“Blondzhendike Lider” is an album conceived as a “modern Jewish work of art”, but what IS a Jewish work of art? Imagine two people, one of whom has spent his whole life in Brooklyn and the other in Vitebsk. If the two should happen to meet, they would be amazed to discover that they ate the same food and that their mothers used the same words to scold and praise them. Another commonality is multiculturalism, as both the Belarusian and the American additionally carry the culture of their homeland. The Yiddish language itself provides the best symbol of this, as it is based on Middle High German and notated in Hebrew letters.

“Blondzhendike Lider” (an allusion to the famous novel by Scholom Aleichem “Blondzhendike Shtern”) has several levels: it defines itself as a contemporary Jewish work of art, is a process and product of the search for identity of the Jewish-Ukrainian-German musician Kateryna Ostrovska. Perhaps it is even a pseudo-scientific experiment, for the purpose of clarifying to what extent this “cultural cocktail” means a plus, a minus in “Yiddishkeit”. The first creative impulse for the creation developed when Kateryna Ostrovska read the poetry collection “Splinters of Light and Night” by four Yiddish poets. “I was completely overwhelmed, felt closeness, belonging, comfort and home, wanted to connect on a deeper level to these women and stimulate an exchange with more artists to be able to create a ‘spiritual home of the homeless’ from it.”

Now the work is complete, with 50 minutes of playing time, over 50 participating artists* and an itinerary that spans Hamburg, Berlin, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Saint Petersburg, Chişinău and Sofia. “Blondzhendike Lider” owes its orchestrations to the pen of Paulo Aragão, whose arrangements Kateryna Ostrovska discovered on the Grammy-nominated album “Noturno Copocabana” by Guinga. The recordings were largely financed by the Hamburg Ministry for Culture and Media. The album was released on 23.9.22 and was greeted with acclaim by the German and international press.

Press voices:

“A work of touching beauty and powerful depth” Aviva
“A touching and important work” Leo Magazine
“Touchingly beautiful” Virgin Jazz Face
“Beautiful songs, expressive voice… wonderfully interpreted” Der Kultur Blog
“Remarkable international album” NDR Kultur
“Wonderful!” Na Dann
“Grandiosely realized project” Schall Magazine
“Touchingly beautiful” NRW Jazz
“Modern world music work of art” Thüringer Allgemeine

Forward: https://forward.com/forverts-in-english/521664/jewish-ukrainian-singer-kateryna-ostrovska-produces-an-album-on-the-immigration-experience/

Dates:

Band in Europe:

Kateryna Ostrovska – Gesang
Sergio Valdeos – Gitarre
Christian Dawid – Klarinette
Jakob Neubauer – Akkordeon
Guido Jäger – Kontrabass  
Matthias Haffner – Perkussion

Music:

Live Concert on National Radio of North Germany: https://www.ndr.de/kultur/sendungen/ndr_kultur_a_la_carte/Blondzhendike-Lider-Kateryna-Ostrovska-singt-auf-Jiddisch,extraostrovska100.html

Live Performances at the Yiddish New York Festival:

Live Premiere Berlin TAK Theater:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sQMjJHpD6gg

Recordings, Interviews, making of: