Arkady Gendler

Arkady Gendler (1921–2017, , ) was a Ukrainian Yiddish-language singer, composer, and folk song collector. Born in Romania, he lived most of his life in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and only became known internationally as a Yiddish singer after Perestroika. In the early 21st century he was considered a living link to the prewar Romanian and Soviet Yiddish musical worlds.

Biography Early life Arkady Gendler was born on 29 November 1921 in Soroca, Romania (now in Moldova). He came from a poor Jewish family; he was the tenth child of parents Rokhl and Elkhonen; much of their extended family were tailors. As well, he brought his decades of work in Yiddish song to the public. He helped found KlezFest in Saint Petersburg starting in 1997; this brought him, his singing ability and his impressive repertoire of folk songs to a wider audience. He cofounded a music ensemble in Zaporizhzhia, and was soon invited to perform at festivals in Western Europe and the United States; notably, Ellie Shapiro, producer of the Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, California, saw him perform in Saint Petersburg and invited him to the US, his first appearance there in 2000. It was at this time that Gendler, noticing how often the same Yiddish songs were performed at festivals, began to compose his own and to perform them. Accompanied by accordionist and singer Jeannette Lewicki, Gendler sang folk songs and pieces by Itzik Manger and Zelik Barditshever, including a previously forgotten song by Manger, as well as some of Gendler's own compositions. Other notable international appearances were at Yiddish Summer Weimar in 2006 and 2009, on a Klezmer Cruise on the Dnieper in 2007, at KlezKanada in 2007 and at the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków in 2010.

In the early 2010s, the German Klezmer clarinetist Christian Dawid decided to embark on a project to record Gendler's 11 original songs with new arrangements. Dawid and his collaborators decided that the style of the accompaniment should not be a specifically Jewish or Klezmer one, but rather resembling the cosmopolitan popular music Gendler grew up with, which were reflected in his compositions. Dawid's arrangements were recorded with the singer and a small ensemble in Vienna in late 2011. A book of the songs and arrangements was also published by Golden Horn Records.

Gendler died in Zaporizhzhia on 22 May 2017 at 95 years old.

Recordings /My Hometown Soroke (Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 2001) /It's so good to be happy! Arkady Gendler sings Zelik Bardichever's songs (DVD, Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg, 2009) (Golden Horn Records, 2013)