Feature: The Sounds of Summer
Rokhl’s Golden City: A midyear Yiddish music roundup
By Rokhl Kafrissen, published in Tablet Magazine
“If I added up all the time I’ve wasted on mediocre dudes, I’d have a whole ’nother lifetime to spend on fantastic music. Every once in a while, though, I manage to hit just the right life-dude balance. In February 2013, for example, I got an invitation from my friend, musician and sound archivist extraordinaire Lorin Sklamberg. The occasion was a birthday dinner and the location was Nino’s Tuscany Steak House, complete with live music. Before impulsively shouting “yes!” at my computer, I checked the calendar, only to find a prior commitment that same night. It was a cold, dark winter and I had a rare, hot date, one which could not easily be rescheduled. What to do?
[…] The Seattle-based band Brivele popped on my radar in March, when I found a YouTube video of them performing the classic labor anthem “Bread and Roses.” I listened once, and then I listened another five or six times. Their a capella version uses Mimi Farina’s melody, with a new Yiddish translation next to the 1911 English text. Add the hopeful uplift of a political anthem like “Bread and Roses” to Brivele’s gorgeous vocal harmonies and the result is simply stunning.”