Carl Nelkin is a man of unusual talents and an undauntable personality. He is also an accomplished singer.
Nelkin is a lawyer by professional training, specializing in the rather rare metier of aviation law. He is a Jewish community activist and public affairs spokesperson in Dublin, Ireland, where he and his family have lived for nearly two centuries. He is also a poised professional singer and, more to the purpose of this article, a cantor as well.
He sings, obviously, to give voice to the stirrings of his soul. I suspect as well that he sings to pay homage to the two cultures in which he is deeply rooted: Jewish and Irish.
That is the only conclusion possible after listening to the CD Nelkin recorded some six years ago, Irish Heart-Jewish Soul.
The album is a unique collection of Jewish and Irish tunes. Half of the album’s 14 songs are familiar Yiddish melodies; the other half are Irish folk tunes, undoubtedly familiar in the Irish world.
The Jewish-Yiddish tunes are sung to stylized Irish-Celtic musical accompaniment. The Irish-Celtic songs are sung with a discernible nod of the singer’s cap to Jewish-Yiddish sensibilities. It is a fortuitous combination. In the main, the music is fun to listen to because the fusion of the two cultures and sounds are a pleasant fit.
Nelkin’s voice is gentle. It does not overpower. Nor does he ever rush or attack the phrasing and lyric of the songs. He sings rather, with a tender deference to the poetic and musical intent of the composer. His cantorial training is noticeable in the palpable humility with which he approaches the sway of the music. This is especially evident in Nelkin’s second CD, The Little Trees Are Weeping – Songs of the Holocaust and Resistance, which was recorded earlier this year.
Nelkin is not aggressive with the lyrics. There is no need to be because the songs themselves are “aggressive” with our sensibilities.
Only a few of the 14 songs of Little Trees will be familiar to the listener. Many of the songs are original works that were written in the ghettos and concentration camps.
Listening to The Little Trees are Weeping evokes an entirely different emotional response than does listening to Irish Heart-Jewish Soul. The latter is an excursion through the hybrid folkways of Jewish immigrants exploring Ireland. The latter is an excursion through a horribly sorrowful history.
That these CDs do evoke emotions, however, is a tribute to the rare stylings of the Jewish-Irish songster-cantor Carl Nelkin.
Nelkin’s CDs are available from his website, www.irishjewishmusic.com.
