Musical Jewish Culture: Ladino, Yiddish, Irish?

[Boyana]

Musical Jewish Culture: Ladino, Yiddish, Irish?
Friday August 7, 2009
I've always enjoyed exploring Jewish culture through music. Especially in America, where Ashkenazi Judaism is predominant, musical rhythms and lyrics can open your eyes to just how varied and vast Jewish traditions are. Consider the stylings of Turkish husband and wife team Janet and Jak Esim, who have painstakingly tried to preserve Ladino melodies that were brought to Turkey when the Jews were expelled from Spain. Their song, "Ija Mia Mi Kerida," illuminates the lyrical quality of Ladino while also exploring the complexities of a relationship between a father and daughter. The daughter, distraught after a failed romantic relationship, confides in her father, who tries to bring her back from the brink:

“Oh, my dearest daughter," sings the father "Don't rush to the sea. The sea is so stormy. Look out! It will snatch you away!"

Janet, as the daughter, responds:

"Let it take me. Let it take me to its depth. That I should be feed for the black fishes. That it will free me. From the bitter torments of love."

This week I discovered a new duo: Susan McKeown and Klezmatics bandleader Lorin Sklamberg. Their CD “Saints & Tzadiks” comes out on August 11th and blends the worlds of Irish and Yiddish melodies.  It may seem like an odd marriage, but according to both artists Yiddish and Irish tunes have much in common. While Sklamberg was researching the Yiddish melodies, for instance, he discovered that they were “not about life in the shtetl. They were about things that were gritty... [which] seemed to jibe with what I know about the range of Irish songs.” More than this, the songs McKeown and Sklamberg have collected explore the ways in which each tradition tells a story through music.

The Forward's website has a sample song from the CD called "Heart's Blood," which is based on a 200-year-old German ballad. You can listen to it here (scroll to the bottom of the page) and listen to samples from the rest of the songs on the CD at Amazon.com. (I really liked "Yula" on this list.)

[Boyana]