Thieves of Dreams REVIEWS, features, radio

“Beautiful music …a mellifluous cross-pollination of world music and jazz.” T'Cha Dunlevy, Montreal Gazette  (Jan 26, 2023) https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/local-arts/grandmothers-poems-penned-in-concentration-camp-make-beautiful-music

“Lichtenberg shapes her songs in their various idioms, carving for herself a [musical] language of her own, sung in a voice that is at once universal and most emphatically her own, triumphant and beautifully alive amid a culture of death.”  - Raul da Gama, That Canadian Magazine, album review (February 7, 2023)

http://"A haunting set of musical gems"" - John Clewley, The Bangkok Post (June 7, 2022)  

http://"Incredibly touching... A moving way to honour history and make sure we never forget"- Talia Schlanger, CBC's Q (May 17, 2022)  

CBC TV Montreal: an interview with Debra Arbec, February 3, 2023

Feature in The Canadian Press, syndicated article by Christian Collington (March 5, 2023): https://www.terracestandard.com/news/lenka-lichtenbergs-juno-nominated-album-brings-holocaust-survivors-poetry-to-life/ 

CBC - The Current with Matt Galloway: “And as the new year gets underway, CBC Music host Paolo Pietropaolo tells us about the musicians he's seeking out who are finding new ways to challenge the status quo.” Pietropaolo says: “There’s this one singer in Toronto that I’m just blown away by. Her name is Lenka Lichtenberg.” (Starts at 54 minutes.) (January 9, 2023) 

Feature by Sarah Laing, The Toronto Star (February 27, 2023):   https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2023/02/27/in-hidden-letters-she-discovered-her-grandmothers-horrifying-past-now-shes-helping-share-her-experiences-in-song.html

Feature by Irena Karshenbaum, Alberta Jewish News (March 24, 2023): https://albertajewishnews.com/lenka-lichtenberg-wins-juno-for-holocaust-themed-poetry-album-thieves-of-dreams/ 

Feature by Andrew Wright, Everything Zoomer (Nov 2022): https://www.everythingzoomer.com/arts-entertainment/2022/11/10/how-a-canadian-composer-is-giving-her-grandmothers-secret-holocaust-poems-new-life/

Feature and podcast, Ellin Bessner for Canadian Jewish News, March 13, 2023: https://thecjn.ca/podcasts/lenka-lichtenberg-just-won-a-juno-with-her-grandmothers-holocaust-poems/ 

CBC - In Concert with Paolo Pietropaolo

Thieves of Dreams featured on CBC's "Big City, Small World" (May 21, 2022) 

Named one of "May's Hot Tracks" - CBC's Frequencies with Errol Nazareth (May 3, 2022) 

"Amazing" - Paolo Pietropaolo, CBC's "In Concert" (May 1, 2022) 

CBC Ottawa - interview about Silent Tears with Alan Neal (Jan 20, 2023) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-92-all-in-a-day/clip/15961386-songs-unspeakable-sorrow-silent-tears-last

"An unforgettable tribute to Lenka's mother and grandmother, to which we say, l'chaim!" - Evelyn Frick, Kveller (May 12, 2022)  

http://"A glorious achievement"- David Olds, The Whole Note (Scroll down) (May 2022 reviews)  

"Harrowingly beatutiful" - Bernard Clarke, RTE (Ireland), Blue of the Night, part of a 4-part feature and interview about Lenka Lichtenberg's Theives of Dreams  
Part 1 (May 30, 2022)  
Part 2 (May 31, 2022)  
Part 3 (June 1, 2022)  
Part 4 (June 2, 2022)  

Interview and 2-part feature about Lenka Lichtenberg's Thieves of Dreams on Detour Radio with Paul Hartman.  
Part 1 (May 22, 2022)  
Part 2 (June 5, 2022)  

10-minute feature on "Thieves of Dreams" on WEFT-FM's Wednesday Beat Blender (June 8, 2022)  

Feature on "Sedmé Nebe/Seventh Heaven" with Petr Doruzka (Starts at 30:50) (June 3, 2022)  

One hour feature on Lenka Lichtenberg's "Theives of Dreams" on Conzertzender (Netherlands) with Benno Wormgoor (May 28, 2022)  

"Beautiful" - DJ Madame B. Part of 14-minute feature on "Thieves of Dreams" on Donne Del Mundo (Starts at 17:10) (May 27, 2022)   

45-minute interview with Lenka Lichtenberg about "Thieves of Dreams" on Araceli Tzigane's "Music Before Shabbat" (May 27, 2022)  

"An amazing album" - The Bangkok Post (May 24, 2022, part of their "Summer Music Preview)  

"Superb... fabulous... beautiful" - Jordi Demesenlla (19 minute feature at end of program that airs in Barcelona and three dozen stations in Catalonia) (Link to broadcast) (May 23, 2022)   

"An amazing musical experience" - Novy Domov, Masaryktown Magazine(May 2022 issue)  

Songs for New and Old Worlds - Christopher Cameron, Watershed Magazine (May 2022 issue)  

Feature on Globofonie Radio, Italy (Starts at 56:20 into broadcast) (May 23, 2022)  

Thieves of Dreams named on “Best New European Music / Alternative to Eurovision” Radio program/Pet Door Vision Song Contest with host Hannah Werdmuller. Medium Article (May 21, 2022)  

Thieves of Dreams featured on CBC's "Big City, Small World" (May 21, 2022)  

Feature on KVMR's "Earth Music" with Don Lipari (May 17, 2022)  

Highly Recommended - Zsido (in Hungarian) (May 16, 2022)  

"Beautiful" - Pandora Peoples, Part of feature on "Pandora's Jukebox" on WOMR radio (May 15, 2022)  

25-minute feature and interview on WORT-Radio (Madison, WI) with Jeff Spitzer-Resnick (May 12, 2022)  

"An amazing album" - Rochelle Zucker, Winnipeg's Jewish Radio Hour(part of 15 minute feature and interview about "Thieves of Dreams" (May 8, 2022)  

Featured on "Sounds Jewish's Mother's Day Special" with Andy Muchin(Link to broadcast) (May 8, 2022)  

Lenka Lichtenberg discovers how her grandmother survived in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp - Roots Music Canada (May 7, 2022)  

Feature on "Serenity Now" (University of Washington radio, with Sophie Heeter) (May 6, 2022)  

Rave reviews for Thieves of Dreams - Kerry Doole's May Music Digest, FYI Music News (Scroll down) (May 5, 2022)  

Interview on WSFM's "Musical Migrations" with Gypsy Flores (May 4, 2022)  

"Fantastic... A powerful project" - Ken Stowar, CIUT. 20-minute feature and interview about Theives of Dreams on CIUT-FM (Toronto's) Global Rhythms with guest Dan Rosenberg (May 4, 2022)  

Named one of "May's Hot Tracks" - CBC's Frequencies with Errol Nazareth(May 3, 2022)  

"Amazing" - Paolo Pietropaolo, CBC's "In Concert" (May 1, 2022)

REVIEWS - EXCERPTS (full reviews in chronological order below)

"...profoundly tragic and upliftingly beautiful music... prodigiously-gifted Canadian musician ... has emerged as one of the most fascinating and compelling composers ... her voice soaring loftily as it always does in the music's many filigree lines and aristocratic elegance..."   Raul da Gama, World Music Report

"... Imaginative arrangements...Lichtenberg's vocals soar..."         Andrew Timar, The WholeNote, Canada

"...a lovely album which should appeal across a wide listener base even without knowing the language."           Stuart Derdeyn,  Vancouver Sun

"Breathtakingly beautiful."  ~ Holly Moors, Moors Magazine, The Netherlands

"... a very sophisticated singer"   ~ Dani Heyvaert, Rootstime, Belgium

"...another fascinating window upon which to admire Lichtenberg’s restless imagination.” ~ Tommie Black-Roff, Songlines, U.K.

"Passionate and prolific, Lenka Lichtenberg is a force of nature within Canada’s world music scene.... Like Loreena McKennitt with Celtic sounds, Lichtenberg is pushing Yiddish music beyond its klezmer stereotype into a truly inspired form of world music." ~ Nicholas Jennings, Penguin Eggs, Canada 

"Yiddish Journey, Lichtenberg’s tenth album, is a captivating 18-track compilation from a career that has cultivated the sounds of an interdependent world. “ ~ Alan Tigay, World Listening Post, USA

“Interested in hearing songs belted out in Yiddish, Czech or other exotic language? Meet Lenka Lichtenberg, perhaps Toronto's best-known fusion musician. Her enthralling vocals and curious blend of Middle Eastern, Latin, and European influences will add spice and flavour to your musical pallette. Supporting her vocals are instruments ranging from the sitar to powerful percussions to flutes. She's also been featured on CBC's Here and Now - "Open My Eyes" was chosen as song of the week this past January.” ~ BlogTO  (Top 10 Fusion Bands)
 

“The Czech-born vocalist and composer ranges around the world music map in a variety of projects fusing Yiddish songs and folk influences and instrumentation from three continents for a rich listening experience.” ~ Chris Young, Toronto Star
 
“... a brilliant fusion of Yiddish songs, world music, jazz and modern Indie elements…” ~ FolkWorld.eu
 
“ pristine vocal tone and meticulous, delicate arrangements…” ~ Michael Barclay, Kitchener-Waterloo Record & Radio Free Canuckistan
 
“Embrace is world music in the truest sense of world fusion ... It sends chills up and down your spine and makes the eyes moisten, and it is an absolute must have for any serious world music aficionado …Perfectly consistent throughout, Embrace is a magical album full of charm and beauty that grips the listener and won't let go ... already among my all-time favourites of the world fusion genre.” ~ Rich Rainlore, Rainlore’s World of Music (U.K.)
 
"... ethereal, sometimes hypnotic....Obviously this has a niche audience, but a niche that stretches from here to eternity … a sumptous bazaar of orchestral pop & worldbeat exotica” ~ David Farrell, NewCanadianMusic.ca
 
"...deeply moving...The album is a very special achievement..."   ~ Mike Regenstreif, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin; Folk Roots/Folk Branches
 
"It takes a few moments of listening to get past the pleasure and feel amazed at what you're hearing. It's Lenka Lichtenberg's crystalline voice singing to a Middle Eastern beat in Mizrachi style. But the words are in Yiddish. The splicing of two Jewish spheres into a world music fusion sound is astounding and makes you feel as though you have stepped onto a new planet."
~ Heather Solomon, Canadian Jewish News (Montreal)
 
“Lichtenberg has a lovely, confectionary, gamin-like quality. Her soprano voice sails above and around the notes with perfect control, weaving a luminous mystical web.”
~Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, WholeNote Magazine (Toronto)
 
“...one of the most mesmerising mergers of world music and electronica we've heard in a while.” ~ Kerry Doole, New Canadian Music (for Open My Eyes, Eccodek Peripheral Vision remix)
 
***
 
REVIEWS FOR MASARYK (excerpts)

- "... The prodigiously-gifted Canadian musician has dug deep into her Czech roots and, surfacing for air, has most strikingly led her to find both commonality and inspiration in the greater human family. She has also emerged as one of the most fascinating and compelling composers whose music explores the feeling of loss and nostalgia often evoked by the haunting modalities of Hebrew, Yiddish and Czech secular and spiritual music.

On each of her numerous albums as leader Miss Lichtenberg while always staying true to her calling as a composer and vocalist of that unique repertoire, she has never abandoned her fervent sense of hope and redemption. This characteristic seems embedded in her psyche almost as an imprimatur of being and growing up Czech, just like her ancestors who refused to be broken despite the ravages of their long history of survival and triumph that seems at times, oddly analogous with the tragedy and the triumph of the Jewish people. As a result Miss Lichtenberg’s music seems to be conceived to unify the emotional history of both the Czech Republic and the history of the Jewish Diaspora, but which is also remarkably all-encompassing to such as great extent that it reflects the very tragedy and triumph of her greater human family itself...."   Raul da Gama, World Music report, November 3, 2018

World Music Report November 2018
 

... Lichtenberg and Czech musician Tomas Reindl have fashioned imaginative arrangements of 14 songs. European folk instruments such as the cimbalom, kantele and bagpipes join standard orchestral instruments in their elaborate charts, firmly placing these songs in a European context. Interestingly, Reindl’s gentle tabla playing on several songs and the didgeridoo on another serve to shift those songs’ focus slightly from the Czech lands, rendering them more universal. The album was recorded in studios in the Czech Republic and in Toronto, further underscoring its internationality.

The award-winning Lichtenberg’s unaffected vocals soar over the acoustic instrumentals, often overdubbing herself with characteristic regional harmonies...The entire album, obviously a product of great care and love, rewards multiple listens...."  Andrew Timar, The WholeNote, February, 20180

The WholeNote February 2018

- "....The songs featured were favourites of Lichtenberg’s late grandmother and she puts passion behind her renditions of all the material selected from the Czech, Slovak and Moravian traditions. ... Of course, the Toronto singer has explored many different styles of music in her career and, along with noted Czech composer Tomás Reindl, the two employ everything from brass sections and cellos to tabla drums and bagpipes. It all works on this lovely album which should appeal across a wide listener base even without knowing the language."           Stuart Derdeyn,  Vancouver Sun, in his column Scene & Heard. Also published in The Montreal Gazette, The Ottawa Citizen, The Windsor Star and other prominent Post Media publications. (December 18, 2017)

Vancouver Sun and Post Media, December 2017

- ".....Breathtakingly beautiful."  Holly Moors, Moors Magazine, The Netherlands  (August 11, 2017)
Original review:

https://www.moorsmagazine.com/muziek/wereldmuziek/lenka-lichtenberg-zingt-oude-tsjechische-moravische-en-slovaakse-liedjes/  

Moors Magazine, August 2017
Translated review: https://tinyurl.com/yaqe8y5v  


“A devoted exponent of Yiddish song, Lenka Lichtenberg returns with a deeply personal album that reimagines a 75 year old collection of Czechoslovakian national songs. The award-winning Canadian musician has spent a career hopping genres, languages and international stages, only now choosing to devote an album to her birthplace and mother tongue. The timing could not be more poignant, given the passing away of Lichtenberg’s Czech mother in 2016…. Songs are steeped in a romantic mid-20th century nostalgia, an especially good fit given the soaring emotive nature of Lichtenberg’s vocals… another fascinating window upon which to admire Lichtenberg’s restless imagination.”                          UK Songlines, Tommie Black-Roff: (November 2017)

- "... a very sophisticated singer"... Dani Heyvaert, Rootstime, Belgium (September 2017)
Original review:http://www.rootstime.be/index.html?http://www.rootstime.be/CD%20REVIEUW/2017/SEPT1/CD1.html
Translated review: https://tinyurl.com/ycmjs8ac)

 

- ... “With a small band on traditional and classical instruments, she essays these songs with almost palpable (and often overtly Jewish) passion..." Graham Reid, NZ: Elsewhere, New Zealand https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/world-music/8106/elsewhere-world-service-a-quick-overview-of-recent-world-music-releases/

- "What's New on CD", Angel Romero, Musica Del Mundo, U.S.A., http://musicasdelmundo.com/?tag=lenka-lichtenberg 

 

REVIEWS (excerpts) FOR YIDDISH JOURNEY

"... "There are other Yiddish singers today, but arguably no one has done more than she has to bring the language from nostalgia into the present by combining fresh influences—jazz, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Indian—new compositions and her hypnotic, angelic voice. Yiddish Journey, Lichtenberg’s tenth album, is a captivating 18-track compilation from a career that has cultivated the sounds of an interdependent world. “ - Alan Tigay, World Listening Post, April 30, 2017

"...modern, but beautiful, a very special atmosphere!" - Jan Waas, Crescas web column, Netherlands  (April 22, 2016)

"This is a collection of 18 beautiful, artistic, thoughtful songs."  - Arthur Shuey, World Music Central  (March 31, 2016)

"Lenka's spiritual quest is a strong theme throughout the album" - Adam Cailler, Jewish Telegraph, U.K.  (March 11, 2016)

"At the centre, Lichtenberg’s vocals remain remarkably controlled and soulful throughout... the record is a worthy testament to Lichtenberg’s place at the forefront of modern hybridised Yiddish song for the past 17 years" - Tommie Black-Roff,  Songlines, issue 117 (April 7, 2016)  

REVIEWS FOR LULLABIES FROM EXILE (with Yair Dalal)
 
“Ms. Lichtenberg’s and Yair Dalal’s recording strikes my heart like an arrow piercing the centre …. the music is outstanding and hair-raising whether the words are fully comprehended or not.” ~ Raul Da Gama, TheWorldMusicReport.com
 
“ … a splendid new album of old Jewish lullabies from Eastern Europe and the Middle East…”
~ Ha’aretz (Tel Aviv, Israel)
 
“A beguiling collection of songs…” ~ The Jerusalem Post
 
“Invigorating … breathing fresh life into traditional material…” ~ Kerry Doole, New Canadian Music
 
“Lichtenberg’s sweet, high voice in Yiddish serves as a perfect companion to Dalal’s smooth, deep Arabic singing.” ~ Yiddish Forward (New York City)
 
***

REVIEWS FOR SONGS FOR THE BREATHING WALLS
 

Lenka Lichtenberg - Songs for the Breathing Walls

Passionate and prolific, Lenka Lichtenberg is a force of nature within Canada’s world music scene. Born in Prague of East European heritage, she is a composer, vocalist, producer, ethnomusicologist and bandleader with five solo CDs and several collaborative projects to her credit. Although she works in six languages, Lichtenberg has made Yiddish her main medium out of a deep belief in keeping that tradition alive (her mother is a Holocaust child survivor). She has recorded what she calls “Yiddish ethno-jazz” with members of Tasa, and partnered with oud and violin virtuoso Yair Dalal in a unique Yiddish-Iraqi work-in-progress. Now Lichtenberg has released two boundary-pushing CDs. Bridges, recorded live at Toronto’s Lula Lounge, pairs her with Middle Eastern musician-dancer Roula Said in a Yiddish-Arabic musical dialogue. Backed by superb musicians like Ravi Naimpally, Ernie Tollar, John Gzowski and Alan Hetherington, Lichtenberg and Said trade vocals on songs like Nujum and Open My Eyes. Although the English lyrics are sometimes a little too on the nose, the music is often thrilling and the album’s cross-cultural message, best expressed in the opener Peace is the Only Way, admirable. Lichtenberg’s Songs for the Breathing Walls took her into 12 Czech and Moravian synagogues where she recorded songs based on biblical texts once recited and chanted within those walls. Set to ouds, sitars, clarinets and violins, the Jewish liturgical poems and prayers take on a powerful, haunting quality. Like Loreena McKennitt with Celtic sounds, Lichtenberg is pushing Yiddish music beyond its klezmer stereotype into a truly inspired form of world music.  Nicholas Jennings, Penguin Eggs, Canada, 

https://www.nicholasjennings.com/lenka-lichtenberg-songs-for-the-breathing-walls


 

feature articles and reviews in chronological order with links

WORLD MUSIC REPORT - MASARYK review, Raul da Gama, November 3, 2018

The tumultuous and traumatic history of both the Jewish Diaspora and the history of the Czech Republic have always come together in the profoundly tragic and upliftingly beautiful music of Lenka Lichtenberg. The prodigiously-gifted Canadian musician has dug deep into her Czech roots and, surfacing for air, has most strikingly led her to find both commonality and inspiration in the greater human family. She has also emerged as one of the most fascinating and compelling composers whose music explores the feeling of loss and nostalgia often evoked by the haunting modalities of Hebrew, Yiddish and Czech secular and spiritual music.

On each of her numerous albums as leader Miss Lichtenberg while always staying true to her calling as a composer and vocalist of that unique repertoire, she has never abandoned her fervent sense of hope and redemption. This characteristic seems embedded in her psyche almost as an imprimatur of being and growing up Czech, just like her ancestors who refused to be broken despite the ravages of their long history of survival and triumph that seems at times, oddly analogous with the tragedy and the triumph of the Jewish people. As a result Miss Lichtenberg’s music seems to be conceived to unify the emotional history of both the Czech Republic and the history of the Jewish Diaspora, but which is also remarkably all-encompassing to such as great extent that it reflects the very tragedy and triumph of her greater human family itself.

To bring this to fruition one must listen to all of Miss Lichtenberg’s music for it is in this exercise that her portrayal of heroic of human survival and joy becomes a life-affirming experience. Throughout it all Miss Lichtenberg has traversed not only a cultural topography that stretches from the Czech Republic to the Middle East, and from the Americas to Asia, but she has done so musically as well, bringing with her musicians whose roots run deep in Indian, Iraqi, Czech (of course), Brasilian, Canadian among others. And she has inspired those around her to delve deep into their own psyches so that they have contributed to a holistic, intensely felt revelation of the human condition.

It is for this reason that Miss Lichtenberg’s 2017 Masaryk does not in any way feel divergent, thematically speaking, from recent albums such as Lullabies from Exile(Magda, 2014) and Yiddish Journey (ARC Music, 2016). But a review begs some background first. The repertoire of Masaryk comes from a remarkable book of music, Národní Písně left behind by Jan Masaryk, the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic after it was liberated from Nazi rule during World War II, later tragically and brutally killed at the behest of the murderous then-Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1948. Jan Masaryk was the son of the legendary Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the Czech Republic’s first Prime Minister who was revered for his fearlessness, political acumen and uncommon wisdom, and often mentioned in almost the same breath as mythical Czech political figures, Jan Hus and Jan Žižka.

While the role that Jan Masaryk played in the newly liberated Czech Republic after the World War II was fraught with difficulty, he celebrated the liberation of his homeland with music that is, aptly, full of mysterious depths, expectations, frustrations and doubts, it was also music that was often hopeful and also frequently brimming with joy. The music was originally recorded by Mr Masaryk at the piano with Jamila Novotná in 1942, not long before Mr Masaryk died. Miss Lichtenberg has brought these seminal works back to life again, her voice soaring loftily as it always does in the music’s many filigree lines and aristocratic elegance.

https://worldmusicreport.com/featured/lenka-lichtenberg-masaryk/

ROCK & ALL - feature article by Petr Dorůžka, November edition, 2017, pp. 90-91- | Globální kuchyně

http://www.rockandall-shop.cz/rock-and-all/201711-rock-all/

WORLD LISTENING POST - Yiddish Journey review, Alan Tigay, April 30, 2017

 https://worldlisteningpost.com/2017/04/30/lenka-lichtenberg-yiddish-journey/

Listening Post 97. Yiddish is often discussed in before-and-after terms. As a language of daily life it barely survived the Holocaust, and postwar Jewish migrations led to further decline. So when the Czech-born Canadian singer Lenka Lichtenberg decided she wanted to perform in a language that hadn’t been spoken in her family for generations, it was less an exercise in adult education than in resurrection. There are other Yiddish singers today, but arguably no one has done more than she has to bring the language from nostalgia into the present by combining fresh influences—jazz, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Indian—new compositions and her hypnotic, angelic voice. Yiddish Journey, Lichtenberg’s tenth album, is a captivating 18-track compilation from a career that has cultivated the sounds of an interdependent world. She chants Zum Gali Gali (in Yiddish, Hebrew and English) as a song of concord—“In the whole world there shall be peace”—adapting a kibbutz song about working the land, which was itself a recycled medieval folk song (video 1). In Eybik (Eternal), she opens Yiddish to a warm Arabic embrace: “Eternal, great, powerful is the yearning for happiness,” she sings, “bright, splendid is life’s music” (video 2). Zing (Sing) connects the music with Lichtenberg’s own journey: “Sing of those who have already turned to dust… to generations who’ll again sound the golden horn” (video 3). More traditional is Ver hot aza yingele(Who Has Such a Boy?) featuring a Jewish mother kvelling about her son (video 4). And who has such a gift? Lichtenberg—who sings in six languages and serves as a cantorial soloist and composer in a Toronto synagogue—has used Yiddish to fashion a bridge from before to after, showing not only what might have been but also bringing “might have” to reality. (ARC Music)

 OTTAWA JEWISH BULLETIN - Yiddish Journey review, Mike Regenstreif, December 5, 2016

http://www.ottawajewishbulletin.com/2016/12/music/

Toronto-based singer Lenka Lichtenberg, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, grew up in Prague. As a young adult, she arrived in Canada and studied ethnomusicology at York University, writing her MA thesis on Yiddish songs of the Holocaust. Over the years, she has recorded numerous albums, as a solo artist and fronting several groups, several of which I’ve reviewed in these pages. 

Yiddish Journey: The Music of Lenka Lichtenberg is an 18-song, 78-minute compilation of Yiddish material drawn from Lichtenberg’s earlier albums that showcase a singer deeply committed to both the traditions from which the songs come and to an artistic vision that seeks to take some of them in new directions. 

One of the most interesting songs is “Es Khlipen Di Malokhim (Weeping Angels),” Lichtenberg‘s setting of a Yiddish poem by Beruriah Wiegand with an English verse by Lichtenberg. With a vibrant rhythm laid down by Ravi Naimpally on tabla and George Koller on bass, and set against Alexis Basque’s piccolo cornet, Lichtenberg sings about angels, forbidden love and sin. 

Another highlight is “Zing,” Lichtenberg’s setting of a poem by Simcha Simchovitch, which she performs with guitarist Brian Katz. With its bright melody, the song looks forward to springtime and to better days ahead.

XANTYPA - feature article, Magdalena Sebestova, Czech Republic, June edition, 2016
external link here (in Czech) 


Toronto Moon - feature article, Gary 17 - June 1, 2016

external link here

You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate the huge talent and delightful sonic adventure that is the music of Lenka Lichtenberg (I’m not but truly do) who this afternoon releases her eighth album, Yiddish Journey, at a free show as part of the Jewish Music Week celebrations taking part across the city. 

As we first told you back in January of 2013, Lichtenberg, a native of Prague with a universalist world view, is all about crossing borders with her music, combining elements of Folk musics of countries from across the world to create unique aural textures. 

It’s difficult to do justice to her exquisitely ethereal, mind-blowing art-Jazz with words; it’s something you have to experience to appreciate. (Hear and see an example of her in performance elsewhere on our website. and also access tracks on her site or through itunes.) 

A member of award-winning Sisters of Sheynville, her compositions have always contained a strong Yiddish strain, but usually combined with other influences, including, dramatically, her Bridges collaboration with Canadian-Palestinian artist Roula Said as well as blends with South American and Arabian styles among others. 

While one would assume, based on the title, that a more purely Yiddish sound is likely to be featured on the new album, which she recorded and is releasing with her longtime inventive band Fray, with Lichtenberg at the wheel I’d expect Yiddish Journey probably involves taking the scenic route, with a lot of twists and turns and probes into unfamiliar but exciting territories, with moments that will have you gripping the arms of your seat. 

Today’s one-hour concert, free because it’s sponsored by Jewish Music Week, runs 2-3 p.m. at The Rex, 194 Queen St. West and will include her band (Chris Garntner on bass, Alan Hetherington on drums and pandeiro, Ravi Naimpally on tabla and darbuka and Demetrios Petsalakis on oud, guitar and lyra) as well as special guests Kinneret Kiki Sage on clarinet and Jessica Hana Deutsch on violin.)

Crescas Web Column - album review, Jan Waas, Netherlands - April 22, 2016
(translated from Dutch)
http://www.crescas.nl/blog/webcolumnwaas/itzoz/Yiddish-Journey-The-Music-of-Lenka-Lichtenberg/ 

This week I will discuss a new album by Lenka Lichtenberg…. Yiddish Journey is a CD from singer / composer Lenka Lichtenberg. One and a half years ago I received a CD Lullabies from Exile on which she performs with the Iraqi Yair Dalal children’s songs from their homelands, the Czech Republic and as mentioned, Iraq, a rare combination. At present Lichtenberg lives in Toronto, Canada, and Yair Dalal is regularly associated with the origin of the Catalan formation Hesperion XXI of Jordi Savall.  

Dalal accompanies Luchtenberg on one song on this CD, Dremlen feygl.  All 18 songs are from her previously released 5 CDs, which - to my knowledge - have never been available in the Netherlands.  

Lichtenberg had a thorough musical education and even teaches at a university in a particular profession “music appreciation.” Of the 18 songs, there are only 8 that are well-known, such as the opening track “Hey, tsigelekh” by Mordechai Gebirtig about the pathetic little shepard who commits suicide by jumping into the river while he has no swimming certificate. The water flows out of your CD player, so beware! 

Of the nonsense pioneer song Tzum Galiu Gali Lichtenberg makes a very special composition by adding English text about peace. There are songs with her own texts, and those of others, Bruriah Wiegand and poet Simcha Simchovitch from Toronto.  

All arrangements are by Lichtenberg herself. I find that a benefit, because it combines the fusion sounds of the Middle east and India with those of Eastern Europe and even jazzy South America. The result is modern, but beautiful, a very special atmosphere! Check out also her YouTube videos. The latter applies to others CDs, where via ‘Kugel’ one can find a lot of such beautiful things. The only real negative I can report about this CD is that no texts have been added to my regret, only English concise translations.  

The CD can be found on Spotify.  

Yiddish Journey, The Music of Lenka Lichtenberg 
ARC EUCD 2625 
Distributeur: Music & Words, Zeist)

Songlines - album review, Tommie Black-Roff, U.K. - April 7, 2016

‘Smooth Yiddish world music’ from Czech-born Canadian 

For better or worse, Jewish song often contends with a dizzying array of demands, from dealing with painful memory to building bridges across current political turmoil. The challenge you might say is twofold. The challenge you might say is twofold, to juggle these issues and simultaneously hold on to the beauty in the mix. Lenka Lichtenberg does this admirably. 

Yiddish Journey is aptly named. With this record, the Czech-born Canadian singer departs from the conservatories and piano bars of her youth and journeys to the centre of the Canadian world music scene by way of klezmer-jazz and cantorial singing. Striking collaborations pepper her route, notably with Iraqi-Israeli oud player Yair Dalal and the polished vocal tones of the Sisters of Sheynville. Meanehil the band Fray provide the album’s sonic backbone, comfortably genre-hopping from South Asia to the Middle East and Europe. 

At the centre, Lichtenberg’s vocals remain remarkably controlled and soulful throughout. In line with the klezmer origins of much of the Yiddish material, one can’t help feeling it would benefit to find the occasional rough-edged krecht or sob. Nonetheless, the record is a worthy testament to Lichtenberg’s place at the forefront of modern hybridised Yiddish song for the past 17 years.

World Music Central, USA. - album review, Arthur Shuey, - March 31, 2016

'This is a collection of 18 beautiful, thoughtful, artistic songs." 
Go to World Music Central, type in Lenka and  full review comes up. 


Jewish Telegraph - album review, Adam Cailler, U.K. - March 11, 2016

To locate article, click on the Arts section and find Lenka's name for online edition http://www.jewishtelegraph.com/

Toronto Moon.ca - blog. - article, Gary's Orbit, Toronto - August 8, 2015
"Summing up the World is a Job Lenka was born for..." ..."Tonight's finale is billed as The World Influences Show, and there is no better way than that to describe the incomparable, hypnotically eclectic and both affirmational and subversive music produced by the showcase act, Lenka Lichtenberg & Fray. ... Iconoclastic yet embracing..."  

read article here

 

Canadian Jewish News, - feature article, Ruth Schweitzer, Toronto - May 14, 2015

read full review here


The Jewish Independent, - feature article, Cynthia Ramsay, Vancouver, B.C. - November 21, 2014


“Three new CDs in three years made in three different regions of the world, garnering at least as many awards and even more nominations. Toronto-based Lenka Lichtenberg has been on creative fire.  (Her)  work forms cultural connections, and it greatly expands upon the dialogue. Consider only her most recent recordings, all of which bring together top-notch musicians from around the world to create music that blends multiple languages, cultures, melodies and rhythm, and cross temporal, cultural and geographic borders…. (She is)  at home in many languages and musical styles, and every release highlights her talents, and those of the musicians with which she works…(her recordings are) written and performed with a confidence and skill that is remarkable..,  she seems like someone who will continually push herself to keep growing, experimenting in each new project.”    read The full article here

New Canadian Music - album review. One of top tracks of the week -  November 11, 2014


read New Canadian Music review

The World Music Report - concert review of Lullabies from Exile - October 4, 2014


read  The World Music Report review

KlezmerShack
- review of Songs for the Breathing Walls - September 1, 2014

read review here
"... Her voice is exquisite. The recordings keep getting better...An exquisite take on Jewish sacred music...An explicitly spiritual journey.... new, tender world Jewish music..."

Ha'aretz - review of Lullabies from Exile - August 16, 2014

in English

"...the world that these songs represent was obliterated or forgotten many decades ago, but the pertinence and beauty of the songs remain intact, and the new renditions by Yair Dalal and Lenka Lichtenberg succeed in gently bridging between yesterday and today." "...a wonderful album.." 

Ha'aretz - review of Lullabies from Exile (Hebrew) - August 8, 2014

Ha'aretz review


Toronto Lifestyle - interview with Jatinder D ("5 Questions") - July 22, 2014

Toronto Lifestyle interview



BlogTO - Top 10 Fusion Bands in Toronto - July 18, 2014

Interested in hearing songs belted out in Yiddish, Czech or other exotic language? Meet Lenka Lichtenberg, perhaps Toronto's best-known fusion musician. Her enthralling vocals and curious blend of Middle Eastern, Latin, and European influences will add spice and flavour to your musical pallet. Supporting her vocals are instruments ranging from the sitar to powerful percussions to flutes. She's also been featured on CBC's Here and Now - "Open My Eyes" was chosen as song of the week this past January.

BlogTO review


Zpravodaj pro Jicinsky kraj - from Czech media - June 26, 2014

– Jičínská veřejnost  bude mít v pátek 4. července  v 18 hodin v jičínské synagoze možnost setkat se s výjimečnou ženou, vynikající zpěvačkou a originální tvůrkyní Lenkou Lichtenberg. Spolu s kytaristou Davidem Dorůžkou přednesou program tradičních i autorských písní v hebrejštině, jidiš, angličtině a češtině. Večer má název „Písně pro dýchající stěny“ (Songs for the Breathing Walls) podle CD, který Lenka vydala jako dar patnácti opuštěným českým synagogám a vzpomínku na jejich kdysi kvetoucí židovské komunity. Zprávy z Českého ráje vám nabízí původní rozhovor s Lenkou, který vznikl před rokem při příležitosti její návštěvy v Česku.

http://t.co/XkqNTzEGH4

The Toronto Star -
Weekly concert sampler by Chris Young, Special to the Star, January 23-29, 2014


Lenka Lichtenberg. The Czech-born vocalist and composer ranges around the world music map in a variety of projects fusing Yiddish songs and folk influences and instrumentation from three continents for a pretty rich listening experience. For this show with her now regular five-piece band Fray, Andrew McPherson’s dub-electronica project Eccodek joins them to showcase a shimmering remix of her “Open My Eyes,” a cut from last year’s release Embrace. (Lula Lounge, 8 p.m.)

Toronto Star review


New Canadian Music -  - Remix  "Open My Eyes" review,  by Kerry Doole,  January 14, 2014

"Open My Eyes" was a standout track on Lenka Lichtenberg's album Embrace, released earlier in 2013. It now gets an inventive renovation job by fellow sonic adventurers Eccodek on their Peripheral Vision remix. The result is one of the most mesmerising mergers of world music and electronica we've heard in a while. The Prague-born Lichtenberg sings seductively in six languages, and her sound will engage fans of such artists as Lhasa, Loreena McKennitt and Natasha Atlas. The potent collaboration will be reprised with a remix/video launch at Toronto's Lula Lounge on Jan. 28

New Canadian Music review

Zpravodaj pro Jicinsky kraj - from Czech media - June 26, 2014

– Jičínská veřejnost  bude mít v pátek 4. července  v 18 hodin v jičínské synagoze možnost setkat se s výjimečnou ženou, vynikající zpěvačkou a originální tvůrkyní Lenkou Lichtenberg. Spolu s kytaristou Davidem Dorůžkou přednesou program tradičních i autorských písní v hebrejštině, jidiš, angličtině a češtině. Večer má název „Písně pro dýchající stěny“ (Songs for the Breathing Walls) podle CD, který Lenka vydala jako dar patnácti opuštěným českým synagogám a vzpomínku na jejich kdysi kvetoucí židovské komunity. Zprávy z Českého ráje vám nabízí původní rozhovor s Lenkou, který vznikl před rokem při příležitosti její návštěvy v Česku.

Read full interview


The Toronto Star - Weekly concert sampler by Chris Young, Special to the Star, January 23-29, 2014

Lenka Lichtenberg. The Czech-born vocalist and composer ranges around the world music map in a variety of projects fusing Yiddish songs and folk influences and instrumentation from three continents for a pretty rich listening experience. For this show with her now regular five-piece band Fray, Andrew McPherson’s dub-electronica project Eccodek joins them to showcase a shimmering remix of her “Open My Eyes,” a cut from last year’s release Embrace. (Lula Lounge, 8 p.m.)

Read full review 

New Canadian Music -  - Remix  "Open My Eyes" review,  by Kerry Doole,  January 14, 2014

"Open My Eyes" was a standout track on Lenka Lichtenberg's album Embrace, released earlier in 2013. It now gets an inventive renovation job by fellow sonic adventurers Eccodek on their Peripheral Vision remix. The result is one of the most mesmerising mergers of world music and electronica we've heard in a while. The Prague-born Lichtenberg sings seductively in six languages, and her sound will engage fans of such artists as Lhasa, Loreena McKennitt and Natasha Atlas. The potent collaboration will be reprised with a remix/video launch at Toronto's Lula Lounge on Jan. 28

Read full review

Concert review by Dan St. Yves,  Calgary Folk Club Nominee Showcase, November 9, 2013

"...putting the world in the World Solo category, nominee Lenka Lichtenberg offered a hypnotic set of Yiddish, Czech and Slovak inspired songs - backed by the most exotic instruments of the evening. The opening number literally transported listeners across the globe, and her haunting vocals caressed the foundation of piano, lute and percussion beneath...."

http://thatdanguy.blogspot.ca/2013/11/calgary-folk-club-11-09-13-canadian.html

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FolkWorld - Europe's Folk Music Portal  - Embrace review by Adolf "gorhand" Gorlup, August 26, 2013

"...breathtaking vocal artistry.... a brilliant fusion of Yiddish songs, world music, Jazz and modern Indie elements... inspired singing..."
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Rainlore's World - U.K. - Review by Rich Sharma, July 12, 2013

"... Embrace is world music in the truest sense of world fusion and in a year so far of outstanding releases still stands head and shoulders above the rest."
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The WholeNote  -  Review by Andrew Timar (Canada), June 2, 2013

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NEW CANADIAN MUSIC -  Review by David Farrell, April 25, 2013
http://www.newcanadianmusic.ca/releases/e/embrace/lenka-lichtenberg/2013-04-25

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Folk Roots/Folk Branches -  Review of Songs for the Breathing Walls by Mike Regenstreif ,   March 13, 2013

"...deeply moving...The album is a very special achievement..."
frfb.blogspot.ca/2013/03/lenka-lichtenberg-songs-for-breathing.html 

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Penguin Eggs - Review of the Songs for the Breathing Walls and Bridges by Nicholas Jennings,  Spring Edition 2013

Passionate and prolific, Lenka Lichtenberg is a force of nature within Canada’s world music scene. Born in Prague of East European heritage, she is a composer, vocalist, producer, ethnomusicologist and bandleader with five solo CDs and several collaborative projects to her credit. Although she works in six languages, Lichtenberg has made Yiddish her main medium out of a deep belief in keeping that tradition alive (her mother is a Holocaust child survivor). She has recorded what she calls “Yiddish ethno-jazz” with members of Tasa, and partnered with oud and violin virtuoso Yair Dalal in a unique Yiddish-Iraqi work-in-progress. Now Lichtenberg has released two boundary-pushing CDs. Bridges, recorded live at Toronto’s Lula Lounge, pairs her with Middle Eastern musician-dancer Roula Said in a Yiddish-Arabic musical dialogue. Backed by superb musicians like Ravi Naimpally, Ernie Tollar, John Gzowski and Alan Hetherington, Lichtenberg and Said trade vocals on songs like Nujum and Open My Eyes. Although the English lyrics are sometimes a little too on the nose, the music is often thrilling and the album’s cross-cultural message, best expressed in the opener Peace is the Only Way, admirable. Lichtenberg’s Songs for the Breathing Walls took her into 12 Czech and Moravian synagogues where she recorded songs based on biblical texts once recited and chanted within those walls. Set to ouds, sitars, clarinets and violins, the Jewish liturgical poems and prayers take on a powerful, haunting quality. Like Loreena McKennitt with Celtic sounds, Lichtenberg is pushing Yiddish music beyond its klezmer
stereotype into a truly inspired form of world music.

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Toronto Moon Magazine - by Gary Webb-Proctor, January, 2013

"Arguably Toronto's most innovative ethnic folk/world folk-jazz singer and composer with five solo CD's already released, Lenka Lichtenberg is noi stranger to teaming up with artists from Europe, the Middle East and South America to create unique collaborative compositions that combine diverse cultural influences."...   
http://www.torontomoon.ca/lenka-teaming-up-with-iraqui-folk-jazz-artist-for-unique-show-at-musideum-tues-2/

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 New Canadian Music - Songs for the Breathing Walls   review by David Farrell:

"... ethereal, sometimes hypnotic....Obviously this has a niche audience, but a niche that stretches from here to eternity. Buy."        
 http://www.newcanadianmusic.ca/releases/s/songs-for-the-breathing-walls/lenka-lichtenberg/2012-11-14

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Times of Israel   - feature article by Renee Ghert-Zand, November 2012
http://www.timesofisrael.com/musical-tour-creates-poignant-historical-echo-in-czech-republics-synagogues/

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The WholeNote 2012

Lenka talks candidly about her work in 2012, in The WholeNote's  Summer News "On the Road"

bit.ly/RI3e8Q
 

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February 2012

Review FEBRUARY 2012

"Lenka Lichtenberg presented a truly Canadian blend of music combining all sorts of styles. I got goose bumps when I listened to an Auschwitz
lullaby performed in Roma, Yiddish, Russian and English. (In other songs, ...) ...the combination of typical klezmer clarinet played with a backing
of Middle Eastern percussion and electric cello took listeners on an incredible musical journey."
- February 20, 2012 www.gazetagazeta.com/2012/02/winterfolk-2012/

"Singer of new Yiddish music reaps rewards". Feature article by Dorothy Lichtblau in the Canadian Jewish News, February 2, 2012, page 46:
   http://bit.ly/Feb0212FT 

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CJN MONTREAL January 2011

"It takes a few moments of listening to get past the pleasure and feel amazed at what you're hearing. It's Lenka
Lichtenberg's crystalline voice singing to a Middle Eastern beat in Mizrachi style. But the words are in Yiddish. The
splicing of two Jewish spheres into a world music fusion sound is astounding and makes you feel as though you have
stepped onto a new planet." Feature article "Singer fuses two Jewish spheres with her music" by Heather Solomon, CJN Montreal,
January 27, 2011  http://www.cjnews.com/sites/default/files/files/eCJN/2011/01%2027%2011%20MTL.pdf

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PORCUPINE AWARDS  December 2011

"This is an excellent album of Yiddish poems set to original music composed by Lichtenberg. Fray utilizes the services
of Tasa: Ravi Naimpally, John Gzowski, Ernie Tollar, Alan Hetherington and Chris Gartner. I mean, Yiddish music with
tablas!..." Steve Fruitman, 2011 Porcupine Awards - "MUSIQUE DE LA MONDE - brought here to enrich us all" 
backtothesugarcamp.com/2011.html

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The FORWARD  April 2011

"From Prague to Masada and Back Again" , The Forward, Renee Ghert-Zand, New York, April 18, 2011 
Monday Music: From Prague to Masada and Back Again – The Arty ...blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/137127/Cached
On her first visit to Israel in 1987, Czech-born Canadian singer Lenka Lichtenberg looked out from the top of Masada
and never looked back.

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January/March 2011

Petr Doružka - World Music " Lenka Lichtenberg a Yair Dalal: Klezmer, jiddiš a hudba Babylonu"

world.freemusic.cz:80/index.php/lenka-lichtenberg-a-yair-dalal-klezmer-jiddis-a-hudba-babylonu/

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Review March 2011

RECENZE: "Lenka Lichtenberg je exotická jen na první poslech"  - iDNES.cz  7. března 2011
kultura.idnes.cz/recenze-lenka-lichtenberg-je-exoticka-jen-na-prvni-poslech-pni-/hudba.aspx

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"Singer Marries Yiddish, Middle Eastern Influences"
Jordana Divon - feature article 2011  jordanadivon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/lenka.pdf

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"Beautiful, haunting, inspiring and mesmerizing are but a few of the adjectives that describe this aural delight.
Soothing, enticing, and full of vibrancy, Lenka has one of the sweetest voices in the world.”
~ Rankin, HBN Radio, Harrisburg, Penn., U.S.A.

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“The singer belongs to the most interesting, and courageous, personalities of contemporary Yiddish music scene.
Her work, a cultivated, highly personal take on traditional styles… belongs to present day.”
~ Katerina Kolcova-Tlusta, Harrmonie (Czech national music industry magazine)


“Lichtenberg has a lovely, confectionary, gamin-like quality. Her soprano voice sails above and around the notes
with perfect control, weaving a luminous mystical web.”
~ Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, The Wholenote Magazine (Canada)


“Lichtenberg's powerful voice takes us on a tour of a mystical land of joys and sorrows....”
~ Spin The Globe: World Music News


“A wonderfully variagated collection... Lichtenberg is moving towards the head of the class quickly.”
~ George Robinson, The New York Jewish Week

Great musicianship and hot passionate vocals."ZING" is a song of joy!! Thanks."
~ Mitchell Mendys, WKNH KEENE, New Hampshire

"...an astounding talent."
~ Jowi Taylor, CBC Radio, Global Village

"..spirited performance... unusual topics."
~ George Robinson, The New York Jewish Week

"...impressively crosses many different genres and pulls each of beautifully ...reinvents traditional tunes and
invents new ones"           ~ Lisa Cooperman, The National Post

"An important contribution to modern Jewish culture."
~ Nomi Kaston, The Canadian Folk Music Bulletin

"...multitalented singer."
~ Cynthia Gassner, Canadian Jewish News

"...addresses many of the issues that face us."
~ Ari Davidow, Klezmershack

"...passionate album from the versatile Czech-born singer-songwriter."
~ Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star

"Your music ...is a wonderful gift to my listeners in Philadelphia."
~ Barry Reisman, WNWR