We’ve Been Through So Much; Now We’re Dancing: Interview with Annette Ezekiel Kogan of Golem

Klezmer-rock band Golem has been reinterpreting Yiddish and East European Jewish music for the 21st century since 2000. YIVO Public Program Director Helena Gindi spoke with founder and lead singer of the band, Annette Ezekiel Kogan, about Golem’s latest album, Tanz, which was released on May 13 on the Mexican label Discos Corason.

Golem’s CD release party for Tanz will be held at Joe’s Pub on May 29, 2014.

Listen to clips from Tanz on Golem’s website.

HG: Golem’s previous albums have primarily been reworkings of traditional songs, but its new CD, Tanz, is mostly original material, a lot of which explores the experience of former Soviet Jews in the U.S. Can you talk about this shift from playing traditional music to writing original material? What compelled you to write about the experience of former Soviet Jews in America?

AEK: We began reworking traditional songs, and I had absolutely no interest, zero, in writing my own material, because I thought there was such a wealth of traditional music and old Yiddish theater songs that needed to be revived and remembered that I just wasn't interested. Gradually, as the band played and as time went on, we started writing original songs. There are a few originals on our previous albums, but this one has almost all original material. It’s interesting—we no longer feel like we’re forcing ourselves to play in an East European style when writing new material. Playing the same style these years, we’ve internalized the music, so much so that when we write we have to be careful not to sound too imitative or traditional.

But also, in a philosophical way, at first, I was only thinking about my grandfather's generation, who was a Jew from the pre-Soviet Union, from Ukraine, before the Russian Revolution. Everything was based on his experience. And even for our audiences it was mainly about their grandparents, their grandparents' generation and identifying with their experience. Then I met my husband in 2007, and all of a sudden I was inundated with stories of his family and friends and relatives and the immigration of Soviet Jews today. He came in 1992. It became clear to me that their stories are my grandfather's stories, but I don't need to take their old songs and make them modern, because this is a current story. It's the same story, and it needs its own songs.

"7:40," which is on our new CD, is a song that exemplifies this. "7:40" is a Russian-Jewish song—they call it the "Hava Nagila" of Russian Jews. Every Russian Jew knows it, it's played at every celebration, and for some reason it's almost completely unknown among American Jews. The story in our version is actually the story of my husband's cousin who emigrated from Ukraine in 1991. His two desires were to become a doctor and to become an Orthodox Jew. He had gone through so much anti-Semitism—he was forced to serve in the Soviet army, and the Soviet army is more or less a hotbed of anti-Semitism and you're lucky to survive as a Jew—but it was the only way he could get into medical school. After that, his faith and desire to become Orthodox, which he knew nothing about at the time, were what got him through. When he came to America he indeed fulfilled both aspirations—he is now a doctor and lives an Orthodox life. So this song, “7:40,” is about the opportunity to practice religion freely.

HG: Let's talk about the title song "Tanz" which is based on the experience of a Holocaust survivor, Roman Blum. Why did you choose this song as the title of the CD?

AEK: There was a big article in the New York Times about Roman Blum when he died in 2013. He was a Holocaust survivor who had become a millionaire, was living in Staten Island and left $40 million, but he had no family, no will, and no heir. The question was what to do with the money, but the article also profiled him and his lifestyle: he liked to play cards, he liked to drink, and he liked to gamble. But it was also clear to me that his lifestyle was very connected to surviving the Holocaust—he was going to celebrate for the rest of his life. The article also described how he met his wife in a DP [displaced persons] camp. They weren't necessarily in love but they decided: "How many other Jewish men or women are out there? We'd better get married." He and his wife would go to the Catskill resorts after the war where a lot of Yiddish-speaking survivors went, and reading the article, I envisioned these resorts where everyone who had suffered so much, didn't have to explain what they had been through to each other, and were just going to celebrate life. So his story was the inspiration for the song.

But I also love the word "tanz." It means "dance" in Yiddish. There's a famous compilation of klezmer tunes by the famous clarinetist Dave Tarras, which everyone in the klezmer revival of the 1980s knows. He and Naftuli Brandwein were the two gods for the klezmer revival in terms of clarinet playing, so it's an homage in a way to their compilation. That compilation was referred to as "Tanz"—I don't think Dave Tarras actually called it "Tanz," but all contemporary klezmorim will understand the reference. Also, I wanted to make it a joyous title. Despite the origin of the song, it’s a happy title and a way of saying "we've been through so much; now we're dancing."

HG: Tanz is being released on a Mexican label known for producing traditional music. Can you talk about the synergy between this label and Golem's music?

AEK: Yes. A couple of years ago, a music critic in Mexico wrote to us and told us that we had fans in Mexico—which was a surprise to us—and would we come and give a concert? We went, and it was a big success, but it was also surprising because it was completely a non-Jewish audience. It was so interesting to see a crowd with no connection to the history or the language having a great time, singing our songs. Going, I was nervous because Mexicans have such a strong musical tradition, and I thought, “Will they even be open-minded enough to like our music? It's so different!” But they did. Then, last year, Discos Corason, a label which produces concerts in the Balkan scene in Mexico, invited us to perform and 2,000 people came to the show. This is a lot more than we get in the States. Corason offered to put our CD out. They've had all this success and important work with traditional music, like the Buena Vista Social Club project but they also want to branch into new music and rock music, as well, so we're both taking a chance on the other. Personally for us, we just find this strange Mexican, Jewish, New York connection very exciting and invigorating. It’s something completely different, and it’s been wonderful working with them. We just did our CD release concert in Mexico City on May 3, and now we're going to give one in New York on May 29 at Joe’s Pub. We're very excited. The band is, I feel, at its peak.

Interview edited for length and clarity.