1930s Jewish music from Berlin; Semer Ensemble restore a lost label

A Golden Age of Jewish music almost forgotten - the songs captured in 1930s‘ Berlin by Hirsch Lewin on his Semer label. The Semer Ensemble brings this astonishing music back to life with critically acclaimed concerts and their first album, recorded live at the Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, in November 2015.

1920s Berlin, a Golden Age of Jewish music and musicians. In this milieu we find Hirsch Lewin, formerly a forced laborer conscripted to Germany from his native Vilnius during World War I. After the war, Lewin decides to remain in Berlin, finds work in a bookstore, and eventually starts his own business: the Hebräische Buchhandlung (Hebrew Bookstore), Grenadierstrasse 28. The year is 1930.

In the midst of Berlin‘s immigrant center, the Scheunenviertel, Lewin sells books in Hebrew; history books, children‘s books and more; prayer shawls, candles and other religious items. His speciality: gramophone records! In 1932, Lewin creates his own label, „Semer“. One year later, the Nazis come to power, forbidding Jewish musicians to perform in non-Jewish settings. Semer becomes a Noah‘s Ark for Jewish musicians who have nowhere else to go. For five years, Lewin makes recordings at a feverish pace, creating a precious time capsule of a world facing annihilation. On November 9, 1938, SA hordes attack the Hebräische Buchhandlung, demolishing stock and store, including 4,500 recordings and 250 metal plates. The memory of the Semer label falls into oblivion for the next 60 years.

Fast forward. From 1992-2001, musicologist Dr. Rainer E. Lotz travels the world to track down the Semer recordings. Miraculously, he is able to recover and restore almost the entire catalogue. In 2012, the Berlin Jewish Museum Berlin commissions New Jewish Music luminary Alan Bern to create new interpretations of the archival recordings. Bern puts together a world-class ensemble of musicians from all ends of his musical world - America and Berlin, the old generation and the new. Bern: „It‘s amazing, but 80 years after the destruction of this culture there is once again a critical mass of musicians in Berlin able to take on a project like this.“

Drawing amply from this new wealth of Berlin talent and backed up by jazz master Martin Lillich on bass, the ensemble brings together two of the most prolific pioneers of Jewish music - Lorin Sklamberg and Paul Brody - with four leaders of the new generation of powerful performers - Daniel Kahn, Sasha Lurje, Mark Kovnatskiy and Fabian Schnedler.

For three years, Semer Ensemble expands and develops the Semer repertoire on successful tours throughout Europe. In November 2015, the ensemble records „Rescued Treasure“ over three nights live in concert at the Gorki Theater Studio in Berlin. The result captures the special energy of a live performance on a lovingly made, studio-quality recording.

The Semer Ensemble‘s depth and virtuosity can and does match the entire breadth of Hirsch Lewin‘s original Semer label recordings. Its fresh interpretations and provocative, contemporary arrangements open a time tunnel between 1930s Berlin and today‘s New Jewish Music: Berlin cabaret, Russian folk songs, Yiddish theater hits, operatic arias and cantorial music are just a small sample of this remarkable repertoire.

With all-out energy and all-in commitment, the Semer Ensemble brings an almost forgotten world back to life, not in only critically acclaimed concerts but on record as well: The Semer Ensemble‘s debut album, recorded at the Maxim Gorki Theater in a series of intimate exclusive concerts in November 2015, will be ready for release in spring 2016.