Customer Reviews

Their Greatest Yiddish Hits

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think people forget that The Barry Sisters were quite the talented duo; and this CD proves it. The songs are beautifully sung and on this CD their voices are rich, smooth and exciting. The musical arrangements are very well done as well.

The CD starts off with the jazz-flavored "Hava Nagila." Only the Barry sisters could do it this good! They both emote so well the excitement and joy of the song that encourages people to dance and enjoy life!

These songs are sung in Yiddish and they represent a selection of songs that Russian Jews brought with them when they came to America. However, most if not all of the songs have a universal appeal which is apparent when the songs are translated into English. The two Barry sisters sing of a love that just isn't going quite right "Ich Hob Dich Zifeel Lieb (I Love You Much Too Much)," the plea of a woman for her man to never forget her because she loves him deeply "Fargess Mich Nit (Forget Me Not)," and the desire to make things right with the song "Ketzele Baroiges (Why Are You Angry)."

The quality of the sound is excellent. Their voices and the music provide a strong performance that leaves you wanting more! This album also has a strong nostalgic quality for Jewish people practically everywhere.

The liner notes are average. There is a brief history of the act including mention of how the two sisters originally billed themselves as The Begelman Sisters until they changed their name to The Barry Sisters. Song credits are not provided; this is probably because most if not all of these songs are so old that we're simply not certain who wrote them!

Overall, I recommend this CD not just for the Jewish community but also for fans of international music. It's also a great starter CD for people who want to get to know the talent of these two ladies. Enjoy! I give this CD 4.5 stars because the liner notes give little information about the two sisters.

I am a big fan of yiddish music, especially of the barry sisters. All the songs are good known and traditional but no one could sing them so nice. Clear voices and wonderful arrangement. If you will hear "Tsi Shpait" you will understand how nice is the "forgotten" language... I would advice this cd to all people who like the real music going from heart and soul. Thank you.

From the opening track of Havah Nagilla, the listener knows just what they are in for; good jazzy music with a Yiddish twist.

Yiddish music used to be quite popular and the Barry Sisters did it right. Simply put, you know the music is good when you can enjoy it without understanding the lyrics. Of course understanding the lyrics just makes it better. There are even some English lyrics on the disc.

If you like Jazz, Klezmer or other Jewish music you are sure to love this collection.

This album is a lot of fun. I had been listening to new yiddish albums, like Transmigrations by Wolf Krakowski and A Sudenyu of Yiddish Song by Bonnie Abrams -- both of which are excellent but of a somewhat somber, reflective tone -- when I listened to this oldie. I immediately appreciated its high paced, swinging sound, that does, by the way, alternate with more tender moments. Every song is a pure pleasure to listen to. The duets are outstanding and so are the instrumentals. Unfortunately, there are no liner notes for those who like to learn Yiddish while listening.

An excellent CD with a wonderfull collection of exquisite Jewish folksongs. Barry Sisters are singing their best. You can find a song that will match any mood of yours. Unfortunately, some of their VERY best songs are not included. Fortunately, the double-CD version has them.

The Barry sisters sing Yiddish favorites with verve and full- throated ease. They lead off with the Hebrew favorite 'Hava Nagila' and also sing English words sometimes, but essentially the words are Yiddish. I am sure many lovers of Yiddish song will not be taken by the quite upbeat tone of the whole disk. The Barry sisters even make 'sadness' a bit too happy. But on the whole the music is enjoyable.

It does not however in my opinion touch the heart of Yiddish song, with its sadness, irony, humor and bitter, bitter sweetness.

If you have any Ashkenazic background, this collection of Yiddish songs will take you back to happy times. Even if you don't, you'll hear part of the origin of swing jazz in some of the peppy Barry Sisters renditions. My wife and I used to listen to the 33 1/3 RPM version of this very same recording fifty years ago when we were teenagers. The songs are just as fresh, and just as traditional, today as they were then.

***This review applies to 2CD set "Selection of The Barry Sisters. Their Greatest Yiddish Hits", 36 songs***

Originally known as the Bagelman Sisters, the Barry Sisters were the most popular singers in the genre called Yiddish Swing, which popularized Yiddish folk songs. They were often featured on the New York radio show "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" and also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show where millions of Americans watched them. They toured with Mickey Katz (father or Joel Gray, the Oscar winner for "Cabaret" and grandfather of Jennifer Gray of "Dirty Dancing" fame). They were the first Jewish performers of their genre to tour the former Soviet Union in 1959, during the short period of "ottepel'" or "the thaw" after Stalin's death when the iron curtain had lifted just a little, and they had achieved the legendary status there. Until this day, they are hugely popular and admired by the Russian Jews (by those who still live in the countries of the former Soviet Union and those who have immigrated to America, Canada, Israel, Germany, Australia, and all over the world just like their ancestors in the late 1890's and early 1900's) and known among them as The Sisters Barry. The sisters might not have even known what their songs had done for the Jewish population of the former Soviet Union. Forever grateful listeners suddenly realized that it was not a shame to be a Jew, to love your culture and be proud of your heritage, to sing and dance freely to the songs of your grand-grand fathers, to be able to share these treasures with the audiences around the globe. The fascinated listeners had learned that the Jewish songs were not always sad and heartbreaking, no, many of them were full of humor, laughs, and literally made you want to "turn right, turn left, and dance, everyone, dance". The sisters sang in different languages, combining in one song Hebrew and English or Yiddish and English, or Russian and English. No matter in what language they sang, the songs still have an universal appeal for the listeners of any background, not only Jewish. Many of the songs that Clair and Myrna Bagelman-Barry were singing for the Russian-Jewish audiences in Moscow of 1959 were brought to America at the time of the huge wave of Emigration of Eastern European Jews in the early 1900s. After many years, the sisters brought the songs back home...

As much as I like the "happy", joyful songs by Barry Sisters, my favorites are the somber, melodious, sad songs, so called "romances" that tell about unhappy love, regrets, and nostalgia. The one of them is "Ich Hob Dich Zifeel Lieb (I Love You Much Too Much):

I Love You Much Too Much

I've known it from the start,

But yet my love is such

I can't control my heart

I admire the sisters' ability to create a character while singing the song, and to make a listener to care and sympathize with that character. In this regard, nothing can compare to their mournful song, "Papirossen" which is set on the beautiful slow tango and is sung by a young poor boy, an orphan who lost his parents and his little sister to war, hunger, and illnesses. "Papirossen" never fails to reduce me to tears when I listen to it.

I remember my first encounter with the Barry Sisters' songs many years ago in Moscow. It was a real floppy disc made from the used X-Ray film, thus the name of those more likely "pirate discs", "the rock on the bones". The record consisted of two songs, the traditional Yiddish song, "Tumbalalaika" and "Ochi chyornye" or "Big Dark Eyes" which is widely known as a Russian gipsy song. Actually, the lyrics for "Ochi chyornye" derive from a poem by Yevgeniy Pavlovich Grebyonka, a Ukrainian writer which was first published in 1843. The words were set to Florian Hermann's Valse Hommage (in an arrangement by S. Gerdel') and published as a romance in 1884. The song had become enormously popular and has been performed by the most famous singers and musicians around the world. Among them were the artists as diverse and celebrated as Russian Feodor Chaliapin and American Louis Armstrong. I've heard the song perhaps hundreds of times in dozens of versions but one performance that truly stands out, passionate, dramatic, and emotional, is by the Sisters Barry whose voices complete each other beautifully, the velvety smooth and rich Myrna's lower voice and Clair's, sweet, tender and crystal clear higher voice. The lyrics adaptation for the Barry Sisters' performance of "Ochi chyornye" is one of the best ever done. It is not a word for word translation of the Russian poem but the spirit of the song has been transformed carefully and lovingly:

I once had a dream of a love supreme.

Then, you came my way - I still bless that day...

Every part of you was a dream came true

But your beauty lays in your big dark eyes.

The sisters sing "Ochi chyornye" in two languages, in Russian and English and of 36 gems that are included in their 2CD "Selection of The Barry Sisters greatest Yiddish hits", "Ochi chyornye" is my absolute favorite. I can listen to it over and over again and it always takes me back, "to the place of my youth", where I heard the sweet harmony of those two marvelous voices for the first time.

P.S. Claire is still active and performing. Her younger sister Myrna, sadly, passed away back in 1980.

I'm not Jewish and don't understand Yiddish, but I enjoy listening to this especially when I am working out on the elliptical. It is peppy & fun.

this cd contains not all their best songs like koifchen papirosen,mien shtetale Beltz , aidishe mame and more,otherwise it's good.