Ty Citerman / Jufith Berkson / Sara Serpa

More than the language of kvetching nostalgia for Ashkenazi bubbes and zaydes Yiddish language and literature has a long revolutionary tradition due to its origin among the European oppressed and working class Jews. On this meaningful disc Ty Citerman gives the 19th-20th Century leftist-labor ethic 21st Century resonance by linking vocal renditions of classic songs and poems in Yiddish and English with textures from his guitar, prepared guitar, electronics and cracklebox plus Judith Berkson. Citerman voices some of the lyrics, with Berkson and Sara Serpa lyric harmonies animating the tricky melodies and thoughts.

New York-based Citermans’s Bop Kabbalah band has dealt with similar radical Jewish themes instrumentally, combining Serpa’s Jazz-improv background and Berkson’s interest in liturgical music and art songs to amplify the presentation. At points the beauty of the bel canto harmonies with overlapping timbres created by the female singers detracts from the progressive message, especially if like most people, Yiddish is not your language. However all three also express the labor and socialist sentiments in English. Plus the vocalists are convincing enough that most pieces’ sardonic or anguished emotions expressed by the original verses can be sensed. Citermans’s electronic oscillations add a polyphonic layer to the tunes, with the folksy vocals frequently harmonized or framed by programmed impulses which on “Mit Eyn Hant Hostu Undz Gegebn Di Konstitutsieh: take on mellotron-like textures. Guitar strums, twangs and frails harmonize or alternate with the singers’ varied tessitura of moans, warbles, cries and sequences of vocalese. But only a few times, as on “Es Rirt Zikh” and “At Night” is the full force of his dissonant string buzzing or choppy reverberation hammered out to underline aggressive sentiment.

These Yiddish songs of protest and rebellion were created in a different time and place. But 21st Century currents of looming repression, intolerance and militarism make this CD contemporary just as much as the superior performances on it do so.

— Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. A Prayer 2. Gebet 3. Go Brothers, Go! 4. Geyt Brider, Geyt! 5. Mit Eyn Hant Hostu Undz Gegebn Di Konstitutsieh (With One Hand, You Gave Us the Constitution) 6. Who Builds Walls, Palaces? 7. Ver Tut Stroyen Movern, Palatsn 8. It’s Moving 9. Es Rirt Zikh 10. Future Generations/Doyrus Fun Der Tsukunft: I. Nign 11. Future Generations/Doyrus Fun Der Tsukunft: II. At Night 12. Future Generations/Doyrus Fun Der Tsukunft: III. Hidden Rage 13. Future Generations/Doyrus Fun Der Tsukunft: IV. Times to Come

Personnel: Ty Citerman (guitar, voice, electronics, prepared guitar and cracklebox); Judith Berkson (voice and piano) and Sara Serpa (voice)