Susan McKeown's third release for World Village is in collaboration with Lorin Sklamberg: Saints & Tzadiks, songs from the Yiddish and Irish traditions. The pair won the 2006 GRAMMY® for Best Contemporary World Music Album on the Klezmatics' Wonder Wheel: Lyrics by Woody Guthrie, and subsequently sought more opportunities to sing together.

“We love singing together and the way our voices blend. Some time ago we started exploring the connections between the Yiddish and Irish vocal traditions,” says McKeown. “Lorin is a true scholar and so he’s come up with some beautiful songs. It’s been both fascinating and fun to learn these Yiddish songs from him.”

Culled from rare archive material and old recordings, McKeown and Sklamberg have selected songs on various themes from the Jewish and Irish traditions: love, death, betrothal, betrayal and the demon drink, as well as cumulative and macaronic songs.

The bulk of the Jewish material is being drawn from the papers of the legendary collector and performer Ruth Rubin, specifically from the recently published Yiddish Folk Songs from the Ruth Rubin Archive, drawn from her field recordings held at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, where Sklamberg serves as Sound Archivist. “Part of the thrill of this project is having the privilege of being the first to commercially record most of these treasures,” enthuses Sklamberg. The Irish songs come from both the popular and the ancient Gaelic sean nós traditions.

SUSAN McKEOWN

Susan McKeown is widely acknowledged to be one of the most powerful and innovative voices in Irish music. Since her debut Bones (1995) she has since produced ten albums of original and world music and built an impressive career through her many releases, extensive touring and performances on programs such as A Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered, World Café and Mountain Stage and for PBS, Absolutely Irish, Sessions at West 54th and American Masters. Susan's album Sweet Liberty (World Village 2004) was nominated for a BBC Folk Music Award. Susan has performed with Peter Seeger, Natalie Merchant, Linda Thompson, Billy Bragg and Johnny Cunningham.

“McKeown grabbed both song and audience by the throat, dragged them through heaven and hell and back again, and left the stage to the loudest applause heard all evening.”
– Rolling Stone

“Think Frida Kahlo crossed with Oumou Sangare.”
– The Irish Times

LORIN SKLAMBERG

Los Angeles native LORIN SKLAMBERG grew up in a culturally supportive Conservative Jewish community and began playing klezmer at 16. He has been the lead singer of the Grammy-winning Jewish American roots band the Klezmatics since its founding in 1986. His work as vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist can be heard on some 50 recordings, solo and in collaboration with such diverse artists as Itzhak Perlman, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Frank London, Jane Siberry, Marc Cohn, Tony Kushner, Moxy Früvous, and, of course, the Klezmatics. His song Headdy Down (with unpublished lyrics by Woody Guthrie) was recently printed in Sing Out! magazine. He has written for film, stage and circus and has produced a number of recordings of world and theater music, and has performed and taught Yiddish song from Buenos Aires to Kiev. Lorin serves as the Sound Archivist of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

"One of the premier American singers in any genre."
- Robert Christgau, All Things Considered, National Public Radio

“...Special note should go to lead vocalist Lorin Sklamberg, who sings for all he's worth.”
- Ed Silverman, Dirty Linen