An Open Mike Afternoon

I spent this afternoon at an open mike event with people in their 80s and 90s singing old Yiddish tunes accompanied by two Klezmer musicians.  My projects take me to some interesting places.  When we had interviewed Rakhil and Liana, Rakhil had sung us many Yiddish songs.  My interview partner knew a klezmer musician, Judith Eisner, and suggested we connect her with Raychel to share their love of Yiddish song.  Soon after, I attended an event that Judith played at and asked her if she would be willing to play. She very graciously agreed. As Raychel lives at a facility with others who share her love of Yiddish music we decided to open it to them as well.

One by one, the bolder members of the audience rose to sing the songs they remembered from childhood.  Others chimed in on remembered melodies. Many did not speak English, but the universal language of music was spoken by all.    Even those whose memories had begun to lapse, recalled every word.  I am struck by how music links to memory, embedding treasured songs in our mental wiring.

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I’ve written of many of my interviews, but only recently have begun to add video to my website, excerpts from lengthier videos that I've edited.  If you go to the Identity/Legacy portion of my website, you will find yourself at the work from this series.  When you click on the thumbnails to enlarge you will find links to both blogs and video that accompany each painting.The video may give you some of the flavor of the interview on which the artwork was based.