Tag: music

Documentary “The Jews of Corfu” • 20241015

October 15, 2024 — Watch free online the full documentary “The Jews of Corfu” – a film by Mirjan Gjergjevica & Maria Boua (1) .

Documentary “The Jews of Corfu” – a film by Mirjan Gjergjevica & Maria Boua

The Jews of Corfu – Review

The Jews of Corfu – a population group that was an important part of the island, contributed to the formation of its history. But the tragic events that befell them were added to the black page of human history.
The film The Jews of Corfu (2021) is a powerful documentary by Mirjan Gjergjevica (direction, cinematography, editing, production) & Maria Boua (script, music, sound, production) with narration by Yannis Andriotis and stories told by Zaharias Matathias • Linos Sousis • Nina Vital.
Powerful — both visually and the sound — filmed in an innovative way, combining ambient sound and stories told outdoors with the Mediterranean background, in public spaces, the streets, and Corfu synagogue – with an excellent film score – that is especially impressive how it manages to accompany the viewer in scenes of holocaust atrocities.
The history of the Corfiot Jews – a mixture of Pugliese (from south Italy) and Romaniote (from Greece) is told in vivid detail from the Middle Ages to today.
I watched this fast paced film twice, last premiere weekend, to fully grasp the whole picture ~ Michel van der Burg – Monday , March 14, 2022 (2).

Film festivals & education & online

The free public release of the film was announced last Saturday (Oct 12, 2024) by filmmaker Mirjan Gjergjevica (3) :

“It is with great pleasure and honor that we present to public our documentary, The Jews of Corfu. This work has been screened in many festivals around the world, from America to Australia, and has been lovingly embraced by schools and universities. Now, we are happy to share this freely with you all.
I warmly thank all the main contributors who contributed to the realization of this documentary: Maria Boua, Christiana Latsa, Yiannis Andriotis, Anthi Kyrtsoglou, Giorgos Zumbos and all those who helped directly or indirectly.
We hope this documentary continues to convey its message to even more people and be a way to learn about the history of the Jews of Corfu.”

Mirjan added in an update Oct 13, 2024 :

“We would like to clarify that the present publication of the documentary is not related to the recent war events that are taking place. We condemn all forms of violence and conflict, and we strongly advocate peace and reconciliation among the peoples. “


The Jews of Corfu Poster • Link facebook page The Jews of Corfu Documentary – https://www.facebook.com/thejewsofcorfudoc

Notes

1. Documentary “The Jews of Corfu”, 2021.

  • Directed by: Mirjan Gjergjevica (MirjanFilms)
  • Music: Maria Boua
  • Interviews: Anthi Kyrtsoglou
  • Story: Yiannis Andriotis
  • Historical Archive Research: Maria Boua, Christiana Latsa, Giorgos Zumbos. Production: Maria Boua, Mirjan Films @2021
  • Premiere: The film premiered at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece — March 10-20 , 2022
  • YouTube premiere Oct 12, 2024 – URL https://youtu.be/wjn7MziqJp4

2. Review The Jews of Corfu • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • 20220314 • URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2022/03/14/review-the-jews-of-corfu/

3. The Jews of Corfu Documentary. Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thejewsofcorfudoc

4. The Jews of Corfu – trailer

The Jews of Corfu – trailer

5. More info : The Jews of Corfu: A Documentary About a Forgotten Community for Centuries. (May 4, 2022) Christos Paridis. URL https://en.kis.gr/index.php/koinotites/kerkyras/kerkira-eideisis/2022-05-04-09-48-09

Citation info : Documentary “The Jews of Corfu” • Michel van der Burg • Miracles.Media • 20241015 • URL michelvanderburg•com

Blackout…Johnny and Jones 1940 | 20240118


In 1940, the dutch teen idols Johnny and Jones, even though they were Jews, were able to continue performing under the Nazi occupation without too many problems.
The Amsterdam duo sang jazzy Dutch songs with a mock American accent and a parody of current events.

Blackout means black!


July 1940 Johnny and Jones sang a parody on the Blackout , the dutch song ‘Maak het donker in het donker’ (make it dark in the dark).

Later during World War 2, in 1943, they were deported to the Nazi death camps. They died of exhaustion in the last days of the war in 1945 (see Notes).

Notes

Swing & Hot – Johnny and Jones 1938 | 20240114 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/01/14/swing-hot-johnny-and-jones-1938-20240114/

Still image in film : Poster for the single ‘Maak het donker in het donker’.

Lyrics ‘Maak het donker in het donker’ | Johnny and Jones (1940)

De overheid heeft het publiek bevolen
Als het donker is dan moet het donker zijn !
Er mag geen enkel licht naar buiten schijnen
Doe verduisteringspapier voor je gordijn
Anders staan ze ’s avonds aan je bel te bellen
En dan komt de luchtbescherming je vertellen :

Refrein:
Maak het donker, maak het donker in het donker
Ook al gaan de sterren door met hun geflonker
Ik loop langs de huizenkant
Met mijn luchtbeschermingsband
Een lantaren in mijn hand
Om te kijken waar iets brandt
Houdt dus rekening met de verduisteringswensen
Maak het donker, reuze donker beste mensen !
Refrein

Het blokhoofd van blok zeven uit wijk negen
Zag de dochter van het wijkhoofd uit blok tien
Met een rood hoofd kwam hij blokhoofd negen tegen,
Hij zei hoofd, heb jij het wijkhoofd ook gezien ?
Ik heb in het hoofd gezet het wijkhoofd te gaan vragen ,
Of die wijkhoofd-(griet/strike?) mijn blokhoofdnaam wil dragen : Refrein

Van Zanten zag een meisje in het duister,
Zij was slank gevormd en toch niet dik van lijn.
Hij dacht, dit is de jonkvrouw mijner dromen,
Binnenkort zal zij mevrouw Van Zanten zijn.
In de duisternis vroeg hij haar om een kusje,
Flip van Zanten zei zij toen, ik ben toch je zusje !
Refrein

Music : Maak het donker in het donker | Text & Music by Johnny and Jones (1940). Recorded in Vara-studio, Hilversum, 19 july 1940. DH2051. (Varagram 7175). | Wikimedia Commons

Film (image) : edited from Polygoon-Profilti cinema news reel week 36, September 1940 (under nazi rule) | Sound & Vision (Open Images).

Citation info : Blackout…Johnny and Jones 1940 | 20240118 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode 17a685fd-9944-471b-992f-47be88ead857

Swing & Hot – Johnny and Jones 1938 | 20240114

Johnny and Jones – Mijnheer Dinges weet niet wat Swing is – URL https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxMQtbdZ26fS4zcluq6fT7NlTbbpfuxpcx

‘Swing’ by jazz duo Johnny and Jones in 1938 with their biggest hit , the dutch song “Mijnheer Dinges weet niet wat Swing is”
…Mister Dingus doesn’t know what Swing and Hot (jazz) is…he’s a composer and teacher with a problem : his students skip class, he thinks jazz is banal.

“Two Kids and a Guitar”

The Amsterdam duo sang jazzy Dutch songs with a mock American accent and a parody of current events. They were the first teen idols in Holland and often on the dutch radio in the 1930s …before World War 2.

Nazi victims

Because of their Jewish origins, both ‘Johnny’ (Salomon Meijer Kannewasser, born 1916 and called Max) and his second cousin, partner, ‘Jones’ (Arnold Siméon van Wesel, born Amsterdam 1918 and called Nol) were arrested together with their wives in 1943, taken to the Westerbork transit camp, and deported Sep 4, 1944 first to the Theresienstadt camp, next the Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Ohrdruf and Bergen-Belsen camps. They died of exhaustion in the last days of the war in 1945.

Notes

Mijnheer Dinges weet niet wat Swing is | Two Kids and a Guitar | Johnny and Jones (1938). Lyrics from Joop de Leur. Recorded in Casino Hamdorf, Laren, Holland, November 1938. Label: Panachord (78 rpm). # H 1058 (Am 546-1). URL https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxMQtbdZ26fS4zcluq6fT7NlTbbpfuxpcx

Over Salomon Meijer Kannewasser | Joods Monument | URL https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/515257/about-salomon-meijer-kannewasser

Lyrics

Dinges, oh Dinges
Dinges, oh Dinges
Meneer Dinges die is dol op componeren
Hij zit eeuwig met zijn neus in de muziek
Jongelieden die bij hem piano leren
Houden zich na de eerste les een tijdje ziek
Want hun leraar heeft een kwaal
Hij vindt jazzmuziek banaal
Meneer Dinges weet niet wat swing is
Hij weet niet wat saxofoon voor een ding is
Omdat zijn radio kapot is
Wat voor de buren een genot is
Weet die Dinges niet wat swing of hot is
Op een dag belde aan Dinges’ deur de wasman
Die zei meneer er staat muziek op uw manchet
Hou hem hier of stuur hem Theo Uden Marsman
Maar meneer Dinges antwoordde toen zeer ontzet
Man, ga uit mijn trapportaal
In mijn huis geen jazz-schandaal
Meneer Dinges weet niet wat swing is
Hij weet niet wat saxofoon voor een ding is
Omdat zijn radio kapot is
Wat voor de buren een genot is
Weet die Dinges niet wat swing of hot is
Meneer Dinges maakte een grote ouverture
Met een slotkoor, de finale stond in mol
Toen het klaar was speelde Pietje van de buren
De compositie dreunde in hot style door zijn bol
Toen viel hij flauw op 1 crapaud (het kunnen er ook twee geweest zijn) En Johnny and Jones zongen door de radio
Meneer Dinges weet niet wat swing is
Hij weet niet wat saxofoon voor een ding is
Omdat zijn radio kapot is
Wat voor de buren een genot is
Weet die Dinges niet wat swing of hot is
Domme Dinges
Oh, domme Dinges
Weet jij nu nog niet wat jazz voor een ding is
Als jij je goed wil amuseren
Moet je de hi-de-ho studeren
Meneer Dinges, probeer de swing ‘s
Dinges, oh Dinges
Dinges, oh Dinges.

Author: Johnny en Jones/ Joop de Leur
Composer: Johnny en Jones/ Joop de Leur
Publisher: Van Gool & Grünfeld Theaterprodukties
Source: https://muzikum.eu/nl/tip-top/meneer-dinges-songtekst

Citation info : Swing & Hot – Johnny and Jones 1938 | 20240114 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg

Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109


Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109 | Miracles•Media
Documentary – Dutch spoken , English subtitles.

EN – In 1939 with Polygoon film company through… the canals and along the old facades of Amsterdam. Published in 1940 a few months before World War II.

NL – In 1939 met de Polygoon filmfabriek door de grachten en langs de oude gevels van Amsterdam. Gepubliceerde in 1940 kort voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
Tocht langs de Stadsbank van Lening, Vondels huis, huis op 3 grachten, Kolkje, schuilkerk Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, Schreierstoren, Montelbaanstoren, Gooyer molen, Jordaan, Lange Jan, Westertoren, Bickerseiland, Waaggebouw, Amsterdamse universiteit, Agnietenschool, gildekamer chirurgijnen.

Film edited (image and sound) from a 1940 Polygoon-Profilti documentary | Sound & Vision (Open Images).
Music : (1) RAF March String Chorus, and (2) Roses in the Garden , both by Jean-Miles Carter | Artlist.
Citation info : Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode 057550f0-a29a-4696-9b7d-a9a7825300d2

The Abbey by Queen George & Amir Kovalski | 20231201

🎵 All my life I was alive …
I’m sorry …

Listen at Apple Music , or buy in iTunes Store | The Abbey by Queen George & Amir Kovalski – Link https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-abbey-single/1718026913

Song sung by Isabella’s great-grandchild Ameet Kanon (aka Queen George) , who explained today – Friday , December 1, 2023 – at the premiere :

“The Abbey – it’s been so special and personal keeping you to myself, but your message was always too big for me not to share it …

… This is Isabella Weinreb Castegnier. She is my great-grandmother. On April 19th, 1943, pregnant with my grandmother, she jumped out of a moving train headed to Auschwitz. She was being sent to her death, simply because she was a Jew. She understood that it was now or never, die at the destination or die trying, so she jumped. In the years to follow this epic jump, the Abbeys of Brussels became a place of hiding, survival, and safety for them time and time again.”

Listen at Spotify | The Abbey by Queen George & Amir Kovalski – Link https://open.spotify.com/track/0YCgMCYb3O77dsq26Jwwjd

Excellent song … well written !

Citation Info : The Abbey by Queen George & Amir Kovalski | 20231201 | Miracles•Media

TAGS #Abbey #Ameet #Kanon #Queen #George #Amir #Kovalski #song #songwriter #music #Isabella #Weinreb #Castegnier #Viviane #Yarom #Transport #XX #deportation #attack #rescue #resistance #survivor #train #deportation #jump #freedom #Brussels #Belgium #holocaust #1Memo #michelvanderburg #MiraclesMedia

‘Entartete Art’ 1935 – Coleman Hawkins & Leo de la Fuente in Holland | 20231123


‘Entartete Art’ 1935 – Coleman Hawkins & Leo de la Fuente in Holland

American saxophonist Coleman Hawkins announces and plays – accompanied by Leo de la Fuente on piano – on his tenor saxophone ‘I wished that I were twins’.

In 1934, Coleman Hawkins left the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and Amerika, moved to Europe, and joined the Jack Hylton Orchestra in England. Hylton and his band made regular ‘continental’ tours, and started another European tour January 1935 accompanied by Coleman Hawkins in Holland. At the end of January 1935 Hawkins joins the dutch band The Rambers … for 8 days … because Hawkins was denied entry to Germany because of his race, while Hylton and his band continued their tour without him and play for eight days at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

To end this special week with Hawkins well, the bandleader of The Ramblers – Theo Uden Masman – arranged with Decca for recordings 4 february 1935 in Pulchri Studio in The Hague, Holland, including this : I wish I were twins…that was also recorded on film by Polygoon (Polygoontoon) for the dutch cinema news for next week .

Coleman Hawkins is accomponied here on film by the dutch jazz pioneer Leo de la Fuente on piano , playing ‘I wished that I were twins’ . After the recordings, Hawkins moves further into Europe.

Leo – Leonard Henriques – de la Fuente, who was born Jewish in Amsterdam 28 March 1902, was deported by the nazi’s to Auschwitz on 2 November 1942, and died 30 April 1944 ‘somewhere in Mid Europe’.

References

About Leonard Henriques de la Fuente, his wife Hendrika de Vries and his daughters Benvenida and Mietje. Joods Monument. URL https://www.joodsmonument.nl/en/page/680262/about-leonard-henriques-de-la-fuente-his-wife-hendrika-de-vries-and

Biografie Leo de la Fuente. Muziekencyclopedie.nl | Beeld & Geluid. URL https://www.muziekencyclopedie.nl/action/entry/Leo+de+la+Fuente

The Hawk in Holland. Jacky de Vries. Theater Sentiment – De verhalen over de artiesten van weleer – Jaargang 3 Nummer 4. URL https://theatersentiment.nl/the-hawk-in-holland/

Jack Hylton 1892-1965. Abaigh McKee. Politics & Propaganda | Music and the Holocaust | URL https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/jack-hylton/

Film edited from source (video footage) : Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (Polygoontoon, producer) dutch cinema news reel week 7 , 1935 | Sound & Vision (Open Images)

Citation : ‘Entartete Art’ 1935 – Coleman Hawkins & Leo de la Fuente in Holland | 20231123 | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | TakeNode 4f388407-5ccc-4816-aef6-6064fcee35b2

TAGS #Coleman #Hawkins #Leo #Fuente #music #jazz #Entartete #art #Europe #tour #tournee #Berlin #Germany #tenor #sax #saxophon #saxofoon #interbellum #Hawk #Holland #The #Hague #Pulchri #Studio #Netherlands #Decca #art #black #Jew #racism #diversity #nazi #politics #propaganda #holocaust #Polygoon #Polygoontoon #film #cinema #news #theater #band #pioneer #bandleader #Entartete #Kunst #degenerate #art #Jack #Hylton #orchestra #twins #Sound #Vision #broadcast #performance #history #England #1Memo #michelvanderburg #MiraclesMedia #SettelaCom