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MADAME VARVARA KASSOVSKAIA

Scottish Friendship Brought World Fame Russian Exile Sings in Gaelic. Thursday 21 October 1937. Fifteen years ago Mr Dudley MacGowan, son of ex-Provost Hugh MacGowan, Oban, and proprietor of Cullipool slate quarries on the Isle of Luing, was taking part in boating expedition off the Luing coast when he heard a woman singing in a strange tongue. Her fine voice carried over three miles of water and captivated Mr MacGowan. When he came ashore he found that the singer was Russian exile, Madame Varvara  Kassovskaia. who had fled to this country in 1920 and had later married a Argyllshire man. He has since died. A friendship sprang up between the MacGowans and the Russian, and Miss Irene MacGowan, daughter of the ex-provost, taught her to sing Gaelic songs. She was an apt pupil, and in a short time had mastered several Gaelic songs. She gave her first concert in the Argyllshire Gathering Hall at Oban, where her fine dramatic soprano voice was greatly admired by the large audience. She later decided to travel abroad. Now she has just returned to Oban from Hollywood, and is the guest of the MacGowan family. SINGS TO-NIGHT. After a lapse of 15 years her voice will again be heard in the Argyllshire Gathering Hall at Oban to-night, where she will sing Gaelic songs and the songs of many lands. Miss Irene MacGowan will also sing Gaelic songs. Mr John MacGowan will be chairman, and his brother, Dudley, and his father, ex-Provost MacGowan, will be present. Madame Kassovskaia has become worldfamous. •_ "My success," she told a " Courier and Advertiser reporter last night, " is mainly due to that chance meeting with the macGowans on the remote Isle of Luing. They befriended when I was a stranger in a strange land." After leaving Oban she changed her name to Lul Gardo. She can now sing in 36 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Maori, Zulu, and Eskimo. She has travelled extensively in five continents, learning the songs of each country and singing them while wearing appropriate dresses. She regards Scotland as her home.




Steel Omsk 1919
The White Angel'. Varvara N., female soldier. I st Battalion, Kornilov Shock Regiment. 


Madame Varvara Kassovskaia (Lul Gardo)

                                                    GREAT RUSSIAN SINGER

Extract from The Mail Adelaide, 29th March, 1924
Madame Kassovskaia. the Russian prima donna, who fought for 31 months  as a soldier in Korniloffs regiment of' the  Death's Heads,' against the Reds  in , South Russia, has been secured by the' management of West's for a two weeks season, beginning on Monday, April 1st. Madame Kusovaaia has been called the Nightingale of Lemnos, for at Lemnos. in the Mediterranean, she used to swim round the British battleship's singing and her voice was heard for a long! distance. She has a range of three octaves. This highly interesting Russian, who, is rumoured, is a near relation of the late Czar of Russia, is an authority on literature, art, religion, and music. She; has composed the music for some of her own songs. Her repertoire in Russian embraces hundred of numbers, but she can sing English songs with ease. When in Glasgow, attired In kilts, she repeatedly brought down the house at Highland concerts with her Gaelic numbers. Madame Kaseovekaias magnificent - peacock costume in which she Will appear at Wests, and also in. her Cossack uniform.

Due to my research I have an  ever increasing amount of  information.  This page is to be updated over a period of time.

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