Artist : Geoff Berner Album : Grand Hotel Cosmopolis Year : 2019 Genre : Ethnic Source : CD Label : Coax Records Catalog : OAX054 Rls.Date : 2019-11-22 Bitrate : VBRkbps Size : 74.59MB ----- 1. Not The Jew I Had In Mind 2:48 2. What Kind of Bear Am I? 5:16 3. Ven Kimsti? 4:12 4. Would You Hide Me? 3:35 5. Vilne 4:14 6. Grand Hotel Cosmopolis 3:18 7. The Drummer Requests 3:30 8. Oh You Survivalists 3:29 9. Why Don't We Just Take the Billionaires' Money Away? 4:27 10. Zog Nit Keyn Mol 3:34 ----- 38:23 ----- Since Whiskey Rabbi was released in 2005, Berner has been making klezmer music fused with the energy and rudeness of punk. The Globe and Mail called him ôthe avenging angel of klezmer,ö and with songs like ôDalloy Polizei (Fuck the Police)ö, BernerÆs work is overtly political and controversial. The new album and its title song are inspired by the Grandhotel Cosmopolis, located in Augsburg, Germany. The æHotelÆ was started ten years ago, when a group of activists took over an abandoned high school. Their vision was to turn it into an artsy, inexpensive hostel for travellers of all kinds, as well as safe and free housing for refugees and asylum seekers. Half of the space in the Hotel is taken up by families of displaced people from Syria, Somalia, Myanmar, and many other places. These people stay for free or on a pay-what-you-can basis. They earn money and their first German work experience by helping run the hotel. The word ôcosmopolitanö is a slur that anti-Semites have historically thrown at Jews. Stalin and his henchmen preferred the term ôrootless cosmopolitanö for Jews during the Soviet pogroms. The basic idea was that Jews, being town people û as Jews were historically forbidden to own land û were disconnected from the soil, and therefore decadent and corrupt. For Berner, the idea of a party at the Grand Hotel Cosmopolis, an oasis of welcome and relative safety for people on the run û in Germany of all places û is a perfect way to talk about Jewish solidarity with oppressed migrants, and about how good things are still possible. ThatÆs the goal of Grand Hotel Cosmopolis û to use the Jewish leftist cultural tradition to inspire people to defend the human values of decency and the right of every human being to a life of safety and freedom, while having a fun time doing it. YouÆre welcome to come stay awhile.