Fw: Sunday 17 June - Please Come Along!

[Fay Singer <sarafay...>]

HI GERALDINE -
What I am doing next, is to mount a Yiddish song festival - in co-operation 
with the Cape Jewish Seniors' Association. Am using the Baxter Theatre. Philip 
Todres is an excellent fund-raiser, and he wanted to do a tribute to his late 
mother, so our forthcoming event (see below) is subtitled The Leah Todres 
Yiddish Song Festival. If it goes well, we'll call it an "Annual" thing, and 
next year would be the Second Leah Todres Yiddish Song Festival.  Philip Todres 
has done the publicity and marketing, while Matthew Reid and I have attended to 
the music.

Much love

Fay

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Philip Todres 
To: Fay Singer ; Matthew Reid 
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 6:12 AM
Subject: Fw: Sunday 17 June - Please Come Along!


This is the message I e-mailed out to people I knew.


In aid of the Cape Jewish Seniors Association.
Please email me for tickets.
YIDDISH SONG FESTIVAL


BA MIR BISTU SHEYN 

Songs of Life & Beauty

starring AVIVA PELHAM 

with BEVERLEY CHIAT and JEFF WEINER

under the Musical Direction of Matthew Reid and Fay Singer 

and featuring the Simcha Klezmer Ensemble

with Stefan Lombard on piano


6:00pm Sunday 17 June at the Baxter Theatre Centre


Tickets R45.00 Telephone Beth at (021) 434 9691


The first Yiddish Song Festival, titled BA MIR BISTU SHEYN : SONGS OF LIFE & 
BEAUTY, has been arranged by the Cape Jewish Seniors Association as a 
fund-raiser, to assist the organisation in its mission of "adding life to 
years."

Through the medium of song you are taken on a nostalgic voyage, in Yiddish and 
English, to a world that seems gentler, simpler and often poignant. The 
particular genre of Yiddish Song has been sadly neglected for many years. 
Today, as we increasingly nurture and re-evaluate our heritage, these songs 
provide an evocative picture of a rich and diverse social history.

Yiddish songs recall life in the 'shtetl' - villages in Eastern Europe. Songs 
record migration to America, and dislocation of families. Songs celebrate 
occasions with wit or pathos,  encapsulating heartfelt sentiments in a 
compelling way. And the songs reflect influences from the strictly traditional 
folk ethos of Eastern Europe to the jazz milieu of the USA.

Many of the melodies have been associated with artists such as Joan Baez and 
Nana Mouskouri. The Andrew Sisters made 'Ba Mir Bistu Shein' into a hit 
recording. The melodies and sentiments have a universal appeal.

The selection of songs, around the theme of SONGS OF LIFE & BEAUTY, span more 
than one hundred years of Yiddish Song.