One of the great things about YouTube is serendipity. You’re watching one video clip that leads to another, and another, and suddenly you’re completely lost. In the process, you might just discover someone really interesting, like Zarah Leander. A very popular singer and movie star in Scandinavia and especially Germany before and during World War II, Leander was a beautiful and talented Swedish artist. As can be seen in publicity stills, German film studio UFA tried to capitalize on her physical likeness to that other great Swedish actress, Greta Garbo. She remained in Germany during the war, and only returned to Sweden after her Berlin home was bombed. Shunned by both the Swedish artistic community and the public, her career never regained its former popularity. By the late 1960s, Leander’s voice, once a lovely, lilting mezzo became a glorious, scrappy cabaret instrument.
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