Following on the heels of their GRAMMY Award-winning work with the Klezmatics, vocalists Susan McKeown and Lorin Sklamberg have begun an exciting musical collaboration: an album of Yiddish and Irish song that will be released in March 2009 with supporting tour dates.
Culled from rare archive material and old recordings, McKeown and Sklamberg have selected songs on various themes from the Jewish and Irish traditions such as love, death, betrothal, betrayal and the demon drink, songs both religious and irreverent. Cumulative and macaronic songs are also represented.
“We love singing together and started to explore the connections between Yiddish and Irish songs awhile ago,” says McKeown. “Lorin is a true scholar and so he’s come up with some beautiful songs. It’s been both fascinating and fun to learn these Yiddish songs from him.” In fact, the bulk of the Jewish material is being drawn from the papers of the legendary collector and performer Ruth Rubin, specifically from the recently published Yiddish Folk Songs from the Ruth Rubin Archive, drawn from her field recordings held at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, where Sklamberg serves as Sound Archivist. “Part of the thrill of this project is having the privilege of being the first to commercially record most of these treasures,” enthuses Sklamberg. The Irish selections comprise rare songs from both the popular and the ancient sean nós traditions.
When Sklamberg, the voice of the Klezmatics, decided with his band mates to seek an additional vocalist for their Woody Guthrie project Wonder Wheel, the choice was McKeown. The resulting album went on to win the 2006 GRAMMY for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
Saints and Tzadiks is a great album. During the past two weeks I've played four of your songs on the The World Beat. Oakum, My Little Belly, Enniscorthy Fair, and The Rattlin' Bog.
