Tango Yona is driven by the pulse of tango music and the passion of Yiddish poetry – exciting and little-known repertoire, with gorgeous melodies and emotional appeal of the songs. Tango with Yiddish lyrics was popular from the 1920s through the 1960s, and at the heart of our repertoire are songs created during the Holocaust. We perform them as a memorial to the creators and their audiences, and to honour the place of art in a time of war, displacement and oppression, as well as to provide a window to understanding contemporary artists living under oppression. The songs are a reminder of the complexity of wartime experience – some songs are laments, some are protests, and some inspire courage.
Along with the wartime songs, there are tangos from the years before and after the war on themes of love, longing and nostalgia. With lovely melodies and arrangements making the music accessible to all listeners, we can explore the power that comes from singing the songs in the original language – the sounds are evocative, the poetry is rich, and there are potent layers of meaning in the words, especially the phrases that are drawn from scripture and liturgy. [Download Onesheet]
Jane Enkin, voice
Yoni Kaston, accordion
Brigitte Dajczer (Briga), Daniel Fuchs violins
Gael Huard, cello
Joel Kerr, double bass