Semer Reloaded

Maybe this project finds your interest and your support:

"A Golden Age of Jewish music almost forgotten - the songs captured in 30s' Berlin by Hirsch Lewin on his Semer label. “Semer Reloaded” brought this amazing music back to life with critically acclaimed concerts throughout Europe in 2012-15. Now it is our dream to record this music live in concert so that, 70 years after the Holocaust, the legacy of the Semer label can be passed on to present and future generations.    


From Artistic Director, Alan Bern:

We're asking for your help to cover the basic costs of the recording of “Semer Reloaded." With your support we can bring Hirsch Lewin's Semer Label and the legacy of Jewish musicians in Berlin in the 1920s-30s back to life, 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, with fresh interpretations, re-workings and arrangements of originals, to be recorded live by a world-class ensemble of artists based in Berlin and New York, such as Grammy winner Lorin Sklamberg, Daniel Kahn, Sasha Lurje and others.

It's an almost incredible story. Berlin in the 1920s was home to a true Golden Age of Jewish music and musicians. Then, in the 1930s, even as the Nazis came to power and brutally repressed Jews and Jewish culture, Hirsch Lewin's Semer label recorded dozens of Jewish artists for posterity, before they were silenced by the Holocaust. On November 9, 1938, SA hordes destroyed Hirsch's Hebraica/Judaica shop in Berlin's Scheunenviertel district, including 4,500 records and about 250 metal plates and the Semer label was shut down. For decades, the recordings were lost and virtually forgotten, until they were heroically recovered and restored by musicologist Rainer E. Lotz. In 2012, the Berlin Jewish Museum commissioned me (Alan) to create a concert of new arrangements of the archival recordings. To realize the project, I put together a great band that unites senior pioneers of Jewish music like Lorin Sklamberg and Paul Brody with the new generation of amazing performers such as Daniel Kahn, Sasha Lurje, Mark Kovnatskiy and others. The result is Semer Reloaded.

With your support, we can present this incredible music not only as an archive of 80-year-old recordings or for a few lucky concert audiences, but as living music for the whole world through a state-of-the-art album release with great sound quality. We've got a strong a supporter in the Gorki theatre in Berlin, which has agreed to host our recording sessions live in concert. We'll team up with London-based music producer Ben Mandelson, and Berlin-based Piranha Records will take on the task of producing a high-quality recording as well as publishing and distributing it. Only 80 seats will be available for the concerts on on the 3rd and 4th November: by contributing only 30 EUR to the campaign you can witness the recording first-hand!"

You will find more information via https://www.startnext.com/en/semer-reloaded.

And here is a report about Semer Reloaded from "3sat" that shows some insights, musical performances and the musicians involved in Semer Reloaded - Alan Bern, Paul Brody, Mark Kovnatskiy, Martin Lillich, Sasha Lurje, Fabian Schnedler and Lorin Sklamberg:
_ www.youtube.com/watch?t=12&v=1Xky4Omql5g.

John Lee Hooker - I´m John Lee Hooker (1959)

Winding through the literally hundreds of titles in John Lee Hooker's catalog is a daunting task for even the most seasoned and learned blues connoisseur. This is especially true when considering Hooker recorded under more than a dozen aliases for as many labels during the late '40s, '50s, and early '60s.

"I'm John Lee Hooker" was first issued in 1959 during his tenure with Vee Jay and is "the Hook" in his element as well as prime. Although many of these titles were initially cut for Los Angeles-based Modern Records in the early '50s, the recordings heard here are said to best reflect Hooker's often-emulated straight-ahead primitive Detroit and Chicago blues styles. The sessions comprising the12-track album are taken from six sessions spread over the course of four years (1955-1959). Hooker works both solo - accompanied only by his own percussive guitar and the solid backbeat of his foot rhythmically pulsating against plywood - as well as in several different small-combo settings. Unlike the diluted, pop-oriented blues that first came to prominence in the wake of the British Invasion of the early to mid-'60s, the music on this album is infinitely more authentic in presentation.

As the track list indicates, "I'm John Lee Hooker" includes many of his best-known and loved works. From right out of the gate comes the guttural ramble-tamble of "Dimples" in its best-known form. Indeed it can be directly traced to - and is likewise acknowledged by - notable purveyors of Brit rock such as Eric Burdon - who incorporated it into the earliest incarnation of the Animals, the Spencer Davis Group, as well as the decidedly more roots-influenced Duane Allman. Another of Hooker's widely covered signature tunes featured on this volume is "Boogie Chillun." This rendering is arguably the most recognizable in the plethora of versions that have seemingly appeared on every Hooker-related compilation available. Additionally, this version was prominently featured in The Blues Brothers movie as well as countless other films and adverts. Likewise, a seminal solo "Crawlin' King Snake" is included here. The tune became not only a staple of Hooker's, it was also prominently included on the Doors' "L.A. Woman" album and covered by notable bluesmen Albert King, B.B. King, and Big Joe Williams, whose version predates this one by several decades.

"I'm John Lee Hooker" is one of the great blues collections of the post-World War II era. Time has, if anything, only reinforced the significance of the album. It belongs in every blues enthusiast's collection without reservation.                

Tracklist:

A1	Dimples
A2	Hobo Blues
A3	I'm So Excited
A4	I Love You Honey
A5	Boogie Chillun
A6	Little Wheel
B1	I'm In The Mood
B2	Maudie
B3	Crawlin' King Snake
B4	Every Night
B5	Time Is Marching
B6	Baby Lee

John Lee Hooker - I´m John Lee Hooker (1959)
(256 kbps, cover art included)