Vivi

I have been singing and leading dances with Klezmer Klub for over 10 years. I have been teaching in Hackney secondary schools and the Hackney City Learning Centres for well over 20 years. I love the melée, the exuberance, the connections between past and present.

I heard my grandmother sing in Yiddish in my childhood. Now I love singing the wide range of Yiddish songs - political, social, love, humourous and deeply sad. In the last couple of years I have been researching Yiddish songs of London and have stumbled over a gold-mine of social history. I am now possessed by a mission to collect songs and stories from transcripts, from elderly East Enders and from books, following little hints and tracing references to reveal the rich and exciting social history of Yiddish East London.