After producing nearly 1000 Cds, I was introduced to Adrienne Cooper by Alica Svigals. Adrienne wanted to record the songs sung in make shift-cabarets, which were set up in concentration camps. The album was recorded and called Ghetto Tango. Adrienne wrote the liner notes which turned out to be a mini dissertation on the subject, including rare photos of the performers and composers and even a shot taken by a Nazi propaganda photographer, depicting the wonderful treatment of the Jews in the concentration camp cabaret. As I said, I had already produced 1000 recordings, but I could not stop crying during one of the recording sessions. I still remember the 3 songs, "Mazl" "Friling, and "Fun der Arbet"...and I had even learned yet what the Yiddish words meant. The sound was so "heavy" that I could not get the mental images of what these performers must have been experiencing, out of my mind. Zalmen Mlotek played the piano so "in-tune" with Adrienne's singing that I doubt that a more sensitive partnership exists in any musical genre. I still listen to these tunes and cry. Thank you Adrienne for sharing your life long work in Yiddish song with the world. Adrienne was a true performer and one of the few Yiddish/Klezmer musicians I have met who truly understood how to make music at its highest level.
After producing nearly 1000 Cds, I was introduced to Adrienne Cooper by Alica Svigals. Adrienne wanted to record the songs sung in make shift-cabarets, which were set up in concentration camps. The album was recorded and called Ghetto Tango. Adrienne wrote the liner notes which turned out to be a mini dissertation on the subject, including rare photos of the performers and composers and even a shot taken by a Nazi propaganda photographer, depicting the wonderful treatment of the Jews in the concentration camp cabaret. As I said, I had already produced 1000 recordings, but I could not stop crying during one of the recording sessions. I still remember the 3 songs, "Mazl" "Friling, and "Fun der Arbet"...and I had even learned yet what the Yiddish words meant. The sound was so "heavy" that I could not get the mental images of what these performers must have been experiencing, out of my mind. Zalmen Mlotek played the piano so "in-tune" with Adrienne's singing that I doubt that a more sensitive partnership exists in any musical genre. I still listen to these tunes and cry. Thank you Adrienne for sharing your life long work in Yiddish song with the world. Adrienne was a true performer and one of the few Yiddish/Klezmer musicians I have met who truly understood how to make music at its highest level.