Odessa-Mama – miasto i jego mieszkańcy w odeskich piosenkach

Abstract

The author, who spent many months in Odessa as a language teacher, is trying to recreate a psychological portrait of the inhabitants of the city based on songs sung in Odessa. An analysis of texts of hits from Odessa allows one to get an overview of the topography of the city. There are place-signs occurring here: street names (Derybasivs'ka, Rishel'jevs'ka) names of iconic places – Potemkin Stairs, the Primorskiy Boulevard, the Vorontsov Lighthouse, the Langeron Beach, the famous Privoz market; objects – the Opera, monuments and even trees (chestnuts, acacias). An Odessite often lives in Moldavanka, because he or she belongs to the Jewish community or to the urban poor. Space must be tamed, one's own. There are also such places on the musical map of Odessa. These are dodgy neighbourhoods, alleys in Moldavanka or Pieresyp, where one knows every tree, street and door, every house, stalls on Privoz and one has one's favourite stretches of the beach, sea views. A resident of Odessa, even if he or she does not understand completely all the cultural ties, or the bright history of the city, is still proud of Odessa, puts it above other cultural capitals of Europe, Odessa is always closer to him/her than Moscow, Vienna, Paris or Rome. There is constant highlighting, using contrast, that Odessa stands out from other European cities.