New Wave Yiddish Music Star Releases Latest CD at YIVO

Rising Yiddish musician Benjy Fox-Rosen releases Two Worlds/Tsvey Veltn (Golden Horn Records), a stunning new song cycle based on the poetry of master Yiddish and Polish writer Mordechai Gebirtig (1877-1942) at a ticketed concert on January 15, 2014, at 7pm at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (15 West 16th Street, NY, NY). This event is presented by YIVO, the American Society for Jewish Music and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance.

Combining traditional and new music, Yiddish folk, theatre and cabaret music, Fox-Rosen interprets Gebirtig’s poetry and searing depictions of Poland before and during World War II with striking insight and brilliance.

Describing the ambition of the Two Worlds project, pioneering Yiddish singer and composer, Joshua Waletsky says: “Imagine that the preeminent songwriter Stephen Foster left behind dozens of texts with no melodies. Then imagine that some 70 years after his death—and 70 years after a great war that forever changed the world that Foster wrote about—a young musician set a dozen of these texts in a style that both honored Foster's music and also participated fully in the musical world of 70 years beyond Foster's. That thought experiment will give you a sense of the ambition of Two Worlds/Tsvey Veltn...”

Mordechai Gebirtig’s work captures the dynamic life of Polish Jewry before World War II. Gebirtig’s first songs were songs for children, lullabies, and love songs. A master poet, Gebirtig’s songs spread quickly even before they were published, and were adopted by such leading Yiddish players such as Molly Picon. When pogroms began in Poland, the poet’s songwriting turned dark: his songs leading up to the Nazi occupation mourn the victims of riots, dream of revenge, or simply express pain, as in S’tut vey or It Hurts.

Fox-Rosen’s ensemble includes a lineup of internationally accomplished, genre-transcending musicians who have performed with such noted musicians as Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Frank London, Ben Holmes, Alicia Svigals and others. The band includes: Jason Nazary (drums), Avi Fox-Rosen (guitar, banjo), Patrick Farrell (accordion), and Michael Winograd (clarinet).

Following the concert, there will be an artist talkback with Fox-Rosen, master Yiddish musician Joshua Waletsky, Pete Rushefsky, Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, and Amanda Scherbenske, a scholar of new Jewish music.

Attend the event.
Watch a performance of a song from the CD.
Read more about Mordecai Gebirtig in The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.