About this project...
It's a bit of a convoluted story to discuss quite how this project came to be. While 2 of the 3 of us are Jewish and have had some exposure to Yiddish over the years, it was John Di Martino who spearheaded the idea of putting together a completely Yiddish-involved project. Years ago, he developed a fascination for Yiddish songs, after hearing Alberta Hunter sing “I Love You Much Too Much” in Yiddish (Ich Hob Dich Tzufil Lieb, one of this album’s tracks). Janis Siegel and he had been working together, and he suggested to add “Glick” to their repertoire. She had written a very moving prose poem, “My Grandfather’s House”, remembering her grandparents. They put them together as a cabaret piece, and some years later they performed this at the North Shore Jewish Center, where Cantor Daniel Kramer sang the “Glick” chorus as a duet with Janis (photo, Feb 2018). After the gig, John told Daniel about his long-held desire to record a CD of Yiddish Songs. Daniel was able to elicit financial support from members of the synagogue, and the project was born!