In the summer of 1948, amateur folklorist Ben Stonehill recorded more than 1,000 songs from Holocaust refugees who were being housed temporarily in the lobby of the Hotel Marseilles on New York’s Upper West Side. Stonehill’s efforts preserved for posterity a rich repertoire of songs in Yiddish as well as Polish, Czech, and Hebrew. The recordings are now being disseminated on the web by Yiddish scholar Miriam Isaacs through a partnership with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance.
Join us for this special online multimedia program, in which Isaacs will reveal the inside story of Ben Stonehill’s heroic project, and share some of the remarkable performances Stonehill captured on wire recordings. Additionally, special guest musician Vladimir Fridman will perform songs from the Stonehill archive.
Registration is included with a suggested donation of $10. Thank you for your support!
