2024-11-13 12:38:00
A new concert film chronicles music considered lost for over 70 years: Jewish artists recorded hundreds of songs as early as the 1930s. Now they have been revived with live performances.
When the Nazis decided to eradicate Jewish culture, and before finding the solution of exterminating the cultural workers themselves together with their families, they created a ghetto: the Jewish Cultural Association. Only there, only for Jews, Jewish musicians, singers, actors and comedians could perform.
Some – like Dora Gerson and Willy Rosen, both murdered at Auschwitz - were known and popular throughout Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Now they found themselves in the cultural ghetto, together with the Eastern Jewish artists who spoke and sang Yiddish and who had brought to Berlin the musical tradition of the shtetl, despised by the German educated middle class, including the German-Jewish one.
Curiously, the Nazis also allowed Jewish artists to continue recording, though obviously not for “Aryan” or Aryanized companies like Deutsche Grammophon, founded by Jewish inventor and entrepreneur Emil Berliner. Between 1933 and 1938 hundreds of shellac recordings were released on the “Semer” and “Lukraphon” labels, most of which were apparently irretrievably lost in the destruction of the “Semer” business during Kristallnacht, the subsequent terror or in the war.
Musicologists and collectors have tracked them down here and there; Many recordings with Willy Rosen were found by chance in the attic of a demolished house in Israel. In 2002, the worthy record company “Bear Family Records” managed to release a box set with eleven CDs in which classical music, cabaret in Yiddish and German, Jewish folk songs from Palestine and cantorial songs – all from the Lukraphon and Semer catalog – can be heard.
However, despite the careful restoration of the sound, these recordings necessarily had something museum-like about them. Since 2016, however, the Berlin-based Semer Ensemble – if “based” is not a misleading word in this context – has been trying to revitalize music through live concerts. The musical director Alan Bern, the singer and accordionist Lorin Sklamberg (known since “Klezmatica“), singer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Kahn and trumpeter Paul Brody come from different parts of the United States; Singer Sasha Lurje is from Riga, Latvia; Singer Fabian Schnedler comes from Berlin and founded with bassist Martin Lillich the group “ Fayvish” and the “Yiddpop” genre; violinist Mark Kovnastkij lives in Hamburg.
Free from the grip of sentimentalism
Christoph Weinert’s concert film “I Dance, But My Heart Is Crying” shows a concert of the ensemble at the Gorki Theater in Berlin, a center of modern Jewish culture. They are interspersed with interviews with the musicians, the musicologist Reiner E. Lotz and the historian Ejal Jakob Eisler, who have already worked together on the documentary “Bear Family”. It is a film without effects or drama, which lets the music and the musicians work; a documentary in the best sense. Even those who don’t know much about Klezmer will be impressed by the sheer skill and obvious enjoyment the musicians have while performing.
According to Alan Bern we must separate the music from the fate of the people who then captured it with shellac. They didn’t know what was in store for them. To perceive their music as the music of the victims would be to once again do them the injustice that the Nazis did to them. Unfortunately, after hundreds of German films featuring wailing clarinets and sobbing violins whenever one feels the need to signal pain over the Holocaust, it is almost impossible to perceive music any other way.
But groups like the Semer Ensemble, the Klezmatics, Fayvish, Sasha Lurje’s klezmer group VorShpil or Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird are doing a lot to free Jewish music from the grip of sentimentality. Not to mention the Orthodox who make Zion Square in Jerusalem unsafe at night with electric guitars and wild dancing. “I Dance But My Heart Is Crying” is a sort of cinematic gateway into this slightly crazy world. It’s worth seeing.
I dance but my heart is crying. Germany/Switzerland 2024, 90 minutes. At the cinema from November 7th.
How does the revival of historical Jewish music contribute to contemporary Jewish identity?
Interview Between Time.news Editor and Music Historian Dr. Miriam Adler
Time.news Editor: Welcome, Dr. Adler! We’re excited to dive into the fascinating topic of your recent insights regarding the concert film “I Dance, But My Heart Is Crying,” which showcases music created by Jewish artists during the 1930s. Can you set the stage for us—what were the historical circumstances surrounding these artists?
Dr. Miriam Adler: Thank you for having me! The backdrop is a grim one—the rise of the Nazis in Germany signaled a tragic chapter for Jewish culture. As you might know, many Jewish artists were marginalized and forced into a cultural ghetto. While this ghetto, the Jewish Cultural Association, was a severely restrictive environment, it became a sanctuary for artists like Dora Gerson and Willy Rosen, who were incredibly influential before their tragic deaths in Auschwitz.
Time.news Editor: It’s heartbreaking to think that such talent was stifled. Incredibly, the Nazis allowed these artists to continue recording music. What do you think drove that decision?
Dr. Miriam Adler: It’s a paradox, isn’t it? The regime’s goal was to eradicate Jewish culture while simultaneously exploiting it for propaganda or entertainment value. Jewish artists could still record, albeit for labels like Semer and Lukraphon, which were apparently tolerated because they posed no threat—at least in their eyes. It’s important to recognize that the music captured during this time, although technically “preserved,” reflects the complexities and horrors of Jewish life under Nazi rule.
Time.news Editor: You mentioned that many recordings were lost during events like Kristallnacht. How has the Semer Ensemble worked to revive this music in modern contexts?
Dr. Miriam Adler: After the recordings were nearly forgotten, the Semer Ensemble was founded in 2016 with a mission to breathe life into this music through performance. They bring together a group of talented musicians from diverse backgrounds, aiming to revive these lost sounds while giving them fresh interpretations. The concert film showcases their effort to connect with audiences emotionally and to create an understanding of this cultural legacy beyond mere historical documentation.
Time.news Editor: Christoph Weinert’s concert film intertwines live performances with interviews. How effective is this approach in representing the emotional weight of the original music and its historical context?
Dr. Miriam Adler: It’s a brilliant format! By interspersing live performances with personal stories and insights from the musicians, the film transcends a purely historical recounting. It captures the essence of loss, resilience, and hope in a manner that engages the audience deeply. For many viewers, it’s not just about the music itself, but also the stories that humanize it—turning recordings into a living, breathing narrative.
Time.news Editor: Do you think this revival can play a role in shaping contemporary Jewish identity or cultural awareness?
Dr. Miriam Adler: Absolutely. The resurgence of this music can foster a deeper connection to Jewish history and identity. It allows newer generations to engage with their heritage in a way that is vibrant and relevant. Just as important, using art forms like music to process historical trauma can facilitate dialogue around topics that are still very much alive today.
Time.news Editor: Thank you, Dr. Adler, for such a captivating discussion! The intersections of history, culture, and music are profound, and it’s inspiring to see how efforts like those of the Semer Ensemble not only preserve but actively revitalize a rich, albeit tragic, part of our shared human experience.
Dr. Miriam Adler: Thank you! It’s vital to keep these conversations alive and explore how we can learn from the past. The music of these artists is a testament to their spirit, and sharing that with the world is a powerful act of remembrance.