Isa Kremer
Encyclopedia
Isa Kremer: The People's Diva, is a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 produced in 2000 and directed by Nina Baker Feinberg and Ted Schillinger. It focuses on Isa Kremer, an international singing sensation.

Summary

Isa performed modern renditions of traditional Jewish folk songs for audiences around the world, refusing to conceal her Jewish culture even during the Holocaust. The film explores the life of a woman who brought Jewish music to international audiences. Isa Kremer reconstructs the singer's life through archival footage of her performances, family interviews, and the critic’s responses to her shows. She had a beautiful, well-trained voice but, it was her alluring presence that enthralled audiences.
As a young girl, Isa was marked by a fierce talent, independent mind and firm determination. At age fifteen, her poems were being published in the liberal “Odessa News.” Isa enjoyed early career success an as a classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer. However, it was Jewish poet Chaim Bialik upon seeing her perform suggested that she sing Jewish folk songs instead. Isa took the advice to heart and immediately rethought her performances. She began to sing in Yiddish and adapted Jewish folk songs for the stage. Trained in opera, Ida combined singing and acting in a novel way, embodying the characters she sang about, and made simple folk songs part of a grand tradition. With her unique show and dazzling stage presence, Isa toured internationally. This allowed her to befriend the social elite and intelligentsia (including Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

), collect stunning jewelry and receiving lavish praise. One critic described her as “a radiant incarnation of artist’s witchery.”
Despite her success, Isa’s life was never easy. She saw some of the twentieth century’s most violent political failures. War and revolution seemed to follow her wherever she went. Isa was born in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, and when the Revolution broke out, it separated her family. She moved away from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 before the Holocaust, but watched it destroy the lives of her family and the shtetl lifestyle in which she was raised. Then, in the last chapters of her life, she witnessed brutal political unrest in her adopted home country of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

.
Isa Kremer participates in a debate that’s still relevant today — the working woman. In order to travel and perform as freely as she did, Isa had to make sacrifices. Relationships and her family were secondary to her demanding career. Isa’s daughter gives a sad smile while explaining that she was raised by a wet nurse
Wet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who is used to breast feed and care for another's child. Wet nurses are used when the mother is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cultures the families are linked by a special relationship of...

and knew her mother only by the splendid parties that were thrown when she came home from touring.
The documentary also recognizes the struggle between cultural and personal identity. Isa was not religious and never wanted to be a Jewish singer; she wanted to be a great singer. But she expected that her Yiddish songs would appeal to everyone, not just Jews. “It must be an art for the great mass of people,” she explained, believing Jewish folk songs were so rich in meaning and beauty they could touch all of humanity.
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