Partisans & Parasites
So I’ve been in Berlin now for a bunch of days and managed to go to at least Jewish or Israeli cultural event per day. That feels both comforting and world-shrinking. The highlight of my time here has been happening upon Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird as part of a gigantic city-wide free music festival. This is a musician that knows his Talmud, Brecht, and Holocaust literature - and can bring it all together in an engrossing, and totally transporting performance. Have you ever seen anyone sing into a megaphone and play the accordian simultaneously, not something to take lightly. I’ve been thinking about context a lot in how we experience art, music, culture in general. There was moment there where Daniel, a Jew who transplanted himself to Germany, was singing about parasites in Yiddish in Berlin to a big crowd, and I felt the swoosh of history playing out in my experience. So if you happen to be in Kracow, check them out on June 30, grab their new album Partisans and Parasites, or maybe even worth a little trip to Berlin. As I’m sure you’ve heard, there is a lot of this city to explore.
Dan Wolf
06/26/2009 at 12:50 pm |
His work is very complicated. I think he is closest we will every get to seeing the past and present collide in one artist.