Mischa Spoliansky (1898 - 1985)

Mischa Spoliansky was born into a Jewish musical family in Białystok (then part of the Russian Empire) and very early became a well-known figure in Berlin cafes and nightclubs, being – among others – the house composer and pianist at the well-known Schall und Rauch cabaret. In order to keep up with the times, like all cabaret musicians of this era, Spoliansky produced extraordinary musical examples of the new dances almost simultaneously with their American or English models. One example is his Jimmy Shimmy, composed as early as 1921, whose rhythmic pattern of dotted notes is constantly suspended by three marcato chords where the dancer, with his body still, could shimmy, i.e. move her/his shoulders alternately back and forth.

Mauro Piccinini