The Concert from Vilnius (Vilna), Lithuania "A letter from the Past", Yiddish songs" is back on track. Click to see more
The Lithuanian Embassy’s third event, the concert "A Letter from the Past: Yiddish Songs" from the heart of Vilna, dedicated to commemorate the Year of the Vilna Gaon and of the History of the Jews of Lithuania in South Africa, is back on track.
We are very excited that you will join us December 7th, 2020 at 7 PM (UTC+2) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/771798893413072/ or on YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKxj6WLgvSLlXZEsYQp1Rng
The concert is free !
The program, performed by Lithuanian tenor Rafailas Karpis and pianist Darius Mažintas is important in Lithuanian cultural contexts from both the musical and the microhistorical perspectives. These Jewish songs arranged for piano and voice by various authors reveal peculiarities of daily life of people who lived in Lithuania before the Second World War as well as their social connections, experiences and individual personal tragedies caused by the war. The songs reflect the then relevancies, feelings of people of the times as well as social problems of the period. The songs in a way send a message that it is not necessary to have your own land in order to retain strong culture. Most authors of the lyrics are closely linked to the history of the then Lithuania and Vilnius and they are active cultural figures of the times; therefore, the audience will have an opportunity to hear rare and multi-layered musical compositions of significant aesthetic and historical value.
“The songs performed are comprehensible to everyone because they touch upon co-human topics. They are based on contrast as they are full of lyrical elements, healthy sense of humour and dramatism. Culture is a form of belief and a perpetuum mobile for life; it is sacred and impossible to explain. It is the essential criterion enabling us to call ourselves human beings”, pianist Darius Mažintas claims.
“Some musical compositions of the programme are emotive songs about daily life, while some are based on texts of prayers. There are two works by Maurice Ravel arranged for piano and voice. One of them titled Kaddish is a prayer for the dead”, tenor Rafailas Karpis says.
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