Song picture
Ghosts of Schedrin
Comment Share
Free download
Schedrin was a town, a Jewish Shtetl in ByeloRussia. This song is a snapshot of a muddy mainstreet in Schedrin on a winter’s day as people shop at the market, and then they disappear. It is played on the 30-string Lyre.
piano spiritual sacred relaxing jewish peaceful meditation yoga alangoldbergmusic
Artist picture
Alan Goldberg Music - Including Lyre and piano based Kabbalah music to relax the soul and prepare for Shabbat, meditation, and introspection.
The challenge of creating instrumental music that communicates a deep spiritual connection led Alan naturally to the Jewish musical tradition of the niggun the wordless tune. Instead of the traditional wordless singing of melodies, he employs the lyre, an instrument deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition and associated with holiness and spirituality from antiquity, as well as piano. “Bringing the sound of the lyre back into the consciousness of people in order to create spiritual movement is one of the driving forces behind my music,” Alan says. While the wellspring of the music is from a Jewish perspective, the sense of yearning in the music is accessible to ”seekers” of all faiths. A piano and keyboard player for many years, including a stint in Austin Pop-Rock band “The Damage Project”, Alan released his solo piano CD “Small Acts” in 2001 as music to prepare the mind and soul for the Sabbath. Music that helps to relax people and get them in touch with their spiritual side is important, especially in these tense times. "It’s not uncommon for my music to be used in ways that allow it to find it’s way into a person’s consciousness when their guard is down,“ Alan explains. “That’s the most effective time to do soul work.” So it’s not surprising that Alan’s music has been used by therapy, massage, and healing groups to help in relaxation and meditation exercises, made its way into soundtracks for student films, in radio advertisements, and onto Jewish-oriented radio stations. "A song from my first album "Fuel For the Fire" ended up as background music for some TV college basketball highlights." Alan muses. "Now that's a novel approach to spirituality." "Ultimately it's about a connection to the divine", Alan says. "Many people define their day, and their lives, by the things that distract them from what really makes them happy. If a little bit of music can help to center someone, to remind them of what their true source of meaning is, and I can contribute to that, then I've done what I'm supposed to do."
Song Info
Genre
World New Age
Charts
Peak #115
Peak in subgenre #22
Author
Alan Goldberg
Rights
2004
Uploaded
January 20, 2004
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.4 MB 128 kbps 0:00
Story behind the song
My Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Zalmen Epstein settled in Schedrin, ByeloRussia. At it’s peak 4,000 Jewish souls called Schedrin home, including several generations of my ancestors. This song is a snapshot of a muddy mainstreet in Schedrin on a winter’s day as people shop at the market, and then they disappear. Around 1841, some 9700 acres in Byelorussia, southeast of Bobruisk were purchased as an estate in the name of Lubavitcher Rebbe Mendel Shneerson from Prince Schtzedrinov, in Minsk. 300 Jewish families were invited to settle in the new colony of Schedrin. 325 acres on the edge of town were given by the Rebbe to Chaim Golodetz, one of his Hasidim, who established an ‘estate’ for his family and ran a large and prosperous lumber company, employing many of the residents of Schedrin. The residents were granted special government privileges, among them a long term loan of 200 rubles, by the Provincial treasury, to be repaid with farm produce. The settlers prospered and were soon able to devote several periods of the year to Torah study. The establishment of the Schedrin colony impressed Russian Jewry and Government officials alike. The Governors of Minsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev provinces wrote laudatory letters to the Ministry of the Interior in regard to the officially sanctioned colony In 1897, there were 4,022 Jews in Schedrin (95% of the total population of the town). It was a true Jewish “shtetl”. In 1910, my grandfather's family came to America from Schedrin on the Lusitania from London to Ellis Island, and settled in Sioux City, Iowa. He was eight years old. His family left as many other Schedriners were also leaving, just before the Russian revolution, and before the Nazis came. One afternoon in 1941, the Germans came to Schedrin and told everyone to remain inside. The next morning they assembled them in the street and marched them to the edge of town. The people were told to dig a ditch, line up on the edge, and hold hands. They were machine gunned, falling into, and pushed into, the ditch which was then covered over with dirt. Records indicate that in 1941, there were 380 Jewish families (about 1,400 inhabitants) in Schedrin - all of whom were killed by the German killing squad, the Einzatsgrupen, on that fateful day. From 1841 to 1941 there existed in Byelorussia, the town of Schedrin. For 100 years it remained a Jewish community only to perish at the hands of Nazi exterminators.
Song Likes
On Playlists
Comments
Please sign up or log in to post a comment.