We are so excited to release our latest project, Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango on January 25th at Heliconian Hall in Toronto. This rich tapestry of music and story is based on years of research and creative work - based on personal accounts and poetry by women here in Toronto who are Holocaust survivors. We’ve set these testimonies to music: a combination of classic prewar Yiddish tangos and powerful original compositions by our very own Rebekah Wolkstein.

These stories are brought to life on the record through the performance of Payadora and our amazing guest vocalists from across the globe - Olga Avigail Mieleszczuk (Israel), Marta Kosiorek (Poland), Lenka Lichtenberg (Toronto) and Aviva Chernick (Toronto).

Many people don’t realize that tango was popular far beyond the borders of the place of its birth. “In the 1920s and 30s, Poland was the European capital of tango and the world capital of Yiddish tango,” explains Olga Avigail Mieleszczuk, who has dedicated her life to the subject. She’s need dubbed the “Queen of Yiddish Tango,” by the Times of Israel. During that interwar period, thousands of songs were written in Poland by Jewish composers, who created a new genre full of Jewish and Romani roots.

Tragically, most of the musicians and composers who created these tangos and tango waltzes were murdered during the Holocaust. It is an honour to share these stories and allow this lost music to be heard once again.

This project is getting a lot of attention in the media - so far it’s been featured in stories on BBC radio, CTV television, CBC radio and television and others!