The Cockney Yiddish Podcast explores the unknown Yiddish popular culture of London's East End through an array of newly discovered stories and songs from the 1880s to the 1950s. Historians Nadia Valman and Vivi Lachs share their passion for the tunes and words of Jewish Londoners encountering the Cockney culture of music halls, street markets and rhyming slang. They discover a rich landscape of music and interviews from the archives and chat about hidden histories, family stories, lost connections and real and imagined places with special guests and readers including Michael Rosen, Miriam Margolyes, Alan Dein and David Schneider. Join Nadia and Vivi on their journey and hear East London’s long forgotten songs and stories brought to new life by contemporary musicians and actors.
Episodes released every Monday.
Go to our website for more information about the music and texts we discuss.
The Cockney Yiddish Podcast is written and presented by Nadia Valman and Vivi Lachs
Produced by Natalie Steed at Rhubarb Rhubarb for Queen Mary University of London Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Grant reference AH/Z505614/1.
Big thanks to: Adam Corsini at the Jewish Museum London; Tamsin Bookey and Sanjida Alam at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives; Ru Dannreuther, Silke Boettcher, Kaptan Miah and Olivia Warren at Queen Mary University of London; Ashraf Al-Hawrani, the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, London, the Yiddish Sof-Vokh.
Podcast image: © Jeremy Richardson.
Featured music: Klezmer Klub and Katsha’nes.
Translations: Vivi Lachs and Barry Smerin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Cockney Yiddish Podcast explores the unknown Yiddish popular culture of London's East End through an array of newly discovered stories and songs from the 1880s to the 1950s. Historians Nadia Valman and Vivi Lachs share their passion for the tunes and words of Jewish Londoners encountering the Cockney culture of music halls, street markets and rhyming slang. They discover a rich landscape of music and interviews from the archives and chat about hidden histories, family stories, lost connections and real and imagined places with special guests and readers including Michael Rosen, Miriam Margolyes, Alan Dein and David Schneider. Join Nadia and Vivi on their journey and hear East London’s long forgotten songs and stories brought to new life by contemporary musicians and actors.
Episodes released every Monday.
Go to our website for more information about the music and texts we discuss.
The Cockney Yiddish Podcast is written and presented by Nadia Valman and Vivi Lachs
Produced by Natalie Steed at Rhubarb Rhubarb for Queen Mary University of London Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Grant reference AH/Z505614/1.
Big thanks to: Adam Corsini at the Jewish Museum London; Tamsin Bookey and Sanjida Alam at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives; Ru Dannreuther, Silke Boettcher, Kaptan Miah and Olivia Warren at Queen Mary University of London; Ashraf Al-Hawrani, the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, London, the Yiddish Sof-Vokh.
Podcast image: © Jeremy Richardson.
Featured music: Klezmer Klub and Katsha’nes.
Translations: Vivi Lachs and Barry Smerin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The East End of London has always been a place of political protest and activism and this episode focuses on East End Jewish radicalism. From the union protests of the 1880s through to fighting fascism in the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, Nadia and Vivi discuss Yiddish-speaking activists in East End politics with historians Professor Ruth Livesey and Dr Sarah Glynn. Join us in listening to Morris Winchevsky’s attempts to cajole Victorian Jewish workers into action with one of his Meshugener Filozof (Crazy Philosopher) columns, read by Nick Cassenbaum, and Winchevsky’s angry ballad ‘London bay nakht’ (London at Night). Join in singing stirring protest songs with the Great Yiddish Parade and the strike songs of the Rego-Polikoff factory women!
The Cockney Yiddish Podcast is written and presented by Nadia Valman and Vivi Lachs
Produced by Natalie Steed at Rhubarb Rhubarb for Queen Mary University of London
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council
Guests: Professor Ruth Livesey and Dr Sarah Glynn
Reader: Nick Cassenbaum
Featured story: Morris Winchevsky, ‘How Do You Become a Poet’, translated by Vivi Lachs, from East End Jews: Sketches from the London Yiddish Press (Wayne State University Press, 2025).
Featured songs:
Theme music: Klezmer Klub, ‘Vaytshepl mayn vaytshepl’ (trad), and ‘Yiddisher Honga’ (trad). From the CD Whitechapel mayn Vaytshepl (Klub Records, 2009)
Podcast image: © Jeremy Richardson
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.