Mir Zaynen Do: Yiddish Songs from the Holocaust

Mir Zaynen Do is a programme of music and words prepared for Holocaust Memorial Day 2017  in Derby, and performed in 2018 in Derby  and Sheffield, and in Leicester on Yom HaShoah. In 2019 it visited Hull. It commemorates those who were murdered in the Holocaust, and through this encourages us to reflect on all those who have suffered from genocide, war and persecution. Covid stopped performances, but an updated Mir Zaynen Do returned to Sheffield on 21st January 2024 with a full house.

The programme is structured around Yiddish songs, most of which were composed or performed in the ghettos that preceded the Nazi death camps. The songs are intermingled with Klezmer tunes, together with brief readings. Translations are provided for the songs. For 2024, new songs and tunes have been  added from collections that have only recently been discovered in Kiev, preserved in an obscure corner of a library, where they have lain hidden for over 80 years.

Mir Zaynen Do  is performed by Yoyvl: Phil Tomlinson (songs, mandolin, guitar, piano), Adrian Dobson (accordion), Hannah Monteiro (violin), Sue Cooper (bass) and  Judy Sherwood (narration ). A brief video below is an introduction to the event recorded at a rehearsal.

Songs and texts are drawn from many sources, including:

Yes We Sang : Songs of the Ghettos and Concentration Camps  Shoshana Kalisch. Harper&Row

We Are Here :Songs of the Holocaust ed Eleanor Mlotek and Malke Gottlieb, WorkmensCircle

Songs Never Silenced  Velvel Pasternak  Tara Publications

The Undying Flame: Ballads and Songs of the Holocaust   Jerry Silverman , Syracuse University Press

Mordechai Gebirtig: His Poetic and Musical Legacy ed Gertrude Schneider, Praeger

Singing For Survival – Songs of the Lodz Ghetto by Gila Flam

The Aftermath – Living With the Holocaust  by Aaron Hass

Songs from Yiddish Glory

Music from  Kiselgov- Makonovetsky Project

This video is a brief introductory video recorded at a rehearsal in 2028: