Yiddish Tango from Warsaw to perform at the JCC

SAJE, in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute, will bring the acclaimed Yiddish singer and scholar Olga Avigail Mieleszczuk back to the United States for a reprise of her program “Yiddish Tango from Warsaw,” featuring new arrangements of popular tango songs composed by Polish Jews in the 1930s. 

The concert is a continuation of a Polish-Jewish dialogue that focuses on nurturing heritage, religion and multiculturalism. The concert will be accompanied by Poland’s leading tango ensemble Tango Attack. The concert will take place at the Bernikow Building on Sunday, September 22nd at 3pm.

​The multilingual repertoire of this project includes songs in Polish, Yiddish, and Hebrew, reflecting the distinct international expressions of interwar Warsaw. As the tango craze swept through Europe, Warsaw became the eastern European capital of tango and bore witness to the birth of the dance form’s most eclectic permutation, combining Slavic and Jewish elements with Argentinian musical influences.
 
It was upon her discovery of one such song, Białostocki’s “Rebecca,” that Olga first fell in love with Yiddish tango, fascinated by how the music reflects the complexity of Polish-Jewish coexistence. Raised a devout Catholic, Olga was inspired to dive deeper into Jewish culture after a life-changing interfaith visit to Auschwitz. After the visit, she began to study Yiddish and made it her mission to bring Yiddish back to the Jewish people. Today, Olga practices Orthodox Judaism and resides in Israel.
 
Olga’s repertoire includes a wide variety of songs from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, some of which were popular tunes in their time, and others that had been forgotten and only recently revived by Olga and her band for a contemporary audience. In the concert program, Olga shares the unique history of each melody, weaving together compelling stories of Yiddish stars from the Old World.

Last year, Olga presented Yiddish Tango from Warsaw at Toronto’s Ashkenaz Festival and presented concerts and workshops at the internationally acclaimed klezmer gathering KlezKanada. Olga’s concerts often feature special guest singers and musicians such as legendary singer Sława Przybylska, acclaimed jazz pianist from Toronto Ron Davis, and leading Israeli performers. In 2013, Olga toured North America with a project Polesye – Jewish Folksongs from Shtetl, a project inspired by the repertoire of Miriam Nirenberg, with concerts at Atrium at Lincoln Center, Chutzpah! Festival, Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, and the JCC East Bay in Berkeley. 

The concert is part of a tour that includes performances at the JCC of Manhattan and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. It is presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. The event will be followed by a dessert reception. To purchase tickets, contact Sigalit Grego at [email protected] or 718.475.5276.

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