Yiddish concert

My dear Friends

Sorry for the delay in writing. I seem to be surrounded by music at the moment, and I have just been to a very interesting concert. Mark Glanville is a bass-baritone who has much experience in opera as well as lieder, and his accompanist, Alexander Knapp, is an acclaimed musicologist, arranger and composer, mainly of Jewish music. I met Alex about 25 years ago, when I was thinking about becoming a Jewish Cantor in the Synagogue. (This was just before my Christian days.)

These two friends gave a very moving and impressive Yiddish version of Schubert's great song cycle Die Schone Mullerin. Mark, the singer, explained in the programme notes that the German-Yiddish juxtaposition was his contribution to reconcilation and forgiveness, as his mother had lost a lot of her family in the Holocaust. That aspect gave me much heart for my own work and the little concert I gave two weeks ago.

The concert consisted of twenty one songs, quite a musical feat! They were varied in tone and although not a direct translation of the Schubert cycle, follwed the tale of unrequited love. They were dark in tone, with a few glimpses of something lighter, but were a tour de force of the Yiddish language, which I hardly know. Yiddish is the language of the Ashkenazi Jews, who came from Russia and Poland and others parts of the Slavonic world. My own paternal grandparents came from Belarus, and their language was Yiddish, which was passed down to my father, who spoke it fluently although he was born in Leeds in 1897, the first of eight children.

After the concert I met a yooung man from Baltimore who teaches Yiddish in the university with his wife, and we discussed the fact that I had always felt Hebrew to be superior to Yiddish, and he said they had co-existed for hundreds of years.

But that's another Blog!
Shabbat Shalom, have a great weekend!
Sister Gila

Concert

My dear Friends

Sorry for the silence but I have been preparing for a Concert for Peace and Reconciliation. It took place yesterday. Some of you may know that around 2003 I met an elderly lady called Dr Sessions, a remarkable lady with a remarkable life. We were sitting in a beautiful garden in Cambridge one day and she suddenly said to me' You have to sing for your supper.' And so the series of concerts began, some in college chapels like Clare and Pembroke, one in a lovely hall in Wolfson college, again in Robinson college where I sang at my best, and now in the chancel of Michaelhouse, a cafe and a church which dates back a long way.

Thirty assorted people gathered yesterday to hear me play. The first to arrive was an American Jewish lady who asked me if I knew it was the Jewish Pentecost, which I did. It is a grace-filled time, as it is also between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost in the church, with the descent of the Holy Spirit.

I started the concert with Blowing in the Wind-I had the words printed on the programmes so everyone was able to sing-and they did! We came full circle at the end as when my time was up I asked them what they wanted and they said-to sing Blowing in the Wind all over again, which they did and it was quite moving.

Last thing on my mind by Tom Paxton was another favourite-every song in my breast dies a-borning says the last verse and a member of the audience explained what that meant. Otherwise there was my usual mix-Donna donna(originally composed for the Yiddish theatre), All my trials -'you know your mamma was born to die' and my best performances were Autumn leaves, a classic love song and Last night I had the strangest dream by Ed McCurdy. a dutiful anti-war song.

I couldn't leave out the Jewish music and there were three, culminating in Hinay Matov, psalm 133, which speaks of how good and pleasant a tribe of brothers living together.

I am very grateful to Annabel, the Chaplain of Michaelhouse, and Sue Binns, for allowing me to sing there in such a beautiful and historic place.

Shalom from

Sister Gila