Yiddish Glory
The Lost Songs Of World War II
Six Degrees Records
Alexander Sevastian Loyko (Violin)
Psoy Korolenko (Singer) 1, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17
Sophie Milman (Jazz singer) 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 18
February 23rd 2018

 

 

  1. Afn Hoykhn Barg (On the High Mountain) 4:02
    Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  2. Shpatsir in Vald (A Walk in the Forest) 2:41
    Jerzy Petersburski, Composer - Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  3. Yoshke Fun Odes (Yoshke from Odessa) 6:21
    Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  4. Kazakhstan 6:30
    Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  5. Mayn Pulemyot (My Machine Gun) 2:52
    Psoy Korolenko, Composer, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  6. Shelakhmones Hitlern (Purim Gifts for Hitler) 1:55
    Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  7. Taybls Briv (Taybl’s Letter to her Husband at the Front) 2:51
    Konstantin Listov, Composer - Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  8. Misha tserayst Hitlers Daytchland (Misha tears apart Hitler's Germany) 3:10
    Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  9. Chuvasher Tekhter (Daughters of Chuvashia) 3:02
    Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  10. Mames Gruv (My Mother’s Grave) 2:24
    Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  11. Babi Yar 4:15
    Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  12. Tulchin 4:10
    Alfred Schnittke, Composer - Sophie Milman, Loyko
  13. A Shturemvind (A Storm Wind) 3:57
    Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  14. Fir Zin (Four Sons) 2:57
    Psoy Korolenko
  15. Kazakhstan (Reprise) 5:06
    Psoy Korolenko, Composer - Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  16. Nitsokhn Lid (Victory Song) 2:43
    Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  17. Homens Mapole (Haman’s Defeat) 1:53
    Psoy Korolenko, Composer, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
  18. Tsum Nayem Yor 1944 (Happy New Year 1944) 3:39
    Psoy Korolenko, Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer

Au milieu de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l’ethnomusicologue Moisei Beregovsky (1892 – 1961) découvrit l’existence de nombreuses chansons écrites par des militaires et civils qui décrivaient les mésaventures vécues par les juifs de Russie.
A la tête d’un groupe de chercheurs, il se mit à les collecter et les enregistrer. Lors d’une purge de Staline, Ils furent arrêtés et leur matériel confisqué.
Ces chansons, oubliées pendant des décennies, ont refait surface dans les années 1990 à la Bibliothèque nationale Vernadsky d’Ukraine, où elles étaient entreposées dans des boîtes anonymes.
Au début de la décennie suivante, l’historienne de culture yiddish Anna Shternshis en prend connaissance et s’associe avec le musicien Psoy Korolenko pour leur redonner vie.
À mi-chemin entre la reconstitution musicale et la création pure, le résultat est convaincant. Autour de Psoy Korolenko, un casting russo-canadien fait joliment briller ces perles.
Au centre, il y a le trio de violonistes gitans Alexander Sevastian Loyko, créée par l’ancien collaborateur de Yehudi Menuhin, Sergei Erdenko, qui signe également une partie des arrangements.
Sur les côtés se distinguent David Buchbinder, trompettiste lauréat d’un Juno Award, équivalent canadien d’un Grammy, et une poignée de solistes de haut niveau (violon, guitare, accordéon et clarinette).
Au devant la scène, en alternance avec Korolenko, se succèdent la vocaliste de jazz Sophie Milman, également détentrice d’un Juno, la chanteuse yiddish de Lettonie Sasha Lurje, ainsi que le fils du producteur Dan Rosenberg, Isaac,
qui interprète l’émouvant Mames Gruve (la tombe de ma mère en VF), sur un texte écrit par un orphelin dont les parents disparurent pendant l’Holocauste.
Mais l’âme yiddish, combinée à la fougue gitane et au bouillonnement slave, remet la vie au premier plan et emporte gaiement ces chants populaires vers la lumière qu’ils ont failli ne jamais connaître. © BM/Qobuz

Yiddish Glory tells the remarkable story of folklorists in the Soviet Union who risked their lives collecting songs from Jewish Red Army soldiers, Jewish refugees, victims and survivors of Ukrainian ghettos.
Following the war, the researchers were arrested by Stalin; their work was confiscated, and they died thinking the collection was lost to history.
But the songs were later discovered in unmarked boxes stored in the basement of the Ukrainian National Library, and brought to life through painstaking research, for the first time in 75 years.
The epic discovery of Yiddish songs from World War II and the Holocaust led University of Toronto Professor Anna Shternshis to not only present her findings to academic audiences, but to present it as its original composers intended: as music.
The historic scope of this material launched a collaboration with Alexander Sevastian Loyko (Russia’s greatest Roma violinist, and longtime collaborator of Yehudi Menuhin) legendary Russian-American singer Psoy Korolenko, Juno-award wining jazz vocalist Sophie Milman and an ensemble of elite soloists from the worlds of classical and Jewish folk music.
The songs were created during the darkest chapter of European Jewish history. For some Holocaust victims, the last thing they did before being killed was writing a Yiddish song calling for revenge against fascism.
The songs detail the Holocaust as it happened, and often deal with revenge on a visceral level.
There is even a composition in the collection that was written by a 10-year-old orphan who lost his family in the Holocaust.
Many of the songs were written just before Holocaust victims were sent to their deaths, and these songs of despair, hope, humor, bravery, resistance and revenge change the narrative of how Jews behaved and fought in their final moments.