Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird#Daniel Kahn

File:Daniel Kahn, Luxembourg.jpg

Daniel Kahn was born on September 11, 1978, in Detroit, Michigan. He studied theatre and writing at the University of Michigan.{{cite web|url=https://thejewishnews.com/2020/07/21/yiddish-artist-repurposes-1916-yiddish-song-that-speaks-to-todays-covid19-pandemic/ |title=Yiddish Artist Repurposes 1916 Yiddish Song That Speaks to Today |website=The Detroit Jewish News|date=21 July 2020 |access-date=2023-05-17}} After graduating, Kahn moved to New Orleans where he worked as a bar pianist{{cite news|url=https://taz.de/!520748/ |title=Im alten Berlin wartet ein hübsches Meydl |trans-title=A pretty girl waited in old Berlin |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |date=26 January 2013 |page=49 |access-date=2023-05-17}} and was first introduced to modern Jewish music.{{cite news|url=https://taz.de/Die-Vergangenheit-interessiert-mich-nicht/!5464413/ |title="Die Vergangenheit interessiert mich nicht" |trans-title="The past doesn't interest me" |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |date=12 July 2017 |pages=46–47 |access-date=2023-05-17 |last1=Winkler |first1=Thomas }} The name of the band comes from the title of the novel The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński.{{cite web|url=https://www.zeit.de/2012/33/Salzburg-Klezmer-Daniel-Kahn/komplettansicht |title=Kein Messias in Salzburg |trans-title=No Messiah in Salzburg |website=Zeit Online |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230517175025/https://www.zeit.de/2012/33/Salzburg-Klezmer-Daniel-Kahn/komplettansicht |archive-date=17 May 2023 |date=9 August 2012 |access-date=2023-05-17}}

Daniel Kahn coined the word "{{lang|de|Verfremdungsklezmer}}", meaning "alienation klezmer", to describe their music, in reference to Bertolt Brecht's theory of {{lang|de|Verfremdungseffekt}}.{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/culture/105937/partisan-or-parasite |title=Partisan or Parasite? |website=The Forward |date=13 May 2009 |access-date=2021-05-05}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/de/klezmer-punk-auf-brechts-spuren/a-15647493 |title=Klezmer-Punk auf Brechts Spuren |trans-title=Klezmer-Punk in Brecht’s Footsteps |website=Deutsche Welle |date=1 May 2012 |access-date=2023-05-17}} The group describes their music as "a mixture of Klezmer, radical Yiddish song, political cabaret and folk punk",{{cite web|url=https://www.paintedbird.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=54&lang=en |title=Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird - Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird |website=www.paintedbird.de |access-date=2019-05-05}} and it has been compared to the music of Tom Waits and Woody Guthrie.

Many of the songs are written by Kahn, but some are adaptations of poems and songs by Jewish authors such as Mordechaj Gebirtig, frequently with socio-political themes.{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/schmooze/138376/monday-music-daniel-kahn-and-the-relevance-of-yid/ |title=Monday Music: Daniel Kahn and the Relevance of Yiddish Protest Songs |website=The Forward |date=June 6, 2011 |access-date=2023-05-17}} The Painted Bird have had songs about varied political topics, such as Nakam, a group of Holocaust survivors led by Abba Kovner who conspired to kill six million Germans in revenge for the Holocaust, and the government response to Hurricane Katrina, set to the tune of {{lang|yi-latn|Dos Lid fun Titanik}}, a 1912 Yiddish song originally about the sinking of the Titanic. Kahn also sings songs by Franz Josef Degenhardt, David Edelstadt, and Mark Warshawsky. In 2016 he translated Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" into Yiddish, which garnered some attention on YouTube.{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/forverts-in-english/415861/why-secular-jews-must-study-jewish-yiddish-heritage/ |title=Don't just say you're a secular Jew. To honor our heritage, study it. |website=The Forward |date=July 8, 2022 |access-date=2023-05-17}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/13/daniel-kahn-and-painted-bird-comes-to-palo-alto-with-jewish-punk-songs-for-the-apocalypse/ |title= Daniel Kahn and Painted Bird comes to Palo Alto with Jewish punk songs for the apocalypse |website=Mercury News |date=November 13, 2018 |access-date=2023-05-17}}

He sings in English, German, Russian and Yiddish, often mixing several languages in one song. Translating lyrics has been an interest and source of inspiration.{{cite web|title= Russia's klezmer revival |url=https://www.jta.org/2008/04/09/culture/russias-klezmer-revival |website=www.jta.org |date=9 April 2008 |publisher=JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY |access-date=2021-05-05}}

Daniel Kahn has stated that he is very politically engaged, including having concerns over women's rights, rights of refugees, rights of migrants, prisoners' rights, islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, authoritarianism, police brutality.{{Cite web |date=2019-05-29 |title=A Conversation with Klezmer-Yiddish-Punk Rocker Daniel Kahn |url=https://www.thecedar.org/news-articles/2019/5/28/a-conversation-with-klezmer-punk-rocker-daniel-kahn |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=The Cedar Cultural Center |language=en-US}} He sees these issues as global, having lived in many different countries.

He is a fan of the author Rebecca Solnit.

His work has dealt the issue of memory around both the Nazi Regime, and of the DDR (especially Ostalgie and the Berlin Wall{{Citation |title=Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird - Good old bad old days |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XRZAWk8Jc |access-date=2023-06-21 |language=en}}) in Germany. He believes the country's culture of remembrance is a positive thing (compared to a lack of such a culture in the USA, where "the atrocities of American history that are swept under the rug on a national scale"). He has stated that he would like "all the separation walls in the world" to become "lines of brick in the pavement... like the Berlin Wall".

He has been involved in events celebrating Bundist organisations, playing music for the anniversary of the Jewish Labour Bund in Melbourne,{{Citation |title=In Zaltsikn Yam - Bund 120 Yoyvl 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZwbpgiu-zU |access-date=2023-06-21 |language=en}}{{Citation |title='In Zaltsikn Yam' - Daniel Kahn // 123rd Bund Yoyvl |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqCmQOrljJc |access-date=2023-06-21 |language=en}}{{Citation |title='Arbeter Froyen' - Daniel Kahn // 123rd Bund Yoyvl |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ4LIBVR6Qc |access-date=2023-06-21 |language=en}} and for Bundists in Tel Aviv.

Kahn has said that he opposes the governments of Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, Theresa May, and Benjamin Netanyahu, although he considers them "symptoms of the problem" rather than just problems in of themselves.

He is a supporter of the revitalisation of the Yiddish language.{{Cite web |last=Marmer |first=Jake |date=20 January 2022 |title=The Yiddish Bard of the 21st Century |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/yiddish-bard-daniel-kahn |access-date=21 June 2023 |website=Tablet}}

• River Mouth (Earthwork Music, 2003)
• Pegboard Blues (Earthwork Music, 2004)
• Uprooted Oak (Earthwork Music, 2005)
• The Broken Tongue (Chasma Records, 2006;{{Cite web |url=http://www.chamsarecords.com/cd.php?id=10 |title=Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird: The Broken Tongue |publisher=Chamsa Records |access-date=2012-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912051333/http://www.chamsarecords.com/cd.php?id=10 |archive-date=2011-09-12 |url-status=dead }} re-released Oriente Musik, 2009)
• The Unternationale: The First Unternational (Auris Media, 2008){{Cite web |title=The Unternationale: The First Unternational, by Daniel Kahn, Psoy Korolenko, Oy Division |url=https://aurismedia.bandcamp.com/album/the-unternationale-the-first-unternational |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=Auris Media Records |language=en}}
• Partisans & Parasites (Oriente Musik, 2009)
• Lost Causes (Oriente Musik, 2010)
• Bad Old Songs (Oriente Musik, 2012)
• The Butcher's Share (Oriente Musik, 2017)
• Bulat Blues (Oriente Musik, 2019)
• The Unternationale: The Third Unternational (Oriente Musik, 2020)
• The Unternationale: The Fourth Unternational (Oriente Musik, 2020)
• Word Beggar (Oriente Musik, 2021)
• The Building and Other Songs (Oriente Musik, 2023)

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.paintedbird.de/index.php}}
• [http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/oral-history/daniel-kahn Video: Interview with Daniel Kahn]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel Kahn and The Painted Bird}}

Category:Klezmer groups

Category:2005 establishments in the United States

Category:Musical groups established in 2005

Category:Musical groups from Berlin

Category:English-language musical groups from Germany

Category:Yiddish-language singers of Germany

Category:Folk punk groups

Category:Post-Zionists