Video: Semer Ensemble – Live Recording Of A Rescued Musical Treasure [Gorki Studio Я]
Semer Ensemble “Rescued Treasure” is available now. Alan Bern said, “This important project opens a time tunnel between Berlin today and Berlin of the 1930’s. Very proud to be part of this historically important project that opens a time tunnel between Berlin today and Berlin of the 1930s….Read Lorin Sklamberg’s wonderful notes about the original recordings, and bios of the band. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!”
This CD is a A Golden Age of Jewish music almost forgotten – the songs captured in 1930s’ Berlin by Hirsch Lewin on his Semer label. The Semer Ensemble brings this astonishing music back to life with critically acclaimed concerts and their first album, recorded live at the Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, in November 2015.
From their FB page: “The Semer label, founded by Hirsh Lewin, existed in Berlin from 1932-38, producing a treasure trove of recordings of Jewish music at the very time that the Nazis were preparing to destroy Jewish life. For many of us, it is impossible to listen to the recordings on the Semer label without an underlying sense of tragedy.
What happened to the voices, the hands and fingers, the souls that made these sounds? But when we listen more closely, inviting the disembodied voices to travel through time and pop out of speakers or headphones into our rooms and stand in front of us, we meet people in the middle of life, not death. They sing about love, jealousy, war, justice, the Torah, settling Palestine, socialism, Zionism, dancing girls, affairs, player pianos. They sing in Yiddish, Hebrew, German, Polish, Russian. They sing popular songs, folk songs, art songs, cantorial music. They fight, laugh, boast, seduce, cry, threaten, provoke, scorn, inspire.
Directed by Alan Bern, the band chose from the many dozens of possibilities those pieces that touched them the most in some way. In some cases, they aimed to recapture the original spirit and sound of the chosen recordings as closely as possible. In others, the original recording was just a starting point for the band’s own musical creations.
This non-purist approach is inspired by the Semer label itself. The program is therefore an homage to the label and its artists, not only to preserve their memory but also to celebrate and continue what they stood for in life.
Accordionists on the CD:
Alan Bern – piano, accordion, musical director
Founding director of Brave Old World, The Other Europeans & Yiddish Summer Weimar. Also performed with the Klezmer Conservatory Band, The Klezmatics, Kapelye, Itzhak Perlman, Guy Klucesvek, to name but a few. Born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1955, living in Berlin since 1987. Bern has an M.A. in philosophy and a D.M.A. in music composition and is the founder, driving force and director of Semer Ensemble.
Lorin Sklamberg – voice, accordion
Hailing from California, the founding member of The Klezmatics – his singing often described as transcendental – turned to Yiddish music in his teens. He went on to become one of the most famous singers of the genre and – being openly gay – a considerable force in developing concert formats successfully bringing together both Yiddish music and the gay lifestyle.
Daniel Kahn – voice, accordion
Based in Berlin, the American is the leader of Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird. The band was founded in 2005, has released four successful albums to date and is known for its special mix of Klezmer, radical political views and Punk attitude.
Additional members of the group are:
Sasha Lurje-voice; Fabian Schnedler- voice, electric guitar; Mark Kovnatskiy-violin; Paul Brody- trumpet; Martin Lillich-basell
“The Semer Ensemble’s depth and virtuosity can and does match the entire breadth of Hirsch Lewin’s original Semer label recordings. Its fresh interpretations and provocative, contemporary arrangements open a time tunnel between 1920s Berlin and today’s New Jewish Music: Berlin cabaret, Russian folk songs, Yiddish theater hits, operatic arias and cantorial music are just a small sample of this remarkable repertoire.” from piranha records and publishing.
Photo of group: Adam Berry — with Alan Bern, Sasha Lurje, Martin Lillich, Lorin Sklamberg, Mark Kovnatskiy, Jacobus Thiele, Daniel Kahn, Paul Brody and Fayvish Schnedler.
For further information: music@semerensemble.com
To book Semer Ensemble: booking@semerensemble.com
