The Vilna Laments

The Songs They Sang is a musical narrative of the Vilna Ghetto, Lithuania, during World War II.

The Vilna Ghetto existed from 1941 to 1943. Starvation, disease, execution, and deportation to concentration camps, reduced the Jewish population of the ghetto from an estimated 40,000 to only a few hundred, by the time it was liquidated in September 1943.

In January 1942, theatre emerged in the Vilna Ghetto as a means of solace and diversion. Productions included Yiddish and European classics, along with original plays and revues, reflecting the concerns and fears of the ghetto residents. Allied to these performances, were musical concerts, poetry readings, and seminars. These events gave audiences a few critical hours of "forgetfulness", as a reprieve from their horrific circumstances.

The interned artists were prolific. Many of whom wrote songs, which have left us with an enduring legacy of the ghetto. According to one Vilna survivor, “every song was always finished with hope and belief that we will survive.”

These songs were used as the basis for The Songs They Sang documentary which focused primarily on Yiddish poets, Shmerke Kaczerginski and Avrom Sutzkever.

The Songs They Sang CD includes 10 Vilna songs re-conceptualized by Australian composer Joseph Giovinazzo and thirteen original compositions for voice, piano, cello and violin. All the songs in this collection were written in the Vilna Ghetto. The current arrangements have preserved their original Yiddish dialect.

The Songs They Sang CD features the following Australian musicians:

Deborah Kayser - SOPRANO
Michael Kieran Harvey - PIANO
Caerwen Martin - CELLO
Aaron Barnden - VIOLIN

Producers: Michael Hewes and Joseph Giovinazzo

Executive Producers: Anna Monea and Amadeo Marquez-Perez

Recorded at Move Studio, Eaglemont, Australia by sound engineers Michael Hewes, Vaughan McAlley and Blake Stickland,
except the following three tracks.

Under Your Starry Heaven/Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern 1
Features: Cantor Robert Abelson and Mimi Stern-Wolfe
Composer: Lazar Weiner
Recorded at Lofish Studios, New York, USA
Sound engineer: Alex Nizich

Mother/A Mame
Features: Pauline Sher
Arranger: Gregory Smith
Recorded at Oaklands Productions, Nunawading, Australia
Sound engineer: Jarrad Gilson

Springtime/Friling
Features: Shmerke Kaczerginski
Recorded by Kaczerginski, New York, USA, 1948
Archive recording used with permission.
Ben Stonehill Collection
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington

Mixed and mastered by Michael Hewes at Run Stop Sound, Abbotsford, Australia.

© 2013 Anna Monea & Amadeo Marquez-Perez