viewpoint-east.org

Gettots tango

Category: by sophie engström, Centraleuropa, Historia, Jiddisch, music, översättningar, poland, theatre
Tags: , , , ,

(Läsningstid: 6 minuter)

Tonerna är omslingrade. Som om de vore i ett väldigt famntag. Här hörs en tango som släpper ut sin hand mot det judiska tonspråket, de glider ledigt över i romsk musik, och kanske letar de sig vidare ändå fram till några enstaka polska folktoner. Men det är inte spretigt och kaotiskt för den delen. Nej, tonerna skapar en alldeles egen och säregen symmetri. Rund till formen tycks den vara. Lite som en bagel, vars runda och mjuka ram lutar in mot ett litet hålrum, där vår fantasi får blomma ut.

Och inte att undra på att tankarna förs till en bagel, enär skaparen av dessa toner lystrade till tilltalsnamnet Dawid Bajgelman.

Dawid Bajgelman föddes i en judisk familj år 1887 eller 1888 i Ostrowiec, en liten ort i sydöstra Polen. Man skulle kunna hävda att han föddes in i musiken, ty hans far var klarinettist, och skulle sedermera få anställning i Łódź symfoniorkester samt verka som dirigent på den judiska teatern Teatr Scala i Łódź. Det var dock inte enbart pappa Szymon och Dawid som var musiker i familjen. Alla nio syskonbarnen (åtta bröder och en syster) spelade. Dawid och en av hans bröder valde violinen som sina huvudinstrument, vilket likaledes flera av de andra syskonen valde. Men även pianot fick känna på deras spelsugna små fingrar. Några av syskonen beslöt sig dock för att satsa på saxofonen och jazzmusiken.

1912, när Dawid Bajgelman var 25 år, blev han utsedd till dirigent på den judiska teatern kallad Ickok Zandberg i Łódź. Tre år senare fick han även anställning på sin fars arbetsplats, alltså symfoniorkestern i Łódź. Samma år tonsatte han operetter till den andra judiska teatern, Teatr Scala, vilket likaledes var pappa Szymons arbetsplats. Men det skulle dröja innan Dawids karriär skulle fart på allvar. Det stora genombrottet kom 1920 då han fick i uppdrag att tonsätta musiken till den judiska pjäsen “Mellan två världar – Dybbuk“. Pjäsen författades på ryska av Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport, mer känd under pseudonymen S. Ansky. Den översattes senare till jiddisch av densamme. Pjäsen handlar om en ung kvinna vars själ blir besatt av sin bortgångne älskades själ, och karaktären går att finna i judisk folktro. Uppsättningen blev en blev en omedelbar succé. Ensemblen, Trupa Wileńska (Vilniustruppen) fick dädanefter turnera land och rike runt för att framföra detta gåtfulla skådespel. Dawid Bajgelmans tonsättningar, där han låtit sig inspireras av de judiska folkmelodierna, bidrog med största sannolikhet till uppsättningens framgångar. Flera av sångerna skulle bli på så populära att de betraktades som riktiga slagdängor.

Dawid Bajgelman var nu en av de mest uppskattade och tongivande tonsättarna och dirigenterna i mellankrigstidens Polen. Han fick uppdrag vid flera olika judiska teatrar. Bland annat syntes hans namn på affischer i Warszawa, Lwów (idag Lviv), Kraków, Rzeszów och på många fler platser i Polen. Under mitten av 1930-talet åkte han ut i vida världen, och människorna i städer som Paris, London och Bryssel fick lyssna på hans alster och se honom dirigera. Hans tonsättningar spelades även in, och då företrädesvis på det legendariska skivbolaget Syrena Rekord, ett av Polens största skivbolag som var verksamt fram till andra världskriget.

Det finns inte mycket information att finna om Dawid Bajgelmans privatliv, men någon gång under 1910-talet gifte sig Dawid Bajgelman med Anna Foderman. Källorna anger inget annat om henne än att hon var skådespelerska, Dawids hustru och att de gemensamt fick en son, Pinchas (Piniek) Bajgelman, som föddes 1915.

När så andra världskriget bröt ut, och Nazityskland ockuperade Polen och Łódź, sattes Dawid i stadens ökända getto. Med honom fanns även hans hustru, Anna. Sonen Piniek, som då var 24 år, flydde till Sovjetunionen där han överlevde Förintelsen. (Efter krigsslutet tog Piniek sig till USA, där han verkade som musiker, fram till sin död 1981.) I gettot startade Dawid genast en symfoniorkester, som bestod av 44 musiker. Den första konserten gavs den första mars 1941, och på repertoaren återfanns flera av Dawid Bajgelmans sånger. Livet i gettot var dock mycket hårt, och Anna skulle avlida, troligen av tyfus eller undernäring. Trots denna sorg fortsatte Dawid att komponera i gettot. Det var nämligen under denna tid som han skrev sina kanske mest emotionella och starka verk. Flera av sångerna vittnar om det mångkulturella Polen som var ett faktum på Dawid Bajgelmans tid. Fundamentet, det som alla tonerna vilar på, är dock tangon. Men här hörs också romernas klagan i “Tsigayner Lid” (Zigenarsång), där romernas lidande beskrivs med orden “zigenare lider/de lever som ingen”. Bland de sånger han skrev under denna tid, och som särskilt utmärker sig är Makh tsi di eygelekh (Slut dina ögon). Sångens text är på jiddisch (precis som alla texter Bajgelman tonsatte) och den skrevs av poeten och författaren Isaiah Shpigl (även Jeszajahu Szpigel), och här är tangon förklädd till en vaggvisa. Ett litet barn på flykt vaggas till sömn, och genom sången lär vi känna de umbäranden som det judiska folket fick utstå under Förintelsen, där Gud tycks ha övergett världen. Sista versen utspelar sig i getto, där blott världens avgrund återstår. “Nakna och bara/Vi blev jagade från vårt hem/Ut i mörkret,/Drivna ut på fälten;/Och storm, hagel och blåst/Har följt oss, mitt barn/Följt med oss in till/Världens avgrund.” Tillsammans med Dawids sorgsna tango förefaller sången frambringa all samlad smärta. Sången var så drabbande att den censurerades av Chaim Rumkowski, ordförande i Juderådet (Judenrat) i gettot i Łódź. Isaiah Shpigl behandlade särskilt bryskt och han deporterades till Auschwitz, men lyckades mirakulöst överleva.

Dawid Bajgelman deporterades också han slutligen till Auschwitz, i den allra sista vågen av deportationer. Enligt överlevare ska Dawid ha varit förvissad om att han skulle överleva. Han packade sin väska full med partitur, och violinen hade han givetvis med sig. Trots att han var så trosviss om en framtid efter Förintelsen, skulle han inte överleva. Bara några dagar efter han anlänt till lägret, mördades han av en berusad lägervakt. Dawid Bajgelman blev 56 eller 57 år gammal.

Dawid Bajgelmans sånger och rika musikaliska arv föll i glömska efter Förintelsen. Det är först på senare tid som hans alster åter spelas. På en nyutkommen platta, signerad Bester Quartet, kan man nu lyssna till hur Dawid Bajgelmans sånger åter får nytt liv. Kapellmästaren Jacek Bester har gjort en finkänslig tolkning av Bajgelmans alster från dennes tid i gettot. Vi lotsas varsamt genom Bajgelmans gärning till dess Finale – Makh tsi di eygelekh (Slut dina ögon).

Slut dina ögon
(Översättning från engelska/jiddisch Sonia Engström)

Slut dina små ögon,
Små fåglar kommer,
Cirkla runt
Huvudändan av din vagga.
Bagage i våra händer
Vårt hem i aska
Vi ger oss ut, mitt barn
På jakt efter tur.

Gud har stängt av världen
Och natt är överallt
Som väntar på oss,
Full av skräck och rädsla.
Vi två står här
I denna svåra, svåra stund
Att inte veta var
Vägen leder.

Nakna och bara
Vi blev jagade från vårt hem
Ut i mörkret,
Drivna ut på fälten;
Och storm, hagel och blåst
Har följt oss, mitt barn
Följt med oss in
Världens avgrund.

Källor
http://besterquartet.com/releases/bajgelman-get-to-tango/
https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/lodz/makh-tsi-di-eygelekh/
https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/lodz/beygelmandavid/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beigelman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dybbuk
https://www.antiwarsongs.org/confronta.php?versions=1&ver=11163&id=5445&ver2=-1&lang=en (Slut dina ögon på jiddisch)
https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/lodz/makh-tsi-di-eygelekh/lyrics/ (Slut dina ögon på engelska)
http://baedekerlodz.blogspot.com/2017/06/dawid-bajgelman-z-muzyka-do-konca.html
m.fl.

Cops on Fire: The True Story

Category: by sasha pas, guests, music, russia, theatre
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(Läsningstid: 4 minuter)

The Cops on Fire-story started more than a year ago. One evening I met my friend Sasha Kholenko (DZA) in the 16tonns cafe in Moscow, the club where DZA together with how2make-crew made concerts and gigs during the time. He told me about one of his projects, a radio play based on a detective story about cops and killers. The play included more than 30 hip-hop tracks, each track was a short episode in the play. DZA made all the beats and loops for that project called “Cops On Fire”. He asked if I want to meet the other guys in the project, and make this on stage and not only on radio.

So, why did he ask me? At that moment I was working with the theatre group  “Le Cirque de Sharles La Tannes”. In 2005 we staged The Crystal World, a short story by Victor Pelevin. The interesting thing was that all the music for The Crystal World was composed by another member of how2make-crew, the talanted electronic musician Roma Litvinov (Mujuice). It felt like a good chance to make another experiment with how2make-crew on stage. But now with hip-hop.

So we started to work…

We had however no budget. So by the time we had the idea of how it could be on stage, we started search for sponsor. We thought we needed more or less 8000$ for the whole production. (Finally it costed more than 10000$). But we failed to find any sponsor. Probably we didn’t try hard enough. Everyone was eager to start the production and rehearsals as soon as possible, and to search for sponsors are a rather boring work. So we, me and my partner, Jury Kvyatkovsky (the director of “Cops On Fire”) invested our own money. But many helped. One of our friends proposed us a studio for the rehearsals, another found some costumes, another made the decorations on credit. And in September last year we had a call from S:t Petersburg and they invited us to the Sergey Kuryokhin Festival. We agreed and had only two months to finish everything.

The premiere in St.Petersburg was very sucessful. Even though we didn’t like the technical result – the place was a cinema but we prefer a theatre. The audience loved it though. Directly after that we started to work with the Moscow premiere and tried to make it in the best possible way. After several months of working it seemed as everyone finally started to believe in what they were doing. The premiere in Moscow got only one negative comment and that was that we used to much slang and bad language in the play, and we have now cut some of those.

However, the most interesting thing with our project is that we, subconsciously, have made a very social and actual project. In Russia there were several scandals connected to the police last year. There where for instance a shooting at a supermarket by a Major Evsukov and a video message for Medvedev. Our story is opposed to real life with the most fair cop. He is a true social order keeper. He spares no effort to put his vision of what’s right and what’s wrong into practice. Still there are very few comments from theatre audience about this connection.

“Cops on Fire” gives two shows every month in Moscow at the theatre centre “Na Strastnom”. In June it will be the 10th show in Moscow. Each time the house is full. About 3000 people have seen the show so far. In May “Cops On Fire” gave a live show on “TransMusicales” festival, and in September we will take part in international theatre festival GOGOLFEST in Kiev, Ukraine. And we have also started a film project….

…to be continued…

Cops on fire at facebook

Sasha Pas is art-director of Le Cirque de Sharles La Tannes – an independent creative group of actors, directors, musicians and artisits, based in Moscow, Russia. In past recent years – editor and founder of 55 pdf magazine. Now works as a creative producer of Cops On Fire project.

Yuriy Zmorovych: “An avantgardist should always be in opposition to the norm”

Category: art, avantgarde, by sophie engström, music, theatre, ukraine
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(Läsningstid: 5 minuter)

Read the Swedish version here.

What is avantgarde? I ask myself while sitting with avant-garde sculptor, musician, poet and theatre man Yuriy Zmorovych in his chaotic but very cozy studio in central Kyiv. Books, sculptures, self-made instruments, videotapes, DVDs and vinyl records are stacked in a very wayward regime only known by Yuriy. How should I manage to explain the greatness, humor and the presence of this man’s work, by just using some few words? I ask myself further. For many the term avant-garde have elitistic, pretentious and even obsolete conjections. But Yuriy Zmorovychs avantgarde do not fit into this description. His avantgarde expression is playful, intelligence which feels current and contemporary, without being pretentious. It must be the humor that is key to, I think, for Yuriy has no problem laughing captivating when he talks about his own creations and ideas.

ЮРИЙ ЗМОРОВИЧ / YURIY ZMOROVYCH

ЮРИЙ ЗМОРОВИЧ / YURIY ZMOROVYCH

Yuriy Zmorovych has a great production. He began his career as an improviser in early 1970s. And in the early 1980s, he met the Russian musician and avantgardist Sergei Letov. This meeting has led to several collaborations, but in the beginning it was actually mainly film-making and Yuriy made two films together with Letov, improvised on the theme of creation.

In the 1990s he started to work with international artists and one of the more memorable was when he worked with the French group improvisation ARFI. (ARFI stands for Association à la recherche d’un Folklore imaginaire.) In a few weeks in August 1991 they played on a river boat that went from Kiev to Odessa. Between their improvisations, they all sat like glued in front of the radio and listened to the reports on events from Moscow. It was the time when the Soviet Union fell apart.

In constant opposition
For Yuriy, this was symbolic. He went on his river boat and broke new ground, or traveling in new waters, with avantgarde musicians who had similar views on the creation of his own. And in then same time Soviet Union came to an end. For him, avantgarde must constantly stands in opposition to the norm, fighting oppression and those who exercise power.

It was never easy to be improvisational in the Soviet Union, he says, adding that it is of course much easier for young people today to choose that path. Jazz was, for example, prohibited, and he tells emphatically how he, after several years of searching, found “A Drum Is a Woman” by Duke Ellington on a black market in Odessa.

– Duke Ellington had a great spontaneity and it has always been fruitful for my own creativity. But since I came into improvised jazz and avant-garde, I must admit that I abandoned him to others. Along with the Dadaism and Malevich, Ellington are my icons, Yuriy implies.

Yuriy would not want to notify other sources of inspiration, and responds that it could be anything. The rain, a cat jamar, no talking, cars driving along the street, or an internal flow.

The key to the avantgarde expression, according to Yuriy to listen to the spontaneous creative process, to dare to open the doors to the inner voice and not be afraid of what you hear, and the second cornerstone of the avantgarde expression is that always stand in opposition against the norm. This expression is found in the inner voice if you just listen, he says.

His untuned piano was a great beginning
Already in the beginning, in 1970s, his drive was to create a kind of noise generator or stream from the innermost of the soul and the body. He says that he therefor began to play on an untuned piano. An excellent choice, Yuriy implies.

– In my ears it sounded accurate, of course, he laughs.

YURIY ZMOROVYCH

YURIY ZMOROVYCH

By then he started to build his own instruments. The material was everything he found around him. Metal, plastic, cloth, paper, combined with a guitar string can make miracles.

– Like this, he says and picks up an old plastic bottle with a round hole in the middle. Through the plastic bottle, he has strained a guitar string. When he plays on the string, while screws on the cap, it sounds actually strangely surreal.

Avantgarde theater
In the 1990s Yuriy had the opportunity to become the creative leader for avantgarde theater Teatr AA. His partner was Olexandr Nesterov (link in Ukrainian), a legendary avantgarde guitarist and composer who dead in 2005. They worked with both amateur and professional actors. Important for the project was to lead the actors to learn to play instruments, and to act spontaneously, to improvise. This was not always easy, since many were trained actors. To release an already learned knowledge of how acting should be is not easy, says Yuriy.

In Memoriam Nesterov – with Kiritchenko, Коtrа, Zagaykevych, Letov, Makarov, Borisov, Yaremchuk, Tovstukha, Khmelyov, Ohrymchuk, Strelnikov, Klymenko, Zmorovych, Smetanin, Rudyi, Putyatin, Khmelyov, Makhno. NOTE! You hear Zmorovych in the second piece (if ou have any problem hearing it here, go to the website, see the link above) and not on the first, that is Yuriy Yaremchuck performing!

Teatr AAA got much attention, not only in former Soviet Union but also in Western Europe and the USA. But during the crisis years of the 1990s the sponsors fled and the theater had to be closed.

“Avantgarde should never be decorative”
Yuriy loves to to work with amateurs. He argues that the most important thing is to be creative and to be self-taught and that does not necessarily mean that you do not know how to create. He argues that many musicians or artists in avantgarde often are overly decorative in their design and not in opposition to the norm. He points a little at his compatriot Yuriy Jaremchych, he also worked with previously. But they have chosen different ways and is therefore not entirely agree on the avantgarde expression. At the same time Yuriy Zmorovych would never allow condemnation against other artists.

I ask him what he thinks about the future and he urge that he believes that a new generations will bring avantgarde further to new dimensions. The forms will of course be different, but the most incentives will stand.

– The human mind is collective, and our knowledge is shared. New influences will of course be added as our lives are changing. These are doors that the avantgardist should open. But how it will be can only the future reveal, he concludes.

And I am really feel enthusiastic by his optimism.

“Cops on Fire” a very new Hip-hopera

Category: art, by sophie engström, music, russia, theatre
Tags: , , , , ,

(Läsningstid: 2 minuter)

The hip-hopera “Cops on Fire” have the first night of performance on the 4th of December in S:t Petersburg. The music is written by Alexander Holenko, also known as Sasha Dza or Dzhem, who also is the founder of the label how2make. The director is Yury Kvyatkovsky and the creative producer Sasha Pas.

The creative association Le Cirque de Sharles La Tannes stands for the performance. Some probably remember their interpretation of the Russian author Victor Pelevin’s short story “The crystal world”. You can watch a clip from that performance under the cut.

copsonfire

The press release about “Cop on Fire” tell us is an experimental project and result of creative confluence of theatre culture and contemporary youth music. The creators decided to call the genre of their creation «hip-hopera». Hip-hopera = live hip-hop arias + original decorations + tricks + choreography.

Continue reading…