Description
Song of an Exile is the tenth studio album by the British singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Adrian Snell, released on Myrrh Records in 1989, a division of Word. The album was produced and arranged by Dave Bainbridge and Adrian Snell. After Snell’s ‘life changing’ experience in the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, as witnessed on his previous album Alpha & Omega, it was no surprise that his journey continued with this beautiful and moving exploration of Jewish Poetry. Song of an Exile contains two interpretations of poems written by children who died in Auschwitz, and these form the beginning of a very significant chapter in Snell’s work, as he seeks to give a voice to children who have lost their childhood.
On May 16th 1943, German soldiers struck down the Warsaw ghetto uprising; the largest single revolt by jews during World War II. A photo that captured women and children being rounded up that day became one of the most recognized images from the war. (The original German caption reads: “Forcibly pulled out of dug-outs.”) It was also depicted on the Song of an Exile album cover.
In the wake of ‘Alpha & Omega‘, I came across Jewish poems and writings that impacted me deeply. Eva Pickova’s poem ‘Fear’ became an important catalyst not just for the whole of my next project ‘Song of an Exile’, but also for my exploration of deeper questions regarding both the dramatic history of the Jewish people and the suffering of children. I explored its meaning to us as a society as a whole… and a people of faith in particular. ‘Song of an Exile’, released 30 years ago this year, was an important milestone on that journey. [A note by Adrian Snell published on Facebook, July 2019]
It is hard to know how to express the impact these poems, and the many others I have read and researched for this album, have had on me. From the depth of sorrow of Jeremiah’s lament over Jerusalem to the cry of a child exposed to iniquity beyond her understanding; from the promise of everlasting love and faithfulness which the Father God makes to His children to their response of ultimate dependence on Him – they have all burned their words into my heart, mind and soul.
As you listen to these six poems, interwoven with the poetry of music, I pray they will draw you closer to the mystery and the miracle that is the history of the Jewish people. It is a history of struggle and survival, one with God the Creator, the Eternal standing beside His children at every moment of suffering and exile. It is a history that has seen the death-camps of Europe leave this earth stained with the blood of millions, stained with a wickedness that only the Messiah himself can purge away.
And I pray these poems, a drop in the ocean of these things, will send out ripples of healing, of understanding and reconciliation as history as we know it reaches its climax and as we eagerly await a day “when the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”.
Adrian Snell [Excerpt from a note printed on the back of the LP sleeve]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/songs-of-an-exile/1507090658)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Roads to Zion”
A2. “The Song of an Exile (Shir Golah)” (Menahem Mendel Dolitzki b.1856-d.1931)
A3. “Lament for Jerusalem (How Deserted Is the City)” (Lamentations/Isaiah)
A4. “Jeremiah 31:15” (N.I.V.)
A5. “Terezin” (Hanus Hachenburg b.1929-d.1944, Auschwitz)
Side Two
B1. “Fear” (Eva Pickova, aged 12 b.1929-d.1943, Auschwitz)
B2. “Roads to Zion (Part Two)”
B3. “God’s Beloved” (Anonymous poem from Yemen – 14th? – 17th? Century)
B4. “Isaiah 49:14-18” (N.I.V.)
B5. “If I Were” (Israel Najara b. circa 1555 – d. circa 1625)
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Myrrh Records.
Song Of An Exile, a HTV Documentary programme featuring Adrian Snell and based on Snell’s album by the same title. This programme was first broadcast in June 1995. Produced & directed by Abigail Davies, HTV. Assisted by Production Services, Israel (B.D. Productions). Production Assistant: Moshee Alafee.
CREDITS. Produced and arranged by Dave Bainbridge and Adrian Snell. Recorded and mixed at Square One, Bury, engineered by Steven Boyce-Buckley. Additional recording at Studio Two, Leeds, engineered by Steve Lee and Nick Shillito. Edited by Dave Aston at the Digital Audio Co. Kurzweil 250 courtesy of Keys, Oldham. Special thanks to David Collins for his help in primary research. Design by James Kessell. Photo: “The Warsaw Ghetto” from the book “The Holocaust”, printed by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem (Martyr’s & Heroes’ Remembrance Authority). Executive Producer: David Bruce.
Musicians: Adrian Snell (Bechstein Grand Piano, Keyboards, Vocals), Dave Bainbridge (Keyboards, Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Sequencer and Drum Programming), Paul Allen (Bass), Paul Burgess (Drums), Tim Hines (Percussion), David Fitzgerald (Saxophones, Flutes, Chinese Flutes, Flageolet and Recorder), Debbie Bainbridge (Oboe), Melanie Williams (Backing Vocals and Additional Vocals on “Fear” and “God’s Beloved”), Vivienne Dixon (Backing Vocals), Barrington Stewart (Backing Vocals).
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