P. Szamburski, J. H. Sokołowska: Daughters, Mothers, Working Women - concert
We know many harrowing family stories from the ghetto. Omnipresent death, children separated from their parents, mothers giving their infants away to the “Aryan side” to save their lives—these were all sources of unthinkable and unspeakable pain and misery. Under such inhuman conditions, mothers would go to great lengths to dry their children’s tears.
- 19 April (Monday) 8.30 PM
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During the online concert, Paweł Szamburski and Joanna Halszka Sokołowska will perform lullabies from the collection of Moshe Beregowski, a Jewish folklorist and ethno-musicologist who published mainly in Russian and Yiddish. It is very likely that women in the Warsaw ghetto used to hum none else but Beregowski’s melodies. The musicians will also present pieces from Zalman Mlotek’s collection which speak of women’s predicament and of the reality of raising children in extreme poverty ("Above the Attic the Roof Is Asleep" / "Oyfn boydem short der dash"), but also of women’s growing rebellion. This topic transpires, for instance, in the song of freedom published for the first time in 1918 in Warsaw titled "Working Women" / "Arbeter Froyen", associated with the activities of the Jewish Labour Bund.
You will also hear "Mayn yidishe mame", a cult song written by Jacek Jeleń and Lew Pollack which deals with a sense of longing and with a relation between a Jewish mother and her lost son. The song was performed by many artists, among them Barry Sisters, Sophie Tucker, Belle Baker or Tom Jones.
Paweł Szamburski – independent artist who’s been active on stage for 20 years now, associated mainly with the Lado ABC circle. He interprets old and medieval music with Bastarda ensemble, and engages in interdisciplinary activity as part of SzaZa duo. Paweł composes music for film, theatre, silent movies and radio plays.
Joanna Halszka Sokołowska – vocalist, composer, actress, philosopher. Halszka is a member of post-rock Przepraszam group and a leader of Der Father ensemble whose other members include Daniel Pigoński and Jerzy Rogiewicz. She composes mainly choral music, as well as music for film and theatre. In July 2013, her opera titled W Sarze, Menckenie, Chrystusie i Beethovenie byli mężczyźni i były kobiety based on the poem by John B. Wolgamot premiered as part of the series Opera//Remix at the Komuna Warszawa theatre.
