Jacintas Zingers

Jacintas Zingers is a choir with a mainly Yiddish song repertoire, with the occasional addition of themes in Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Greek or French.

Since 2001, it has been directed by the Argentinean singer Jacinta , who is responsible for the selection and harmonization of the songs, the biographical and iconographic research, and the transcription and translation of the texts.

Short history

In 1989, the A.E.D.C.Y. (Association for the Study and Diffusion of Yiddish Culture) established a Yiddish song workshop led by Fanny Amiel. After Fanny’s death, various animators took over, including Jacques Grober from 1997 to 1998.

In 2001, Jacinta became the leader of this amateur vocal group. Her dedication and passion attracted an ever-increasing number of participants (more than 120 singers), so much so that in 2004, she created two other groups with three distinct ways of approaching Yiddish singing:

  • a song workshop,
  • a 2 voice choir,
  • a polyphonic group for which an audition is required as well as attendance.

In 2005, Jacinta moved to the Cercle Bernard Lazare and gave the choir the name Jacinta’s Zingers. In groups of 30 or 40 people, the choir gives numerous concerts in Paris and the Paris region (Hôtel de Ville, Voix sur Berges, Cathédrale Arménienne, Églises Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles et de Maisons Alfort, Journée des chorales[1]The Meeting of Choirs, under the aegis of Yiddish sans Frontière (Yiddish without Borders), is an initiative of Jacinta, …),and participates in several commemorations for the Memory of the Shoah (Day of the Liberation of Auschwitz, Après-midis de la rue Nélaton, Ceremony for the deported children [organized by the Sons and Daughters of the Jewish Deportees of France, an association created by Serge and Beate Klarsfeld]).

For several years, children’s voices have joined those of the choristers: Jacinta’s Zingers has thus opened up to the children or grandchildren of the choristers, giving the choir an intergenerational dimension.

After almost two years of classes by Zoom during Pandemic, the Jacintas Zingers choir was welcomed in October 2021 at the Medem Arbeter Ring Center, 52 rue René Boulanger, Paris 10e.

Yiddl mitn Fidl (Jacintas Zingers)

References
1 The Meeting of Choirs, under the aegis of Yiddish sans Frontière (Yiddish without Borders), is an initiative of Jacinta

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