Sunday, January 6, 2008

Shpil Klezmer Shpil! New Yiddish music from Dona and from Amanda “Miryem-Khaye” Seigel

I've run a cross a couple of nice Yiddish performances recently. The first is Dona, a Russian "chamber Yiddish song ensemble (3-4 singers) with a classical instrumental accompaniment (violin, accordeon, clarinet, bass, piano, and guitars)" According to the bio for Dona in there Klezmershack band listing, "was founded in 2004 by Anatoly Pinsky [and] organizes international Festivals of Jewish Music in Moscow." Their website is http://dona-dona.ru/. This performance, according to the YouTube page, is "Shpil zhe mir a lidele" performed at Yiddish-Fest 2007 in Moscow with soloist - Alina Ivakh

"Dona" Yiddish Song Group



Amanda Miryem-Khaye SeigelThe second is Amanda “Miryem-Khaye” Seigel, a "Yiddishist and a Yiddish singer, songwriter and performer known for her humorous and heartfelt performances." Her website has a number of great mp3 tracks for you to check out, and they're well worth it. I particularly enjoyed her "Dos trinken-lid (”Drinking Song”)", but all the tracks were excellent. I don't think that Seigel has a solo recording out yet, but she's been featured on two compilation dics:

“Ikh hob a kleynem yingele” [Featured soloist] . Zingt! A celebration of Yiddish choral music. Jewish People’s Philharmonic Choir. Binyumen Schaechter, conductor. New York, 2006.

“Celebrating the lives and works of martyred Soviet Yiddish poets and writers: A 50th anniversary: Itsik Fefer, Shmuel Halkin, Dovid Hofshteyn, Moyshe Kulbak, Perets Markish”. Videorecording produced by Neal Gosman for Yerushe: Minnesota Association for the Promotion of Yiddish Culture and Language. St. Paul, MN, 2006.

You can find out more about Seigel through her web site.

hat tip to Alexyrozov for posting the Dona video

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