From Seth Rogovoy
The long-awaited recording featuring the vocals of one of our finest contemporary Yiddish singers, Fraidy Katz, has finally arrived, and it was worth every minute of the wait. "Eternal Question" (Di Alte Kashe) features a baker's dozen Yiddish folk and popular tunes recontextualized for modern times; Old World ballads are draped in accordion, pipes, tsimbl and violin, in a peaceful coexistence alongside electric guitars, trumpets and saxophones. As co-producer Wolf Krakowski has explored on his own albums that boast a similar approach and use the same core band, the fabulous Lonesome Brothers, there is a natural affinity between Yiddish popular songs and such quintessentially American styles as blues, reggae, jazz, and even country swing, and Katz exploits this affinity in a manner that at once showcases her intuitive grasp of the songs' roots while at the same time effortlessly making them speak to contemporary audiences. Had there been no Shoah, this is undoubtedly the direction in which Yiddish song would have evolved and the music that a vast majority of what would have been a large, Yiddish-speaking world would have been listening to today. It's our good fortune to have it re-created and represented by such a sterling talent as Fraidy Katz.

- Seth Rogovoy, author, "The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music"
December 2006

From Mae Rockland Tupa
Almost everyone I know is concerned about maintaining whatever intellectual and cultural prowess they have achieved over the years. Many of my friends are into So Duko and crossword puzzles. Some are mad followers of Harry Potter and the Muggles. When they ask me what I am doing to keep my mind nimble and quick, I slowly respond that I am revisiting and resurrecting my mame loshen, (mother tongue), Yiddish. A child of immigrants I didn’t speak English until entering kindergarten at which point I morphed into the English speaking translator for the family. We belonged to the I.W.O. and I sang in a Yiddish children’s chorus and many of the old songs took root in my heart. Now, as I relearn my baby-talk and try to expand my vocabulary, I find that music is once again a wonderful link to the soul of language.

Two of the best helpers in bringing my old language into my present life have been Wolf Krakowski and Fraidy Katz.

Their latest production, the CD entitled, “THE ETERNAL QUESTION~ DI ALTE KASHE”, which includes as a bonus track a poignant rendition of “Vilna”, has 12 songs I hadn’t heard before.

With the brilliant accompaniment of The Lonesome Brothers and thirteen other gifted musicians, early and mid twentieth century European Yiddish songs and poetry are made comfortably accessible via a sensitive mixture of bluegrass, country, folk and dance rhythms. Fraidy Katz’s soft and friendly soprano gently illuminates different corners of life from courtship and child-care, to poverty, philosophy, and social values. Her expertise as a student and teacher of languages is brought to play in her expressiveness which draws the listener into her Yiddish world. Fraidy’s gentleness as she sings her hungry child to sleep in the waltz tempo lullaby, Hungerik Dayn Ketzele, (Your Kitten is Hungry) expresses the profound sadness of all mothers who feel helpless to shield their child from life’s pains. The duet with Wolf Krakowski, “Gedenk”, is both playful and profound; from there Fraidy segues neatly into a jazzy swing rendition of “Du Zolst Nisht Geyn Mit Keyn Andere Meydelekh” (Don’t Go With Other Girls). The rich contemporary musical settings bring the poetry right up to date and the more I listen to this CD the more it feels woven into my life.  And, thanks to Fraidy my Yiddish vocabulary is growing!

Mae Rockland Tupa is a yiddisheh mame, bobeh, artist and author. She divides her time between Brookline, MA, Bucksport ME, and Vilafames, Spain.