Yidish Vokh, Josh Waletzky's CD

[klezmer <klezmer...>]

Instead of KlezKanda, this year I decided to travel to another bucolic setting 2 1/2 hours north of The City and attempt to speak Yididish in for a whole week - in Yiddish Vokh (a meykhaye oyb ir redt yidish).  

I didn't expect that much music (silly me! The organizer, Benyomin Schaechter, is an accomplished pianist, arranger, choral leader and, I think, composer).  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by a number of planned or spontaneous activiites which I'll list below since this email is long and I want you to know more about the abovementioned CD in case you, like me, missed its release last spring. (Forgive me if there was a thread on the list then about the album - I periodically get hopelessly behind on my JMML reading)

a)  Erev Shabes people sat around singing songs and nigunim - of note were some composed and sung by two very much living and present authors: Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman and Josh Waletzky.  After I heard Waletzky (who is, as you probably know, a founding member of the klezmer revival group Kapelye) sing a beautiful and classic-sounding song I asked him where it was from and how old it was.  He told me he'd written it!  The song is "Shabes, Koydesh" on his new album, "ariber di shotns" - Crossing the Shadows.

This week I've had the pleasure of listening to the entire CD (over and over and over...).  You should know about this CD, you should get it for yourself, your family, and your friends!

Why? Because it is an imporant new work, but mostly because it's beautiful.

It's important for a couple of reasons.  One is obvious: Waletzky is only one of two people who come to mind who are writing a body of new Yiddish songs  - Schaechter-Gottesman being the other.

Another is that the spirit of Waletzky's songs is both old and new. Waletzky has succeeded in capturing, to my ears and heart, a quintessential Yidishkayt in both the religious and cultural useages of the word, and he also shapes a new-world sensibility with his music.  

The subjects and moods of his songs reflect this, too. They range from the memory of his father, to peace - both Middle Eastern and Irish, to the Khurbn, a reluctant bridegroom, Shabes, a child leaving, and an incredibily moving love song to his wife Reyzl.

English translation and Yiddish transliteration stand alongside the Yiddish oytses/letters - typesetting by Ari Davidow! - so you'll know the meaning of the words if you don't understand Yiddish.

One is tempted to compare this album to Chava Alberstein's/The Klezmatic's "di kreniste" The Well; both have fine poems and melodies accompanied by some of Yiddish music's finest musicians - in this case by Deborah Strauss and Jeff Warchauer.  But the feel of this album is quite different.

The melodies, the music, and the composition are all beautiful and interesting, absolutely. The melodies are catchy - inviting you to sing along and harmonize (in the best Jewish tradition!)  But the forms are not just your run-of-the-mill stanza, chorus.  They are minature symphonies, both in structure and in musical arrangement.  Even in one of the "simpler" pieces, Sholem-toyb (Dove of peace) there are two refrains, one Biblical, one Yiddish, but not always sung together, interwoven among the 4 stanzas. Two of the selections are instrumentals.

Strauss's violin is absolutely perfect: haunting, mournful, playful, and singing in turn.  Warchauer's mandolin, guitar, percussion and harmonizing vocals flesh out the music and the moods.

Waletzky is a great poet - wish I could convey this as elegantly as he writes.  The words to his songs can stand by themselves. They take one's breath away; bring tears to one's eyes; make one smile...  

For better-written comments from reviewers, some of whom are members of our list, go to the website: www.crossingtheshadows.com. 


The website also contains ordering info., too.


....
This may sound corny or commercial (it's not an ad, though), but this album  makes a perfect gift (Khanuke, etc.) for those who love Yiddish song/music including klezmer music (a lot of people)...those who understand Yiddish or are studying it (my vocabulary is already larger only days later!)... those who like cutting edge CDs (no garage punk, though)...and, I daresay, any Hasidic friends you may have.  

==============================================================================

Other musical delights at Yidish Vokh were:


b)  a wonderful choral concert of Yiddish songs led by Benyomin Schaechter.

c)  a workshop led by Raphoyl (Raphael) Finkel which resulted in a new workers' song - words written by the participants, melody by Finkel. (see http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/kind.html for the content)

d)  Michael Spudic (accordion), Waletzky (piano) and I (clarinet) got to play klezmer twice for dancing. (!)

e)  Last but not least Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear much of her work except Erev Shabes and when Peshe Charnis sang one of her songs at the talent show.  Schaechter-Gottesman has two CDs to her credit, both wonderful and also accompanied by more of the abovementioned best of Yiddish-music-makers.  I don't have ordering info. handy but Itzik Gottesman distributes it: email him for the website address at gottesman (at) yiddish(dot)forward(dot)com(dot)


a gutn Shabes ale,

Dobe (Dena Ressler)