Adrienne was indeed part of the magic and music of Yiddishkeit. Her expressive voice supported her intellectual insistence that in interweaving the mining and replication of the past she was working to bring it into a somewhat different sensibility, one that could move from being stuck endlessly in a world of "revival." As the pitch perfect heir to that yerusha (inheritance), she chose to use it to inform a variety of interpretative arts and moments. So though these comments and others focus on her contributions to world of Yiddish, I'd like on a personal note to mention some of the other worlds that she'd richly interpreted for me as well such as that of Ladino.
I'm pretty sure the first time I heard Adrienne sing was in the 70s at YIVO doing a short concert which included Ladino romanceros (love songs). For me, listening to her in that genre was as powerful as hearing anything else she sang throughout the years in which she was known primarily for Yiddish. And some years later during the siege of Sarajevo with an audience crying in response to Michael Alpert's singing in Ladino/Judesmo at the Knitting Factory, it was Adrienne's voice that I recalled along with those of the more traditional singers that Michael was invoking. And then there was the time I caught a gig accidentally at Mo Pickins, in which she was singing Eishas Chiyal and tenderly inverting it into a Hebrew song sung by a woman to other women. Or her making a fuss on stage over Glikl of Hameln's tiny puppet children at LaMama in bringing that woman back to life. Or in 1998 at the "maiden" debut of Mikveh at Tonic. I remember a Chasidic guy standing on a car in the next door parking lot seemingly puzzled and curious as to how this amazing klezmer music was coming out of that barred window he was surreptitiously peeking into; a funny visual metaphor and tribute to a group intentionally devoted to making female musical voices heard (http://archive.chazzanut.com/j....
But Adrienne was well known in the world of museum studies as a powerful interpreter of immigrant voices and the stories they tell. I remember exhibits at MOCA, the Museum of the Chinese in America where she worked. I remember Adrienne's abiding interest in and appreciation for the NYC and other places described by the storytellers that CityLore champions. For Adrienne the richness of performance was deeply contextualized in an ethos that required telling and transmitting stories responsibly through music and other interpretative arts. Adrienne's powerful interpretations added not just grace but wit and humor, (sometimes wickedly pointed at that)--and through them, she moved and challenged others to see themselves differently.
Adrienne was indeed part of the magic and music of Yiddishkeit. Her expressive voice supported her intellectual insistence that in interweaving the mining and replication of the past she was working to bring it into a somewhat different sensibility, one that could move from being stuck endlessly in a world of "revival." As the pitch perfect heir to that yerusha (inheritance), she chose to use it to inform a variety of interpretative arts and moments. So though these comments and others focus on her contributions to world of Yiddish, I'd like on a personal note to mention some of the other worlds that she'd richly interpreted for me as well such as that of Ladino.
I'm pretty sure the first time I heard Adrienne sing was in the 70s at YIVO doing a short concert which included Ladino romanceros (love songs). For me, listening to her in that genre was as powerful as hearing anything else she sang throughout the years in which she was known primarily for Yiddish. And some years later during the siege of Sarajevo with an audience crying in response to Michael Alpert's singing in Ladino/Judesmo at the Knitting Factory, it was Adrienne's voice that I recalled along with those of the more traditional singers that Michael was invoking. And then there was the time I caught a gig accidentally at Mo Pickins, in which she was singing Eishas Chiyal and tenderly inverting it into a Hebrew song sung by a woman to other women. Or her making a fuss on stage over Glikl of Hameln's tiny puppet children at LaMama in bringing that woman back to life. Or in 1998 at the "maiden" debut of Mikveh at Tonic. I remember a Chasidic guy standing on a car in the next door parking lot seemingly puzzled and curious as to how this amazing klezmer music was coming out of that barred window he was surreptitiously peeking into; a funny visual metaphor and tribute to a group intentionally devoted to making female musical voices heard (http://archive.chazzanut.com/j....
But Adrienne was well known in the world of museum studies as a powerful interpreter of immigrant voices and the stories they tell. I remember exhibits at MOCA, the Museum of the Chinese in America where she worked. I remember Adrienne's abiding interest in and appreciation for the NYC and other places described by the storytellers that CityLore champions. For Adrienne the richness of performance was deeply contextualized in an ethos that required telling and transmitting stories responsibly through music and other interpretative arts. Adrienne's powerful interpretations added not just grace but wit and humor, (sometimes wickedly pointed at that)--and through them, she moved and challenged others to see themselves differently.