Niki Jacobs’ A Ballad of Resilience
Songstress Niki Jacobs and her ensemble visit JFEST from Netherlands where she has become an interpreter of Yiddish music. This performance features The Ballad of Mauthausen, written about the Second World War. It is a collaboration between the Greek poet Iakovos Kambanellis, who was a survivor of Kamp Mauthausen, and Mikis Theodorakis, the famous Greek composer banned for his activism against social injustice. Commemorating 75+ years of liberation from the Nazi regime Niki Jacobs re-addresses this musical piece, using Yiddish translation to not only emphasize and give voice to those who perished or fled Eastern-Europe before, during and after the Second World War, but to also show that the Yiddish language is still alive. Co-sponsored by YAAANA.