Brivele

Brivele is Maia Brown and Stefanie Brendler, who journey into the archives of Yiddish anti-fascist musical tradition, bringing together anti-authoritarian satire, mournful remembrances, and the disguised political commentary in folk ditties and theater classics. These songs are a correspondence: ancestors’ voices speaking clearly and uncompromisingly, sometimes sweetly, to the present moment.

Khaveyrim Zayt Greyt, Yiddish for “Friends, Get Ready,” traverses 19th & 20th century texts with present day resonance: songs newly translated or entirely reimagined in Yiddish and English; the poetry of censored Proletpen writers newly set to music; new klezmer interpretations of old melodies, and one modern cover of a British anti-fascist ballad by The Young’uns.

This album encompasses the band’s transition from a trio to a duo, including songs recorded both with and without Hannah Hamavid (vocals, violin, ukulele). These shifting harmonies join a broader chorus within the album, where you also hear:

voices of the unemployed and imprisoned

voices of people facing and fighting evictions

voices of McCarthy-era blacklisted poets

voices of writers murdered by the state

voices of workers; of immigrants

voices of disillusionment and steadfastness

voices in love

voices of resistance.

Presented by Town Hall Seattle.