Re: African-American musicians and Yiddish

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

Paul Robeson recorded a number of Yiddish songs as well as songs in many
other languages, though I don't know if he spoke Yiddish.

Paul Robeson Jr. tells the story of how, during a visit to the Soviet Union
during Stalin's purge of Jewish writers his father asked to see his friend,
the Yiddish poet Itsik Feffer.  Feffer was brought to Robeson's hotel room,
and indicating that the room was bugged, told in sign language that he had
been in prison and expected to be killed, and that his family was also in
danger if it became known that he told what was happening.

Although Robeson never made any public statement, at a concert in Moscow
that night he sang Zog Nit Keynmol, the Yiddish anthem of the partisans of
the Vilna Ghetto.

Zayt gezunt (be healthy),

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204
http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn

>Willie the Lion Smith actually boasted some Jewish ancestry.  And Slim
>Gaillard recorded a song about Jewish food titled, I think, "Dunkin'
>Bagels (in the Coffee)."  Somewhere, there's a film short of his combo
>performing that and tossing bagels into a coffeepot.
>
>Owen
>
>robert wiener wrote:
>>
>> I have heard from a reliable source that several African-American
>> musicians (other than Cab Calloway) who grew up in neighborhoods where
>> Yiddish was often spoken spoke some Yiddish themselves.  I supoose
>> that this shouldn't be too surprising -- remember our thread on Jimmy
>> Cagney speaking Yiddish in movies?  He mentioned Willie the Lion
>> Smith, Dinah Washington, and Slim Gaillard.  Does anyone know of
>> recordings of these (or other) African-American musicians that reflect
>> this cross-cultural phenomenon?
>>
>> Bob
>>
>



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