“Ma nishtana” by Theodore Bikel
April 8, 2020/ByJewish Website/In/1 Comment
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Ma nishtano · Theodore Bikel
Helfman: Di Naye Hagode
℗ 2006 Milken Family Foundation
Released on: 2006-02-21
Composer: Itzik Fefer
Choir: Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale
Composer: Max Helfman
Conductor: Nick Strimple
Choir: Southern California Choral Society
Artist: Theodore Bikel
Orchestra: Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra
Provided to YouTube by NAXOS of America.
1 thought on ““Ma nishtana” by Theodore Bikel”
It would be nice to have some background. The text seems to be mostly in Yiddish, and credit is given to the Soviet Yiddish poet Itzik Fefer. But it is also said that this is a “tone poem of the Warsaw Ghetto”. I do not recall that Fefer was in the ghetto. To my knowledge he was in the Soviet Union throughout the war. So is this a later, retroispective composition ABOUT the Warsaw Ghetto?
The music is attributed to Max Helfman, and that was the key – on Wikipedia I learned that Max (born Motl) Helfman immigrated with his family at the age of 8 to the US where he spent the rest of his life. He was associated with both the (Yiddish, pro-Communist) Freiheit Chorus and the (Yiddish, socialist, anti-Communist) Arbeter-Ring (Workers’ Circle) chorus and later with many American Jewish and/or Zionist institutions such as the JTS and the University of Judaism. Personally, I find his music in this piece strong and moving, and hope to expand my acquaintance with his other compositions.
Please add any additional information about the piece, as well as the text if possible.
PS – I know well the music of Theodore Bikel, world-famous singer and promoter of folk music in Yiddish, Russian, English, French, Hebrew and a host of other languages. As a teenager, I sometimes ran into him in Washington Sq Park where he would come and sing with/for us just for the sheer love of it (of the art? of the people? of life?).