The third album of Yiddish songs by Mariejan van Oort and Jacques Verheijen is the newly released Mayn Fayfele - Songs of Gebirtig. This extraordinary musical portrait of and tribute to Mordekhay Gebirtig includes a number of poems from a hitherto unknown collection of poems and songs, found in the archives of a kibbutz in Israel and the YIVO institute's archives in New York, and published in Hebrew and Yiddish in 1997 under the title Mayn Fayfele (My little flute). The poems selected from this volume have been exquisitely set to music by Jacques Verheijen, who stays true to the spirit of Gebirtig with extraordinary sensitivity.

It is almost impossible, where the work of Gebirtig is concerned, for any caring feeling individual to not identify wholeheartedly with his humanist, socialist, pacifist worldview. The relevance of Gebirtig's work in the early 21st century (C.E.) is not only undiminished, but if anything greater than ever in an age that tends to frown upon humanism while paying lip service to it. Through their personal engagement, Mariejan van Oort and Jacques Verheijen bring Gebirtig's world to life in the context of contemporary reality most vividly. It would be hard to imagine a more fitting way to pay tribute to the life and work of Mordekhay Gebirtig.

Their musicianship is every bit as outstanding as their engagement and commitment. Mariejan van Oort, gifted with a voice that just seems to float effortlessly, never misses a nuance in her expressive, sensitive interpretations. Jacques Verheijen has an unfailing feeling for when to remain subdued and understated and when to emphasize with his subtle, sensitive accompaniments on piano, guitar and accordion.

The opener of Mayn Fayfele - Songs of Gebirtig is a tender lullaby, Shlof shoyn mayn kind, filled with pathos and a great sense of loss, and is a superbly subdued and subtle interpretation. By way of contrast, Reyzele is a love song, more light-hearted, somet.......
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