Romania, Romania, Romania

It has been more exciting and jam packed and full of intense sleepless, cold footed, warm Palinka-ed experiences than I could have imagined, it would take me a few hours to write it out, so I am just going to mention Sighet.

Sighet was at one time roughly seventy percent Jewish, it was the home of two very important Khassidic Dynasties: The Teitelbaum and the Kahan. Elie Wiesel is from Sighet, he is the pride of the Jewish community. Jews and non-Jews lived with incredibly good relations in Sighet and in the entire region of Maramures. There are maybe a few hundred Jews still remaining in Sighet.
We were graced with an incredibly generous and knowledgeable guide, Johnny, who is finishing his book on the Jews of Maramures. Walking down the street with him, he told us what every building used to be. He even said that in the town, the word "Kheyder", the study house for boys, became a word for noise, as in noisy children. So many of the buildings have a history in the Jewish community, but there are not yet plaques on any of them except for the Synagogue, a Holocaust memorial and the Cemetery.
We were the first people to play Yiddish songs in Sighet for sixty years, according to our hosts. The feeling was pretty incredible. People from the Jewish, Hungarian and Romanian communities came and all were really enthusiastic. The hall was overflowing.
After the concert an older gentleman, who later told me he was 89 years old, said that he had come from 65 km away, from the town of Baia Mare to attend the concert. He spoke to me in a slow, warm Yiddish. He is from Baia Mare, and had survived the war, he said that is when he learned all of the languages he speaks. He sang me a song about cigarettes, which I will research upon my return, and then a Yiddishe Momma, followed by some early Zionist songs. He gave Julie, Sarah and I copies of a book he had made, illustrations of the Jewish life in his town before the war.
The experience of playing there was incredibly inspiring. Julie is thinking about organizing some Klezmer workshops in Romania, possibly in the Summer, even. I would also very much like to be involved in such a thing. I am writing now from Julie's town, Sighisoara, it is incredibly beautiful, Medieval Citadel on top of a hill, Clocktower, the works. We play here tonight in a club, and then the last concert of the tour is in Targu Mures, tomorrow night. We will play in the synagogue there, which I have seen in beautiful photographs.
And then off to Budapest to learn some Hungarian bass...