THX to jew tribe

 It’s doubtful that most of you would have heard of Maya Saban or her group Jewdyssee

In Berlin she is a respected singer and was recently one of the judges for the Eurovision contest held in Düsseldorf. Outside of her native Germany, she is not that well-known. In fact the last English interview I can find, is the same one I came across back in 2009, which has kept me interested in both the group and Maya herself.

Berlin in fact has slowly  become acentre of a large young mainly Israeli population of artists and entertainers.

Although Maya has spun out a reasonable career in the pop music scene in Germany, it is her divergence into Yiddish Cabaret style music which holds the fascination for me.

In that 2009 Interview she said

We want the people to leave our performance completely sweating, emotionally uplifted, excited and exhilarated after dancing all night long! If, as well as loving the music, having been exposed to something they have never heard before and it has raised their curiosity as to what the songs were about, then this would be a great sense of accomplishment.

We just want people to see that our Jewish culture is alive and strong. By giving the youth a voice, by bringing this music to new people, it is going to keep it alive.

Further about the group

Until now it feels as though there have been two ways of living with our Jewish identity, especially having lived all my life in Germany. One with a strong sense of inner pride for our culture, and one because of the history that we don’t always feel comfortable to express.

As with our music we just want to express and celebrate our culture in a way that is open, positive and new. That represents how we feel, our ideas, and our generation and is not steeped in all of the history.

Saban’s voice is truly a special gift. Listen to her singing “Glick” in the last video and feel the depth of her sublime vocals.

The treatment of such Yiddish classics as Mein shetele Belz and Yankele provide another dimension to an era long past and for the most part resigned to old age homes and klezmer. Saban takes it to another level and in Bletz the addition of  Hebrew rap is surprisingly fresh and gritty.

There is an album in the works, hopefully they will add some more video as well.

In her latest connection with Jewish heritage Maya sings the song Hine Ma Tov in an upcoming film called Jews Lane. The film recounts the ordeal of the  Blumenfeld Jewish family in the period from January 1933 to the November 1938 pogroms. The film  is mainly going to be used as a teaching medium for the classroom or  used for educational work.

Lets hope we get to see and hear more of this amazing woman.