Folksbiene Presents World-Class Klezmer Group
Brave Old World
NEW YORK PREMIERE OF
“SONG OF THE LODZ GHETTO”
IN
5-SHOW ENGAGEMENT
MAY 11 TO MAY 15
The pioneering klezmer and new Jewish music group Brave Old
World, in a rare New York appearance, brings its highly-acclaimed
concert combining authentic Holocaust street songs with contemporary
compositions for an exclusive five-show engagement May 11 through
15. The New York
premiere of “Song of the Lodz Ghetto,” presented
by the venerable Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre as a major highlight
of its historic 90th consecutive season, performs at The Triad
Theatre, 158 West 72nd Street, Wednesday May 11 through Sunday
May 15. Showtimes are Wednesday, Thursday and
Saturday at 9P and Sunday at 2P & 9P. Tickets, which are $20, can be purchased by phone at (800)
994-3347 or online at www.folksbiene.org.
At the heart of “Song of the Lodz Ghetto” (“Duz
gezang fin geto Lodzh”) are rare songs performed in the
streets of the Lodz Ghetto between 1940 and 1944, part of an
oral legacy that was preserved by ethnomusicologist Gila Flam
in the late 1980’s. The songs Flam recorded were either
unique compositions—songs of protest and veiled satire—or
adaptations of existing Yiddish and Polish songs from the pre-War
period. Many were by Yankele Herszkowicz, the acknowledged
bard or Lodz who performed standing on a box accompanied by
a violinist (until the Nazis outlawed all instruments in 1942).
While Herszkowicz did survive (he returned to Lodz where he
died in 1972), Flam’s principal interpreters of this
street music were three Lodz Ghetto survivors—all teenagers
at the time—Ya’akov Rotenberg, Miriam Harel and
Ya’akov Flam.
Brave Old World first
used these remarkable recordings as a springboard when it
premiered “Song of the Lodz Ghetto” in
1990 at the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt Germany. Melding traditional
and contemporary sensibilities, the show, now in its fourth
incarnation, sets out to link the past and present rather than
reproduce history. With over 20 numbers in all “Song
of the Lodz Ghetto” spans pre-WWII Europe, the Holocaust
and our own time to create a theatrical collage synthesizing
traditional Jewish folk with the compositional sophistication
of classical music and the idiomatic spontaneity of jazz.
Brave Old World’s personnel includes music director
Alan Bern, who plays piano and accordion; Michael Alpert, who
sings and plays violin, guitar and percussion; Kurt Bjorling
on clarinets, and Stuart Brotman on contrabass, trombone violin
and tsimbl. In addition to their concert and recording work
Brave Old World, together and individually, are recognized
for their heartfelt advocacy of klezmer and Yiddish music—through
teaching and their support of innovative modern cultural endeavors
such as KlezCanada and Weimar Klezmer Wochen, a 5-week concert & workshop
festival in Weimar Germany.
“Song of the Lodz Ghetto” has been seen only recently
in the U.S.—in St. Paul and Cincinnatti. A live recording
made in Bordeaux France is being released in June on Europe’s
prestigious Winter & Winter label, and will be available
at the Triad shows.#
“Songs of the Lodz Ghetto” is performed with
supertitles in the Triad’s main theatre that features
cabaret seating. Tickets
($20 with a two-drink minimum) are available by calling (800)
994-3347 or (212) 213-2120, or by visiting www.folksbiene.org
