KlezCalendar

Legendary Greek Jewish Singers
OF THE '20S, '30S, & '40S

Roza Eskenazi Amalia Baca Stella Haskil Victoria Hazan

In conjunction with a new exhibition:

Memories, Memóryas, Ανáμνησες
The World Left Behind in Greece, The World They Found in New York, & Their Journey

Within the provocative world of the early twentieth century urban Greek Café Amans, where flamboyant characters sang about desperate love, life and death, and the seedy side of life, there were a surprising number of celebrated Greek Jewish female vocalists. Included among them were Roza Eskenazi, one of the most renowned Greek singers of all time, and Stella Haskil, who sang together with legendary performers such as Vasilis Tsitsanis. On this side of the Atlantic, Jewish women, notably Amalia Baka and Victoria Hazan, found center stage in the immigrant Greek nightclubs and community celebrations of major urban centers, as well as within the American ethnic recording industry.

All four women were held in high esteem for their extraordinary singing of a beautiful and complex repertoire, both during their lifetimes and again in recent years. Their music, making use of Eastern scales and asymmetrical rhythms, lush with intricate embellishment, and profound in its emotional content and depth, found its way into the hears of several generations of devoted listeners.

Although widely embraced for their musical contributions to urban Greek cafe music and Rebetika, their histories as Jewish women are not widely known. Using live performance and excepts from personal and family interviews, acclaimed vocalist Carol Freeman, together with virtuoso instrumentalists Haig Manoukian (oud) and Beth Bahia Cohen (violin), pay tribute to these Greek Jewish singers with a fascinating look into the songs and lives of these extraordinary women.