Frank London’s Ghetto Songs (from Venice and Beyond)

Trumpeter and composer Frank London (The Klezmatics) has a new project titled “Ghetto Songs (from Venice and Beyond)” on Felmay Records, scheduled for release on April 16, 2021.

“Ghetto Songs” was envisioned to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the opening of the Venice ghetto in 1516. The music selection on Ghetto Songs includes material from various parts of the planet, with a strong emphasis on Venice, home of the world’s first ghetto. It was the first place to be called a ‘ghetto’; the square where Jews were forced to live in 16th-century Venice. The Jewish ghetto was put on the most unhealthy location, the polluted grounds of an ancient copper foundry (geto), which gave “ghettos” their name. The use of the word ‘ghetto’ spread, and by the early 20th century the term had been generalized to describe the crowded urban quarters of any minority group.

The Ghetto Songs selection includes 17th century music and poetry from the Venice ghetto (works from Solomone Rossi, Benedetto Marcello, and Sara Coppia Sulam), a piyyut (Jewish liturgical poem) from Morocco’s mellah; kwela from South Africa’s townships, the music of Cantor Gershon Sirota, who lived and died in the Warsaw ghetto, and WAR’s popular hit “The World is a Ghetto.”

London brought together well known musicians from the Jewish music, jazz and early music world: tenor Karim Sulayman; cantor Svetlana ‘Sveta’ Kundish; cantor Yaakov “Yanky” Lemmer; guitarist and vocalist Brandon Ross; percussionist Kenny Wollesen; cellist Marika Hughes; bassist Gregg August; and multi-instrumentalist Ilya Shneyveys.

Buy Ghetto Songs (from Venice and Beyond)

Author: World Music Central News Room

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