Tsvey Brider’s genre-bending, lushly expressive original compositions to Yiddish poetry from the first half of the 20th century evoke a world of humor, beauty, oddity and wistfulness. A circus dancer with an erotic attraction to knives. A man fantasizing fervently about an unknown woman in a cafe. A mountain of granite, coal and steel building itself into Chicago. With cameo appearances by Baymele, Veretski Pass, Kurt Bjorling, and Vivek Datar, Kosmopolitn is a musical exploration of a poetic world at odds with itself—an encounter between the traditional world of the shtetl and the intoxication of modern, urban life.
Credits
Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, vocals
Dmitri Gaskin, piano, accordion, organ, glockenspiel
Matthew Stein, violin, viola
Misha Khalikulov, cello
Joshua Horowitz, piano, accordion
Cookie Segelstein, violin
Stuart Brotman, bass
Vivek Datar, harmonium
Kurt Bjorling, clarinet
Music composed by Tsvey Brider (tracks 1-4, 6, 9-13, 15), Mordechai Gebirtig (track 5, arr. Dmitri Gaskin), and Joshua Horowitz (track 14)
Poetry by Tsilye Dropkin (1, 2, 6), Avrom Reyzen (3, 4, 15), Mordechai Gebirtig (5), Melech Chmelnitzky (10), William Shakespeare trans. I Goldberg (11), Leyb Naydus (12, 13), Ben Sholom (14)
Recorded by Ian Pellici at New Improved Recordings in Oakland, CA
Mixed by Dave Luke at Opus Studios in Berkeley, CA
Mastered by Jeremy Goody at Megasonic in Oakland, CA
Artwork by Audrey Lynn Estok
Graphic design and layout by Igor Gasowski
English adaptations by Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell
