Shimen Nepom: Tramvay Lider (Streetcar Songs) – Kickstarter Drive

Shimen Nepom: Tramvay Lider (Streetcar Songs) – Kickstarter Drive

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 Excerpt: Tramvay Lider (Streetcar Songs)

In and out,
Out and In.
Passengers flying like birds.
Strangers, who knows where from–
From what foreign land?
The blizzard bites into the tracks.
Passengers appear and disappear;
Who knows what life they lead?

— Shimen Nepom (circa 1930-40)

In the 1930’s Shimen Nepom, a TTC streetcar conductor wrote Yiddish poetry about the daily flux of life in Toronto during the difficult depression years.  Accomplished composer and Jewish Music aficionado Charles Heller has put these poems to music and is now looking to fund the creation of a CD.

On a personal note, my Zaydie (yiddish: Grandfather) also wrote poetry in rhyming Yiddish couplets and even recorded a few of them at a recording booth.  He, likewise, was an immigrant to Toronto from Poland in the 30’s. You can see more here if interested: http://www.rankyouragent.com/MaxWiner/MaxWiner.htm

Many of the immigrants to Toronto suffered significant cultural deracination.  As a result they lived bifurcated lives with their intellectual aspirations relegated to their spare time and their days left making ends meet employed in workaday jobs.  It must have felt tremendously isolating and uncertain.  It’s no wonder that Charles notes that “these poems evoke the journeying and existential quest of Schubert’s Wintereisse“.


 Initial Reception:

charlestramvay
Charles accompanist Brahm Goldhamer performing the “Tramvay Lider / Streetcar Songs” in Toronto

Charles and his respected accompanist Brahm Goldhamer have performed the piece at a Toronto Yiddish culture hotspot and the reviews have been extremely encouraging:

“A really lovely example of Toronto culture echoing through the decades” –
Matthew Fava, Director, Canadian Music Centre

 

“Strong and touching, vivid and ironic by turns ” –
Prof Austin Clarkson


Please Donate!

Please consider giving generously to Charles Heller’s request for $4500 in funding on KickStarter to have his work professionally recorded and released.

donate

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/170538762/tramvay-lider-cd-recording

 


More Information:

Here is Charles Heller speaking about his project:

 

 

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