Breathtaking vocals
Musician, winter 2007

SING OUT! THE FOLKSONG MAGAZINE Spring, 2008
You have to love an album that starts off with the inspired madness of the wordless "Ai Yai-Yai." But it"s quite atypical of this album, which is all new Yiddish songs, the lyrics taken from poems and set to music by pianist and Shepherd. However, if you"re expecting something akin to klezmer, you"re in for a surprise. There are elements of that here, but for the most Part, this casts its musical net wider and more amorphously. With some ingenious and inspired arrangements, the singers and musicians do a sterling job (kudos to Merlin Shepherd, who not only sings and plays several instruments but also produced the disc). There"s plenty of depth to the words, as you might expect from poetry (luckily, there"s an English translation), but the most important thing about this album is the way it helps revitalize Yiddish music, intent on making it a vibrant artistic force once more, as it was in the 1920s and "30s. The difference is that this really doesn"t hark back, but views Yiddish music as something very contemporary and alive. It"s a shining experience, one that"s by turns wistful, joyous, introspective and melancholy. A new direction for Yiddish music? Time will tell.-- by Chris Nickson
COPYRIGHT 2008 Sing Out Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

SONGLINES MAGAZINE, March 2008, N50
Estuary Yiddish
Polina Shepherd is a formidable all-round musician: a composer, pianist, singer and Yiddish choir leader from the former Soviet Union, who now resides in the UK. Baym Taykh (By the River), featuring the vocal quartet Ashkenazim, is innovative in its enormous range of musical expression. This CD explores tightly arranged four-part singing, voice styles which mirror instrumental ornamentation alongside more fluid choral experimentation. Solo voices and vocal duos weave in and out of the quartet, with or without accompaniment (piano, saxophone, clarinet, guitar, double-bass). Shepherd’s compositions are highly original and sensitive musical settings of interesting, lesser-known Yiddish poems.
Delicious dissonances sit within tight vocal harmonies. Yiddish or Slavic-style melodies ebb and flow. And here and there we hear a classical vocal style, something more operatic, or a flourish of a music theatre. Instrumental styles are just as varied: Jewish musical modes weave together with a klezmer-sounding clarinet, jazz-style saxophone and bass or rock guitar.
All of the musicians are excellent. Merlin Shepherd displays his versatility on clarinet, saxophone and guitar, while Polina’s piano playing enhances her distinctly beautiful compositions.The music expresses contemplation, exuberance, humour and pathos. ‘Tsvey mol Tsvey Is Fir’ (Two times Two is Four) is sung by Evgenya slavina in a lovely, mellow cabaret style with memorable guitar, piano and bass accompaniment. The a cappella singing on several tracks is great, with ‘Vos Vilstu’ (What Do You Want?) suggestive of a Yiddish Sweet Honey In the Rock.

Reviewer: Helen Beer

www.musiciansunion.org.uk
MUSICIAN, Winter 2007
Brighton-based Polina leads stunning Jewish a capella group The Vocal Quartet Ashkenazim through 14 great cuts of original music. Featuring lyrics from a wide range of sources, with considerable success. Ai-yai-yai opens with intriguing linear lines from the sax of Merlin Shepherd and sympathetic double bass from Simon Russell, before launching into the incredibly catchy, cleverly arranged and joyful main theme. Shpitzn berg, with its emotive reflections upon a peaceful night, and the pure Der Heyliker Balshemtov exibit Polina’s skilful range. A lovely and unexpected gem.

Reviewer: Keith Ames

Ari Davidow"s www.klezmershack.com

When James Joyce wrote about the East shaking the West awake, he was thinking of Asia. In Jewish cultural life, however, just as a mass migration 100 years ago totally changed Jewish life in the United States, a new wave of migration, both physical and cultural, is doing the same again now that the totalitarian regimes of the last century are gone (in some cases, replaced by new and improved totalitarian regimes, but that is sarcasm and political discussion better suited for elsewhere). In particular, the understanding that the world Jewish community was going to help the remnants of Jewish communities, survivors of the Holocaust and Communism, refind the Jewish culture we carefully preserved for them, are being laid to rest with increasing force.

One excellent example of new Yiddish music comes from Polina Shepherd. Founder of the Quartet Ashkenazim, her latest CD shows how much new Yiddish poetry and music is springing from the former Soviet Union. Now residing in the UK, she is accompanied on this recording by Ashkenazim and husband—now Ashkenazim member—Merlin Shepherd (whose solo saxophone perfectly opens the CD).
Much of this music is a capella or sparsely accompanied. And the music itself? A feast of harmonies and new music, some sounding familiar and Jewish, or familiar and art song-ish; all sounding marvellous. This CD is a choral music listener"s treat, and yet, the group consists of only four voices. Sometimes the voices are together, sometimes, as well the various members trade solos and duets. There is this joyous celebration that belies the words of "Nit ikh veyn un nit ikh lakh,"

Let hot tears be blessed
A man must be a man
But my eyes are dry top to bottom
There is not a single tear left.…

The words are the other surprise of the album. This is not old material, reinterpreted. These are poems, old and new, which are newly set to music written by Polina Shepherd. Fourteen songs, featuring 11 poets, in Yiddish, male and female. And their poetic voices? These are new worlds, demanding the diversity of expression and the amazing interplay of clarinet, piano, solo voice, and ensemble in so many forms.
This CD is a revelation. Like the music of bands such as Konsonans Retro, or Kharpov Klezmer and Dobranotch, the East is shaking us awake, yet again, not to be nostalgic, but as part of our own reclaiming of a heritage that was almost assimilated away and lost—not just as a result of oppression and genocide in the East, but just as easily lost in the opportunities in the West. This music doesn"t sound quite like anything else. The art-song paen to "Der heliker Balshemtov," the wonder of "Shpitsn berg," Merlin"s voice describing loneliness and a wondering, bitter despair in "Tsvey," followed by the joyous interplay of voices in "Tirtl-Taybn,"

Impulses of memory:
Lightning, noise
Gleam of the Sun on a knife"s blade
Suddenly:
Keyder years and a word,
No more than a word: …

Listen to Shepherd on Mani Leyb"s poem, the title track, "Baym taykh." In the poem we witness, both in Merlin Shepherd"s jazzy saxophone and in Polina Shepherd"s voice, a young girl"s transition from childhood to adulthood, but also to being an active part of her world, whatever will befall her:

On the other side of the river
the Sun is going down
On the other side of the river
a young girl is walking
With longing in her heart
and teams in her gaze
She"s searching for her maiden"s good fortune …

Happily, I am not the only person who has noticed that something special is going on. A few months ago, Jewish-Music list member posted asking if anyone knew what had happened to the Ashkenazim, a group whose harmonies and music she loved.:

Thanks to M. Gordon I found the band I used to LOVE when they performed in the FSU. They are called the Ashkenazim, and they have web sites and a myspace page with lots of music there. … I am not selling anything here, so I won"t give you the link to where to buy their newest CD (September 2007!!!), but it"s easy to find on the internet. I can"t buy it because I live in Russia, and Internet payment is not quite here yet … Singer and pianist Polina Shepherd lives and works in Brighton with her husband Merlin Shepherd their CD "Intimate Hopes and Terrors" was a Songlines magazine "Top of the World" selection. They both are among the most innovative musicians in the Jewish Music scene—be it New Yiddish Song or Classic Klezmer. Polina is also an original writer giving voice to a wealth of ideas and the Quartet Ashkenazim are the perfect interpreters as they range from beautiful unison to four part harmony often within the space of a single bar,. Settings of wonderful Yiddish poems, with themes as diverse and as intricate as can be expected from the canon.…
List member Günther Schöller, responded in kind:
I got their newest CD "Baym Taykh" about a month ago and absolutely fall in love with their work. The melodies Polina composed are beautiful as well as the way the songs are arranged. You don"t find this type of arrangement with four voices and sparse piano often in yiddish singing. In fact I only know Mikveh does a similiar thing, but it"s different, because the Quartet Ashkenazim does more mimicking of instruments with the voice.

You can get the new CD from the webshop of the Oriente label from Berlin, www.oriente-express.de, and you can hear songs from the new CD on their myspace site, www.myspace.com/ashkenazim...
...I can only echo those more articulate than me and suggest that a copy of this CD is now an essential part of any library where interests tend towards Yiddish, art song, choral music, or simply, "music that makes you joyful."

Reviewed by Ari Davidow (quoting Anya Politkovskaya & Günther Schöller from the Jewish-Music list) , 24 Feb 2008.

www.klezmerlog.de
Polina Shepherd, geborene Achkinazi, stammt aus Russland und war Mitbegründerin des Ensembles Simcha, welches als erstes Klezmer Ensemble nach der Wende in Russland in den frühen 1990ern neu entstand. Im Jahre 2001 gründete sie das Vokal-Quartett Ashkenazim, dass international große Erfolge feierte und mittlerweile vier CDs aufgenommen hat. Die Musik des Ensembles lässt sich am besten mit mehrstimmigen Gesang beschreiben, spärlich begleitet durch Klavier und zeitweise auch Kontrabass und Saxophon. Ähnlich wie beim A-cappella-Gesang werden Instrumente mit der Stimme nachgeahmt. Die dargebrachten Lieder sind vertonte Gedichte jiddischer Poeten aus den 1920er Jahren, z.B. von H. Leivick, dem Autor von "Der Goylem".
Die Musik zu den Texten stammt durchgehend von Polina Shepherd. Ihre Kompositionen weisen Anklänge von Jazz, Klezmer, Chorgesang und jiddischen Nigunim vermischt mit dem Stil der Comedian Harmonists auf. Vergleichbar am ehesten mit der Musik von Mikveh, der Gruppe rund um die frühere Klezmatics-Geigerin Alicia Svigals und der Sängerin Adrienne Cooper. Vielleicht ist die Ähnlichkeit kein Zufall, wenn man bedenkt, dass Polina Shepherd Schülerin von Adrienne Cooper war. Cooper selbst schreibt in einem Booklet zu einer früheren CD des Quartetts Ashkenazim, sie sei erstaunt, was aus ihrer früheren Schülerin für eine großartige Musikerin geworden ist.
Seinen Anteil am charakteristischen Klang der Musik hat auch Merlin Shepherd, Ehemann von Polina und selbst ein bekanntes Gesicht in der Klezmer-Musik. Er spielte bei Budowitz und ist Mitglied von Sukke und Frank London"s Klezmer Brass Allstars. Vor nicht allzu langer Zeit brachte er mit seiner eigenen Merlin Shepherd Kapelye eine Sammlung von Eigenkompositionen im Klezmer-Stil heraus. Überraschenderweise spielt Merlin beim Polina Shepherd Vocal Experience Ensemble nicht nur Klarinette, Saxophon und bei einem Stück sogar E-Gitarre, nein, er singt auch noch bei beinahe allen Liedern die Baritonstimme. Bemerkenswert gut bekommt er das auch hin. Man konnte ja nicht ahnen, welche Qualitäten als Sänger in dem Mann stecken.

Diese CD verdient Aufmerksamkeit bei Liebhabern des jiddischen Liedes. Hier werden nicht die ewig gleichen Stücke des traditionellen Kanons auf die ewig gleiche Art verbraten, sondern es werden neue Werke kreiert, basierend auf alten, aber starken Texten jiddischer Literatur. Polina Shepherd steht in einer Reihe mit Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Joshua Waletzky und dem Duo David Wall und Marilyn Lerner. Hier entsteht ein neuer Reigen von jiddischen Liedern, der bald zum Kanon des traditionellen jiddischen Liedgutes hinzugefügt werden muß.

Reviewed by Günther Schöller

www.jewishjournal.com

The Polina Shepherd Vocal Experience (featuring Quartet Ashkenazim): "Baym Taykh" (Oriente). I will admit that my Jewish music listening habits are hardly ordinary. I get paid to listen to a lot more new Yiddish music than you. So you can take my word if I tell you that this dazzling new recording is a distinct change of pace from what I usually hear.
The songs are all originals, composed by Polina Shepherd and sung by Shepherd and a quartet that includes her and husband Merlin Shepherd (who also contributes memorably on reeds and guitar), Yana Ovrutskaya and Evgenya Slavina. This is elegant chamber music that dances nimbly from post-modern a cappella to jazz to art song without missing a beat.

A beautiful, frequently moving CD. You can"t dance to it, but you can listen for hours without losing interest.

Reviewer: George Robinson