Looking for a rare and wonderful Chanukah gift?

[Ellie Shapiro <eleanors...>]

>From Ellie Shapiro, Co-Director, Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley,
California:

A wonderful Chanukah gift for all you Yiddish-lovers out there. . . A unique
CD. . . Arkady Gendler: My Hometown Soroke, Yiddish Songs of the Ukraine.
This selection of 16 rare and original songs comes with notes by Mark Slobin
and Michael Alpert; transcriptions, translations and transliterations by
Jeanette Lewicki..

Arkady Gendler, now 80, was born in the Bessarabian city of Sorok, the tenth
child of a large, Yiddish-speaking family that loved to sing and stage
theatrical performances. He and a brother were the only ones to survive the
Holocaust.  Although it was forbidden in the Soviet Union to openly
participate in Yiddish cultural activities, Arkady continued to study for
almost 50 years. When it became possible to open a Jewish high school after
the breakup of the Soviet Union, he created a teaching method in Zaparozhe,
Ukraine, that revolved around the endless repertoire he had stored for half
a century, as well as new songs that he composed.

This is his first and only recording, reflecting the powerful history of his
generation, as well as his own warmth, wit and humor. The collection
includes a song heretofore unrecorded by Itsik Manger, which Arkady learned
from his sister, as well as a verse to the folk song Tumbalalaika,
previously unknown.  His rich, sonorous voice comes from a bottomless well
of neshoma, perfectly complimented by the accordion accompaniment of
Jeanette Lewicki of the San Francisco Klezmer Experience.

The Jewish Music Festival recorded Arkady Gendler at Fantasy Studios, after
the wildly enthusiastic reception he received from more than a thousand
concert-goers at our 15th Annual Festival in March, 2000. Everyone connected
with the production donated their services so that all profits would go
directly to Mr. Gendler.  The cost of the CD is $18 plus $2.00 shipping.
Group orders are possible. Credit card orders can be taken by phone at
510-848-0237 x 226. Checks can be mailed to: The Jewish Music Festival, c/o
BRJCC, 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA, 94709

Happy Chanukah, everyone.



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