Life Is a Cabaret: Cabaret Songs from the Weimar Period is a 2011 Australian compilation bringing together recordings associated with the glamorous, decadent and often mischievous cabaret culture of Weimar-era Germany and Europe. It was issued by River Productions, with distribution by Discovery. The Australian release has catalogue/EAN 9316521007161.

The CD mixes German cabaret, jazz, dance-band and popular music, drawing on recordings from the late 1920s and 1930s. Among the artists are Lotte Lenya, Kurt Gerron, Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli, Hutch and Lew Stone and His Band.

Some of the featured recordings

Ray Starita and His Ambassadors – “I Got Rhythm”

Lotte Lenya – “Wie Man Sich Bettet”

Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli – “Swing From Paris”

Hutch – “Begin the Beguine”

Kurt Gerron – “Mack the Knife”

Lew Stone and His Band – “The Continental”

Genre: Cabaret / jazz / traditional pop / dance band

Released: 2011

Label: River Productions

Distribution: Discovery

Format: 1 CD

EAN: 9316521007161

Country: Australia

Style: Weimar cabaret / European jazz

Overall

This is a historical rather than modern cabaret compilation, and its appeal is the atmosphere of 1920s–30s Berlin and European nightlife. The music ranges from sophisticated jazz and dance-band material to the more theatrical and provocative German Kabarett tradition.

It's a particularly interesting CD if you like Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, Marlene Dietrich, Django Reinhardt, 1920s/30s jazz and pre-war European popular music. The Weimar cabaret scene was famously both entertaining and socially provocative, with music often reflecting the freedoms and tensions of Germany before the Nazi takeover.