sovay: (Viktor & Mordecai)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2018-08-19 09:23 pm

און מיר זינגען זיך אַ ליד פֿון אַ לאַנד, אַ וועלט, אַ נײַע

So a couple of weeks ago [personal profile] gaudior invited me to a Yiddish sing being held this afternoon at the Somerville Community Growing Center and it turned out to be run by the Boston Workmen's Circle and I knew about half the songs in their packet and had a wonderful time even with the ones I didn't and the upshot is that I kind of accidentally auditioned into their community chorus. Which was not how I was expecting this afternoon to go, but I will very definitely take it. I felt I had a somewhat fragmentary answer when asked where I learned my Yiddish songs: my mother sang some as lullabies to me even though she did not herself know Yiddish and we had Theodore Bikel's records in the house when I was growing up and then I got to college and discovered the Klezmatics and last year [personal profile] skygiants threw Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird at me and in the meantime I found and listened to a lot of different things on my own time and occasionally performed them professionally. I got Partisans of Vilna (1988) from [personal profile] selkie. It's a folk tradition. I interact with those. I have pointed out to Tiny Wittgenstein that they often come in fragments.

Afterward I had very nice dinner and conversation with Gaudior and walked home by way of Gracie's and a cone of cardamom and honey cornbread ice cream. I just got back to the internet.

Look at this kraken.
cmcmck: (Default)

[personal profile] cmcmck 2018-08-20 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
The Klezmatics are heaps of fun! :o)

Forgive me for asking for a translation of your title.

My maternal Great Grandmother spoke Yiddish, but....... :o(
cmcmck: (Default)

[personal profile] cmcmck 2018-08-20 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! :o)

Sounds good to me. Shame my people never made it.