Yiddish Glory
The Lost Songs Of World War II
Six Degrees Records
Alexander Sevastian Loyko (Violin)
Psoy Korolenko (Singer) 1, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17
Sophie Milman (Jazz singer) 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 18
February 23rd 2018
Afn Hoykhn Barg (On the High Mountain) 4:02
Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Shpatsir in Vald (A Walk in the Forest) 2:41
Jerzy Petersburski, Composer - Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Yoshke Fun Odes (Yoshke from Odessa) 6:21
Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Kazakhstan 6:30
Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Mayn Pulemyot (My Machine Gun) 2:52
Psoy Korolenko, Composer, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Shelakhmones Hitlern (Purim Gifts for Hitler) 1:55
Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Taybls Briv (Taybl’s Letter to her Husband at the Front) 2:51
Konstantin Listov, Composer - Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Misha tserayst Hitlers Daytchland (Misha tears apart Hitler's Germany) 3:10
Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Chuvasher Tekhter (Daughters of Chuvashia) 3:02
Sophie Milman, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Mames Gruv (My Mother’s Grave) 2:24
Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Babi Yar 4:15
Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Tulchin 4:10
Alfred Schnittke, Composer - Sophie Milman, Loyko
A Shturemvind (A Storm Wind) 3:57
Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Fir Zin (Four Sons) 2:57
Psoy Korolenko
Kazakhstan (Reprise) 5:06
Psoy Korolenko, Composer - Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Nitsokhn Lid (Victory Song) 2:43
Psoy Korolenko, Alexander Sevastian Loyko, Alexander Sevastian, Sergei Erdenko, Composer
Yiddish Glory tells the remarkable story of folklorists
in the Soviet Union who risked their lives collecting
songs from Jewish Red Army soldiers, Jewish refugees,
victims and survivors of Ukrainian ghettos.
Following the war, the researchers were arrested by Stalin; their
work was confiscated, and they died thinking the
collection was lost to history.
But the songs were later discovered in unmarked boxes stored in the basement of
the Ukrainian National Library, and brought to life
through painstaking research, for the first time in 75
years.
The epic discovery of Yiddish songs from World War II
and the Holocaust led University of Toronto Professor
Anna Shternshis to not only present her findings to
academic audiences, but to present it as its original
composers intended: as music.
The historic scope of this material launched a collaboration
with
Alexander Sevastian Loyko (Russia’s greatest Roma violinist,
and longtime collaborator of Yehudi Menuhin) legendary
Russian-American singer Psoy Korolenko, Juno-award
wining jazz vocalist Sophie Milman and an ensemble of
elite soloists from the worlds of classical and Jewish
folk music.
The songs were created during the darkest chapter of
European Jewish history. For some Holocaust victims, the
last thing they did before being killed was writing a
Yiddish song calling for revenge against fascism.
The songs detail the Holocaust as it happened, and often
deal with revenge on a visceral level.
There is even a composition in the collection that was written by a
10-year-old orphan who lost his family in the Holocaust.
Many of the songs were written just before Holocaust victims
were sent to their deaths, and these songs of despair,
hope, humor, bravery, resistance and revenge change the
narrative of how Jews behaved and fought in their final
moments.