Alexis Dimitrievich (Aliosha)

During the reign of Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881), a Kalderash Roma won a music competition, he was called “Dimitri”. From then on, his family would become known as “Dimitrievich”. During the last decades of the 19th century, the family travelled throughout the Russian Empire. Tinning and boilermaking were their traditional trades, but the great “gypsy” fashion led them to increase their musical performances. Ivan Dimitrievitch, married to a Siberian Gypsy - Evdokia (Eudoxie) Mikhailovna - was the head of the family. When the echoes of the 1905 revolution reached the West, Ivan Dimitrievitch and his family were in Liverpool - like many Kalderash - about to leave for the United States. It was there that Valia was born. When the First World War broke out, they were in the Balkans, where Alexis, known as “Aliosha”, was born in Negotine, Serbia, the youngest of the four brothers (Nicolas, Dimitri, Ivan and Aliosha). In 1920 they were in Russia and, fleeing the civil war and famine, they left for the east to reach Vladivostok. In Vladivostok, then in Harbin, Ivan puts together a program with his children, the “Gypsy Dimitrievitch” troupe is born. His four sons are dancers, acrobats, singers and guitarists, his daughters Valia and Maroussia sing and dance with their sisters-in-law. They will work for the Beijing circus, in restaurants in Nanking, Shanghai, Hong Kong. In 1925, they leave for Japan, then soon for Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia), India, the Middle East and finally Egypt, from where they make excursions to Algeria and Morocco. In 1930 they arrive in France. They perform at the “Ermitage” then at the “Poisson d’or”. From 1934, the cinema calls on them to recreate on screen the splendor of Russian and Parisian nights. In 1934 they starred in “Les nuits moscovites” - a film by A. Granowsky, with H. Baur and Annabella -, and in “Caravane” - a film by E. Charell, with Annabella, C. Boyer and P. Brasseur -. In 1935 they starred in “Les yeux noirs” - a film by V. Tourjansky, with H. Baur and S. Simon; in 1937 in “Raspoutine” - a film by M. l’Herbier, with H. Baur, M. Chantal and J. Worms, and in “L’innocent” - a film by M. Cammage, with Noël – Noël, M. Robinson and H. Wassiet. During the summer, the cabarets closed, so the Dimitrievitches performed in the casinos of the seaside resorts on the Atlantic coast, as well as those on the Mediterranean coast – depending on the holiday clientele. Some members of the troupe worked regularly for the Bouglione circus. In 1940, the collapse of the French army and the advance of German troops prompted Valia, who was married to a Brazilian diplomat, to convince almost the entire family to leave for Sao Paulo. The Dimitrievitches spent two years in Brazil, working in turn for restaurants and casinos in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, before continuing their journey to Argentina. But the family was to experience a succession of bereavements. The three eldest brothers, then Ivan Sr., died in the late 1940s. Valia returned to her husband in Sao Paulo, and followed him when he was appointed vice-consul of Brazil in Paris in 1953. Aliosha remained in Argentina, necessity brought him to the large Argentine farms where he worked as a “gaucho”. His sister Valia, who had been working with her daughter Theresa and her nephews Sonia and Stéphane for several years in Paris, brought him back to France in 1960. They performed for a while at the Tsarévitch (formerly Palata), hosted by one of the great heiresses of gypsy nights, Lida Goulesco, daughter of the conductor Jean Goulesco. Valia was then the star of the group. In 1963, Valia and Aliosha worked at Chez Vodka, the Russian cabaret of the Grande Séverine. Joseph Kessel, who had met the family in the 1930s, suggested in 1965 to Valia and the singer Volodia Poliakoff to record a record that he would nostalgically call "The Last Gypsy Voices". It is interesting to note that at that time Aliosha was content to accompany his sister. However, in the small world of musicians, his performances commanded respect and astonishment. Their music was also on the radio programme. Aliosha receives support from an old friend, the actor Yul Brynner. The Dimitrievitches had first met this child of the Russian upper middle class during their exile in Harbin, then in Paris in the 1930s where they had taken him under their protection while he was surviving as a cabaret guitarist. Yul Brynner produced the duet album "The Gypsy and I" for Aliosha. Marc de Loutchek, a young musician and conductor at Chez Vodka, helped in this by Francis Morane, had Valia and Aliosha record a 33 rpm record. For five years, Valia and Aliosha worked alternately at the Novy and the Shéhérazade. In 1970, Régine hired the Dimitrievitches to open her Russian cabaret, the Réginskaïa. Finally, in 1971 they returned to the Rasputin restaurant which would be their last stop. Valia stopped working in 1981, and died in 1983. Aliosha continued to sing until the end of his life at the Rasputin.

Aliosha is buried with the Colonel of the Imperial Guard of the Chasseurs regiment Leon Leontievitch Gaponov (1886-1931) - Russian cadets.

We find the graves of his sisters, also gypsy singers at number 513 for Valia (1905-1983) and 5381 for Maroussia (1913-1960).

Bibliography: - Dimitri Galitzine: "Aliocha - from Dimitrievitch to gypsies" and "The world of Russian gypsies in Paris"

and Wikipedia