slovak citizen, and that, for the rest of the procedure, they would only need a power of attorney from me, so that they could act on my behalf; and the only thing they could not do for me was to get my passport, because the Czech government would require my fingerprints for the biometric part.

In addition, they explained that the process would be faster, since there would be no need to wait for the normal times of the embassy, and so the said procedures would be carried out directly in the country, eliminating the times of coming and going of the documents.

The current point

On a personal level, since 2012 I have found myself trapped in this situation and this new approach, probably can be a final solution. I hope that time, the lawyer's knowledge and the consistency of immigration policies will help me finally obtain the long-awaited Czech citizenship.

I know there are many people in the same situation and that perhaps don´t have the time or the financial capacity to continue trying. I will continue doing so until I finally achieve the goal that my grandfather and my father have given me by right.

[dataanxiety]

Why was that Nazi honored in Ottawa?

No one seems to be able to figure out how it happened. A bona fide Nazi was honored with two standing ovations in Canadian parliament last week. He was a real Nazi, not a neo-Nazi, nor a Canadian trucker, not a Trump supporter, nor even a moderate conservative.

This guy was 98 years old and served in the all-volunteer SS 14th Waffen Division also known as 1st Galicia. They were Ukrainian collaborators between 1943 and 1945 when Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany. They murdered a lot of Poles, Jews, and Slovaks. They swore allegiance to moustache man.

Various Canadians say that it wasn't Trudeau's fault, as the prime minister reports to the House of Commons, i.e. the Canadian Parliament. This guy, the former Chief of Protocol said the speaker has "supreme power" to choose who attends and is honored by Parliament, not "the government":

"The Speaker doesn't report to the Prime Minister's Office. While Rota is a Liberal MP, the Speaker is elected by all members of the House. A spokesperson for the Speaker said Rota did not share his list of invitees with the Prime Minister's Office or any of the opposition parties before Friday's event...the list of potential guests was shared with Parliament's Protocol Office, which co-ordinates the sending of invitations."

Next question, then, is how does the speaker "vet" people who are selected for honoring and presentation to foreign dignitaries, in this case Zelenskyy?

"Process to vet people by speaker's office is totally opaque."

The former chief of protocol guy seems to think that such opacity is totally okay. He says there is a Parliamentary Protective Services group who does security checks but those are to make sure the person doesn't have outstanding warrants for, say, burglary or rape. Protocol guy said that a Google search on the person's name is probably done.

That doesn't seem to be too effective as a method of vetting! Even I found the Nazi guy's name all over the Internet because he wrote lots of posts on Blogger and elsewhere, for the past 10+ years, about how much he enjoyed his time in the SS 14th Waffen Division. He even has a private Facebook group for Canadian veterans of SS 1st Galicians.

This is what a very upset Canadian opposition party member, who was a former speaker of Parliament said:

"Rota's statement doesn't answer the questions around how this person was allowed to be in the chamber. A straightforward Google search will show he served in this particular division. If basic, rudimentary vetting as to who might be in the gallery isn't done — that's remarkable."

So, it isn't Trudeau's job, it isn't Parliament's job, and it isn't the job of the Canadian government's security service who does background checks for guests of Parliament.

Here's a video from the CBC (Canada's public broadcaster, I think) of the event. I took two screenshots to encourage clicking and viewing below. No one ever clicks on links!

At least he remembered not to Sieg Heil.

[cyberbenb]

Fact Check: German Newspaper Handelsblatt Did NOT Call To 'Reconsider Attitudes' Toward Ukraine's Zelenskyy After 2023 NATO Summit

Did the German newspaper Handelsblatt publish a cartoon of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its front page in the aftermath of the 2023 NATO summit, calling to "reconsider attitudes" toward support of Zelenskyy and Ukraine? No, that's not true: No such cover could be found on the Handelsblatt official website.

The story appeared in a tweet (archived here) published on July 12, 2023. It said:

A German newspaper correctly understood the main outcome of the NATO summit.

The entry contained an image of the supposed cover with a cartoon of Zelenskyy paired with the following words, as translated by Google:

An endless story

It's time to reconsider our attitudes towards the mental abilities of the President of Ukraine

This is what the tweet looked like at the time of writing:

(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Wed Jul 19 13:40:25 2023 UTC)

Handelsblatt is a daily business newspaper published in the German city of Düsseldorf in the German language; its English version ceased to exist in 2019.

The 2023 NATO summit mentioned in the tweet took place in Vilnius, Lithuania, between July 11 and July 12, 2023.

It was not without controversy. On July 11, 2023, still on the way to Vilnius, Zelenskyy tweeted (archived here) that it was "unprecedented and absurd" that NATO did not provide him with a concrete timeline for joining the alliance as Kyiv demanded. Zelenskyy was also critical about NATO not waiving conditions for the invitation to join.

As The Washington Post reported, "Members of the U.S. delegation were furious with Zelenskyy's tweet." According to the article, NATO diplomats had been working on a way "to signal support for Ukraine without actually offering Kyiv membership."

The Vilnius summit communique issued later that day, however, said that "Ukraine's future is in NATO" and pointed out that the country has made progress, becoming "increasingly interoperable and politically integrated with the Alliance."

On July 12, 2023, shortly before meeting with the U.S. President Joe Biden -- Zelenskyy would soon describe it as "very good, powerful" -- he tweeted in English, "We understand that Ukraine cannot become a member of NATO while the war is ongoing."

Yet, the incident did not lead to Handelsblatt calling to withdraw support from Ukraine. The cover shared on social media was not authentic.

Unlike some other newspapers, Handelsblatt does utilize magazine-style covers in its Friday issues, and on July 13, 2023, it shared a new one on social media. It featured reporting on a very different topic, as translated by Google:

(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Wed Jul 19 15:16:55 2023 UTC)

On the same day, the newspaper warned its audiences about false covers in a pinned tweet (archived here):

(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Wed Jul 19 15:38:00 2023 UTC)

The newspaper's archive, found on its official website, confirmed that it did not publish any cartoons mocking Zelenskyy on its front pages between July 10 and July 19, 2023:

(Source: Handelsblatt screenshot taken on Jul 19 15:24:40 2023 UTC)

The claim circulated in French, Spanish, Italian, Slovak and Russian across platforms, including Telegram and Facebook, demonstrating signs of a coordinated campaign.

According to TinEye, the image was also uploaded to the Russian-language and Samoa-registered website cont.ws, among other resources:

(Source: Cont screenshot taken on Wed Jul 19 16:33:10 2023 UTC)

Сont.ws describes itself as a platform for "social journalism," but publishes bloggers with explicitly stated pro-Kremlin views.

It is not the first time a fake cover has been used to portray Zelenskyy in a negative light since the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the past, Lead Stories debunked the authenticity of such "covers" purportedly published by the French Charlie Hebdo, the German satirical magazine Titanic, the British weekly New European and the Turkish LeMan.

Other Lead Stories fact checks about the war in Ukraine can be found here.

[mariaraynard]

Points of view

Nice, France // March 2022

Follow my instagram for more travel photography!

[simajart]

[renegade-is-in-my-blood]

Natalias first solo travel trip and the benefits of it

Natalias first solo travel trip and the benefits of it

In my short life, I have traveled quite a lot. The one issue I’m always facing is finding a travel buddy to take on my journeys with me. All of my trips suggestions sound great to all of my friends – in theory. But when it comes to actually doing it, many back down. Sure there are many factors in consideration everyone needs to rethink. Time. Money. Comfort zone. The last one is what I’ve been…

[fairytaleslive]

Do you know of any way to find Tri Bratri/Three Brothers with English subtitles? I've not had much luck, and I couldn't remember if you'd linked to it anywhere.

Hello! I am certain it used to be on Netflix but now I don't see it there, maybe I am searching wrongly… Anyway, Magda has it on her wonderful google drive with english subtitles: https://valerieandherweekofwonderz.tumblr.com/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18jzMUct0F8pIpslLBIyxjKp9o_B8Ab6U (folder fairytales -> czech)

Please support this blogger, she works hard to make Czech and Slovak movies available with subtitles!

And enjoy the movie, it's intended for smaller kids, but it's still a fun fairytale that mixes Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and Twelve Months.

[thetikigirlshop]

I'm so excited about these Fashion Jewelry Items Coming Soon.... ———————————————————————————- My Taste for Fashion Jewelry With a Purpose to me means: A way to express oneself, to complete an outfit, and to make a statement. ———————————————————————————- My mission is to help girls and women to find their purpose : Don't let yourself get caught up in the negativity. You are enough and you're not alone. The good news is that you don't have to suffer. ☀ There is a sisterhood of phenomenal, supportive women waiting to lift you up, inspire you, and bring joy to your life.⁣ ———————————————————————————- 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗘 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗘𝗢. ———————————————————————————- If you read this post that means you are a loyal fan of my page. Thank you for following my page 📲👩🏼‍💻 #handmade#earrings#earringsoftheday#fashionearrings#fashion#jewellerymaker#jewellery#jewellerydesign#jewelleryblogger#blogger#styleblog#ootd#fashionlover#fashiontrend#todayessentials#dnesneessentials#nausnice#czech#slovakia#slovak#svk#slovakgirl#photooftoday#jewellerylover#handmadeearrings#instajewelry#jewelrygram#springiscomming#spring https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fL8Olpgco/?igshid=zwnbz2todc5w

[simajfit]

[mariacallous]

The Kyiv Independent Ukraine Daily: Tuesday, November 22

UK Defense Ministry: Svatove in Luhansk Oblast becomes vulnerable flank of Russian troops. Russian leaders will likely consider maintaining control over Svatove as a big population center in Luhansk Oblast a political priority, but Russian commanders are facing the challenge of retaining a reliable defense in the sector while trying to resource offensive operations in Donetsk Oblast, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly recognizes Russia as 'terrorist state,' calls for special tribunal creation."The resolution names Russia the most direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security," said Tomas Valasek, a member of the Slovak delegation to the NATO PA. "It states clearly that the state of Russia, under its current regime, is a terrorist one," he added. He added that Russia violated its agreements with the alliance, thus, the provision of limiting the forward deployment of troops is "null and void."

ISW: Kremlin looking to tighten control of Russian information space. The Russian government is continuing to increase its control of the Russian information space as it looks to shape the narrative in and outside of Russia surrounding its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of the War wrote in its latest update. The D.C.-based think tank cited one Russian military blogger as saying the Kremlin's efforts to shape Russia's information space "look like a kitten against a rhinoceros" compared to foreign think tanks, non-profit organizations, and independent media.

Media: Polish prosecutors won't allow Ukraine to join investigation of Przewodow blast. Polish Prosecutor’s Office will not agree to include the Ukrainian side in the investigation of the rocket explosion in the town of Przewodow, Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Poland plans to station Patriot missile systems at Ukrainian border. Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak confirmed Germany’s offer to deploy additional Patriot air defense systems to Poland. After the missile blast in the Polish village of Przewodow, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her country would provide the missile systems and help Poland in its air patrol.

IAEA: No immediate nuclear safety concerns at Zaporizhzhia power plant despite severe shelling. International Atomic Energy Agency experts found that despite a high level of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant over the weekend, key equipment remained intact and there were no immediate nuclear safety concerns.

Zelensky's address on Dignity and Freedom Day: Ukrainians may be left without electricity, but they will never lack freedom. Zelensky said in a video address that since he congratulated Ukraine with this holiday a year ago, many things have changed in the country, in Europe, and the whole world. He added that some things, however, remained unchanged: who Ukrainians are and that their main values are dignity and freedom.

General Staff: Russia continues covert mobilization in occupied Crimea. In occupied Simferopol, the Russian-imposed administration continues to conscript people to meet quantitative mobilization indicators determined by the Kremlin, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Nov. 21.

Ukraine says military operation underway on left bank of Dnipro River. Ukraine's Southern Operational Command reported on Nov. 21 that the operation had been launched on the Kinburn Spit in Mykolaiv Oblast, and a storm in the sea is helping Ukrainian troops to liberate this territory.

Bloomberg: Russia has lost over 90% of its oil market in northern Europe. Russia has already lost the vast majority of its market in the European Union’s northern countries even before an EU embargo on Russian oil is set to take effect on Dec. 5, Bloomberg reported.

The human cost of Russia’s war

The Guardian: Kherson residents say Russian forces dumped fallen soldiers in landfill. Kherson residents said that Russian occupying forces had sealed off a landfill where they were dumping the bodies of fallen Russian soldiers and burning them, the Guardian reported.

Russia’s attacks kill 1 in Kharkiv Oblast, injure 3 in Donetsk Oblast. In the past 24 hours, Russian forces attacked settlements in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Mykolaiv oblasts.

Official: Russian shelling of Kherson kills 1, injures 4 people. Russian forces shelled the liberated southern city of Kherson, killing one and injuring three civilians, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, President Volodymyr Zelensky's deputy chief of staff. The village of Antonivka in Kherson Oblast also came under a Russian attack on Nov. 21, one woman was hospitalized.

General Staff: Russia has lost 84,600 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Nov. 21 that Russia had also lost 2,892 tanks, 5,822 armored fighting vehicles, 4,378 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,870 artillery systems, 393 multiple launch rocket systems, 209 air defense systems, 278 airplanes, 261 helicopters, 1,537 drones, and 16 boats.

International response

Britain sends Ukraine advanced Brimstone missiles. Recent footage has surfaced of laser-guided Brimstone 2 missiles being delivered to Ukraine by Britain's Royal Air Force, the Telegraph reported. This more advanced version has double the range of an earlier version Britain already supplied to Ukraine around six months ago.

New Zealand expands sanctions against Russia, Belarus. New Zealand has imposed new sanctions against 22 Russians and Belarusians, and four Russian companies in the oil, gas, steel, and transport sectors, the country’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta reported on Nov. 21.

Luxembourg to supply off-road vehicles to Ukrainian military. Luxembourg will send additional High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) to “strengthen Ukraine in exercising its right to self-defense,” the country’s Defense Minister Francois Bausch said on Nov. 21.

Norway to allocate nearly $200 million to Ukraine to help purchase gas. In late August, Norway announced it would help Ukraine increase its natural gas reserves before winter arrives. "The gas will help alleviate the country's grave humanitarian situation," the government then said.

Polish regulator to appeal annulment of $6.3 billion fine imposed on Gazprom. Poland's consumer rights watchdog, known as UOKiK, will appeal a court ruling that annulled fines imposed on Russian energy giant Gazprom and five other companies responsible for building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Polish regulator said on Nov. 21.

Spanish police to help Ukraine investigate Russian war crimes. Spain will send its police units to Ukraine to assist the country’s law enforcement officers “in the investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, cited by CNN.

[mysticalgalaxysalad]

🌺send this to ten bloggers you think are wonderful. keep the game going🌺

You are a beautiful sweetheart and you'll get tons of hugs from me and Pedro pic from one Slovak magazine, it's from article about Wonder Woman 1984 🤗😍

[thatbanjobusiness]

Early 1920s Non-English American Records by OKeh

I’ve only begun researching the history of the early recorded music industry. From the beginning, I’ve been interested learning about certain series of records sold by OKeh, a company (of course not the only one) which sought out musicians from a variety of cultural and ethnic groups to appeal to North American and American immigrant demographics. OKeh was one of the first companies to regularly conduct field trips locating musicians in areas that previously lacked recording studio access.

OKeh is responsible for tapping into multiple demographics that had been underrepresented or absent from early commercial music records. In 1920 OKeh recorded Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues,” in which Mamie Smith was the first African-American female singer to lead a commercial recording. It was “unexpectedly” successful and broke open the doors for major recording companies to produce materials specifically for African-American audiences. This song alone is worth a ton of research, discussion, and analysis regarding its social background and its bold, hard-hitting lyrics like, “Get myself a gun and shoot myself a cop.”

The same individual who supervised Mamie Smith’s recording, Ralph Peer, is also credited with bringing us the first successful country music record, that of Fiddlin’ John Carson in 1923. It was almost the first country music record, too, but A. C. (“Eck”) Robertson recorded in the summer of 1922 for Victor and saw his music released in April of 1923; John Carson was recorded on June 13, 1923, and his music released August 3, 1923. Even though Peer considered either Carson’s singing or the recording quality “pluperfect awful” (different accounts say different things), this record sold like hotcakes.

To be clear: the motivations behind OKeh and Ralph Peer were that of profit, not representation. And Fiddlin’ John Carson, despite being an integral part of country music history, is no personality to celebrate. But it is nevertheless a unique and informative area of music history to explore for both the good and bad residing in it.

I’ve known the stories of Mamie Smith, Ralph Peer, and John Carson for some time, but I haven’t delved as much into OKeh’s early 1920s music in which they recorded many other cultural groups in North America. Today, I’m peeping into their early catalogue, which is excitingly available online, and contains occasional digital files of the old records.

From 1918-1934, OKeh designated entire catalog series numbers to music and comedy from many people groups and languages. These were, as designated by OKeh itself: Race [that is, African-American] (8000 and 20000), Italian (9000, 84000, and 86000), German (10000, 81000, and 85000), Polish (11000, 67000, and 87000), Hungarian (12000 and 86500), Roumanian (13000 and 83500), Finnish (13500), Jewish (14000), Porto Rican (14000), Russian (15000), Ukranian (16000 and 81500), Mexican (16000, 16400, and 88000), Bohemian (17000), Slovak (18000), Scandinavian/Swedish (19000), Danish (20000), Irish (21000), French (22000), Serbo-Croatian (23000), Slovenian-Krainer (24000), Croatian (25000), Norwegian (25000), Lithuanian (26000), Swiss (27000), Welsh (27500), Greek (28000), Portuguese (29000), Chinese (29000), Spanish (33000), West Indian (65000), Bulgarian (69000), Armenian (77000 and 78000), Hebrew (80000), Portuguese (80500), Greek (82000 and 82500), Turkish (83000), and Bohemian (89000). Think I got all that right.

I’m not here today to seek out the most famous songs that have come out of OKeh’s early 1920s, but I am here to have fun, and I hope it’s fun to share with you songs in different languages I’ve found, looked up, and listened to. Because what’s cooler than what American immigrant and minority populations listened to 100 years ago?

Do note: lots of the audio files are quiet, so you’ll need to crank up. Also note: since this was a hundred years ago, sometimes the record label’s language choices can get... wonky... from a modern perspective. I don’t think here anything’s weird, but I want to give warning because I’ve Seen Things before.

S-70969 OKeh 14054 Mein Griner Cosin / Ich Bin A Border Bei Mein Weib

Tenor Morris Goldstein, singing in Yiddish and backed by an orchestra, was recorded November 1922 in New York, New York. As you can see on the label above, OKeh has it labeled as a “Jewish Comic Song.” Both Morris Goldstein and the composer of this song, Morris Rund, have their names appear on many other records. In fact, looking at Morris Goldenstein, he appears on a large number of records from five companies (Victor, Columbia, OKeh, Brunswick, and Edison) between 1916 and 1929. I desperately wish I could find more information about him, especially given how well-recorded he was, and at such an early time, indicating some level of prominent singer, but regrettably the internet is turning me up dry. I will say, even with this audio being nearly 99 years old, his voice sings out wonderfully.

I actually just stumbled across a copy of this record on eBay, which is fun to see floating around. And reliable discogs has this listed, too, albeit to no surprise, there’s no copies for sale.

8440 OKeh 26024 Pamylējau Vakar / Vai, Varge, Varge

Lithuanian! I found a hundred songs in the OKeh matrices in this language. This recording by baritone singer Kastas Sabonis was recorded in Chicago, Illinois, in July of 1923. Unfortunately, I have less on Sabonis than I do Goldstein, but I noticed Sabonis reappears on Columbia in 1925 and Victor in 1926.

One of the things I am fascinated by is how the main label material (song title, performer) is in Lithuanian, but the rest is in English. In some ways, you could say this makes sense... non-Lithuanian consumers can understand the gist of what it’s about, and Lithuanian people can potentially recognize the title of a song they’re already familiar with. And like, it’s always better to keep the title of the song in its actual language.

Also ironically, one of these records was sold online in late January 2021. So these do float around, still.

S-7310 OKeh 4801 Kuu Pua Loke / Mauna Kea O' Hawaii

We have records of Prince Lei Lani between 1913 and 1928. He started with Victor and switched to OKeh in 1920. This song, Mauna kea o' Hawaii, is the second song he recorded with OKeh; he was recorded in New York, New York. It’s a beautiful recording.

He was born in 1887 in Hawai'i as Edwin Kaumualiiokamokuokalani Rose. Sometimes you’ll see his name as Prince Leilani, Edwin K. Rose, or E. K. Rose. He was in three movies: Waikiki Wedding (1937), Hawaiian Nights (1939), and Bird of Paradise (1951). Lest you forget how nascent the recording industry is, Prince Lei Lani died in 1971. I’ve found one blogger, a relative of his, who’s translated articles and advertisements from Hawaiian to English and collected information on him, in case you’re interested seeing photographs of him and learning more. There’s some fun stuff here.

73798 Odeon 18056 Prychod Z Krčmi Na Svite

Comedy! Slovak comedy! Although the database tells me this is a “Male vocal solo, with accordion,” there’s clearly two singers, and the majority of the recording is speech. The singing duet backed by accordion seems to be, to my untrained ear, an opener and a closer to the act. Comedy recordings are a fun element of early records I need to get more into, and while I can’t understand Andrej Gellert’s speech, the fact he’s intentionally interspersing his speech with hiccups makes it clear to me this is a humorous sketch.

This was recorded November 1925 in New York, New York.

There are more digital files of Andrej Gellert on this site. These ones are music. That’s probably why he got listed as “Male vocal solo.” You can hear Mlynské kolo tosa toci, from the same recording session as Prychod z krčmi na svite. There’s also Lístie opadlo (this one’s really cool) and Na ćo som na svete?, and Veselý pastier recorded May 11, 1925. Frankly his list goes on forever. He did quite a lot for Victor and OKeh between 1923 and 1928.

And to again emphasize these things can be found: there’s a copy of one Andrej Gellert record for sale on discogs for $7.67 + shipping.

That’s about all the time I have today to screw around with early recordings. If I come back around again with more tidbits like this, don’t be surprised.