Isle of Klezbos: "Unter Beymer" Yiddish lullaby, Joe's Pub NYC 2025

ISLE of KLEZBOS Melissa Fogarty: vocals Debra Kreisberg: clarinet Pam Fleming: trumpet Shoko Nagai: piano Dave Hofstra /guest: double bass Performed on June 24, 2025 Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, NYC KlezBiGay Pride show! "UNTER BEYMER" (Under the Trees) אונטער ביימער Music: Alexander Olshanetsky /ASCAP Lyrics: Moishe Oysher Arranged by Eve Sicular & Isle of Klezbos Video Editor & Audio Mixer: David Merrill For full Yiddish lyrics as well as translation & transliteration, see the album notes at our Bandcamp album link for YIDDISH SILVER SCREEN: https://klezbos.bandcamp.com/track/un... Real-life 20th century cantor and Yiddish matinee idol Moishe Oysher sang this lullaby twice within the film "Der vilner shtot-khazn" (The Vilna City Cantor), aka "Overture to Glory," aka "Der vilner balebesl." Oysher’s screen role here portrays the virtuosic but eventually tragic life of 19th century cantorial prodigy Yoel Duvid Loewenstein-Strashunsky. This lullaby melody interweaves with the plot, and was back-engineered by cinema composer Olshanetsky to parallel the opening passage of a famous Polish aria. While we first hear this song at bedside in Vilna as Strashunsky lulls his son to sleep, its reprise in the movie symbolizes the internal conflict of a deeply traditional Vilna-based khazn who has embraced forbidden classical music by leaving for Warsaw where he sings the lead in “Halka.” The film portrays the artistically impassioned vocalist as recruited, even seduced, by urbane opera exponents who value his musical talents but denigrate his own deep cultural heritage. And while the cantor himself never forsakes yidishkayt, he is shown as trapped “between two worlds.” With some of the highest production values ever seen in Yiddish cinema, this 1940 allegory reflected the grave disappointment of various European Jewish expatriates who made this “international” motion picture in New York City at a moment of exilic existential crisis. German-born film director Max Nosseck helmed this feature before he had received an American green card, while the Polish-born poet and novelist Yankev Glatshteyn (credited as Jacob Gladstone) wrote dialogue. The poignant Yiddish lyrics here are credited to Moishe Oysher himself. -- liner notes by Eve Sicular for ISLE of KLEZBOS album "Yiddish Silver Screen" https://klezbos.bandcamp.com/track/un...