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Edelweis 1:000:00/1:00
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Tumba 0:190:00/0:19
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A Mighty Day 2:210:00/2:21
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Kretchma 3:350:00/3:35
Theo, The Singer of His People
What he loved most of all....
From the first time Theo picked up a guitar (summer of 1940), hanging from a nail on the wall of his room on his Kibbutz, left behind by a long gone volunteer, he never put it down. Folk songs, Yiddish songs, Jewish songs, socialist songs, Russian gypsy songs - Theo sang from when he was a young boy, eventually singing in 23 languages. His pal Princess Margaret (from his London theatre days) invited him to give a private concert to the Queen and Queen Mother at Buckingham Palace; when Rogers and Hammerstein heard him sing and play backstage at the rehearsals for the Sound Of Music, they immediately composed Edelweiss for him to sing in the play; and when Jac Holzman heard him playing at a party in the village in 1955, and signed him on to his then fledgling record label Elektra, history was made (read Jac's words about Theo HERE). Theo went on to record 38 albums, 20 of them for Elektra, many of them best sellers. As a concert artist he was immensely sought after, crisscrossing the country continuously singing his songs of peace and freedom to delighted audiences everywhere, from the country's major venues like Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall (where the young Judy Collins opened for him) to clubs, synagogues, and colleges. "I sing the songs of all people, in many languages, and I love them all", he would say, "but Jewish and Yiddish songs, well, they are my special specialty. They are my own flowers in a vast beautiful garden of music and culture. I don't sing these songs because they are better than any other songs of any other people, but because they are mine; and if I don't sing them, who will? If I don't tend to my part of the garden, these flowers will wither, and die". Theo was the cofounder of the Newpoert folk festival, with Pete Seeger, and played an enormous part in the folk music movement of the 60's and 70's. His Russian gypsy songs were enormously popular; and his role in bringing Hebrew and Yiddish songs to the public invaluable. Theo was the last to go home from any party, singing and playing on his guitar until the wee hours - to everyone's delight. Rabbi Ed Feinstein has said that when he imagines God singing, he imagines God singing in the voice of Theodore Bikel.