In May 2019, Isabel Frey, a singer of Yiddish revolutionary songs, landed her biggest gig yet, not in a concert hall but atop a van in central Vienna at the regular Thursday demonstration protesting the presence of the far-right Freedom Party in Austria’s ruling coalition. For the occasion, she took a pre-World War I song condemning the tsarist police, adapted the Yiddish lyrics into German and … More Isabel Frey: Millenial Bundist
As consistently as she releases sparkling albums, Claudia Koreck reaches new heights. Her 2007 debut ignited a revival of Bavarian-dialect song, a movement that now counts her as its Grande Dame. In short order one of her compositions became a major film title track and she toured Germany with the Eagles. Her success rests less on strategic choices than in simply not letting herself be forced into either/or boxes—she’s a small town girl and a … More Claudia Koreck: Holodeck
Scholars debate whether Yiddish, the German-based language of Ashkenazi Jews, emerged in the Rhineland or Bavaria. Few have studied Bavarian-Yiddish links more than Andrea Pancur, who focuses less on debating linguistic history than on composing new connections. After nearly three decades in klezmer music, she added her native Bavaria to the mix; Zum Meer (To the Sea) is the second album in her signature genre of Alpen Klezmer … More Andrea Pancur: Alpen Klezmer – Zum Meer
The Berlin-based world/folk group 17 Hippies emerged in an open-minded Europe that valued diversity. Operating less like a band than a village in which each resident carries instruments and tastes acquired on foreign adventures, the collective’s disparate elements work beautifully together, against expectations. The result is a floating musical center of gravity as inspiring as it is fun, with dominant elements (Balkan rhythm, French chanson, Weimar … More 17 Hippies: 20 Years – Anatomy
Aesop’s story of the city mouse and the country mouse described a clash of worldviews. In the hands and voice of the German singer-songwriter Claudia Koreck, city and country are competing and complementary forces within one body. On Stadt Land Fluss (City, Country, River), she explores this theme with her powerful yet gentle voice, floating effortlessly between adrenalized and mellow tones, singing in blues, rock and folk accents; the river enters the album … More Claudia Koreck: Stadt Land Fluss
Listening Post 12. Annett Louisan is Marlene Dietrich redesigned: Shorter in stature, higher in voice, she takes her own route to the same seductive ends. Innocent or naughty, funny or critical, perky or melancholy, she adroitly juggles modern vocabulary and retro style, often crossing the boundaries of pop/chanson into other musical realms. The theme of Louisan’s sixth album, Zu viel Information (Too Much Information), is—in the words … More Annett Louisan: Zu viel Information
