Saba Project, Vol. 2 Nitzan Birnbaum

• 1 Chapter 8: My Ancient Motherland 03:04
• 2 Chapter 9: The Exodus 04:01
• 3 Chapter 10: Exodus Pt. 2 - The Fight 06:05
• 4 Chapter 11: Exodus Pt. 3 - Back to Europe 06:05
• 5 Chapter 12: One God 01:28
• 6 Chapter 13: Israel 06:25
• 7 Chapter 14: Ervin Birnbaum 04:17
• Total Runtime 31:25

Info for Saba Project, Vol. 2

Nitzan, an Israeli musician, graduate of the Thelma Yellin School of Arts, and a third generation holocaust survivor. Nitzan grew up on the inspiring stories of his Saba (grandfather), Rabbi Professor Ervin Birnbaum, an educator, author, social activist and an eternal optimist and dreamer.

Two years ago Nitzan embarked upon a mission to capture his Saba’s story. He dedicated hundreds of hours interviewing and recording him, while in parallel, composing music to accompany his Grandfather's story. The result is a moving experience where a dramatic life testimonial is empowered and complemented by an original and powerful musical dimension.

The project ranges in time from Ervin’s youth under the Nazi regime, his struggle with God, his journey to Palestine on the famous refugee ship “Exodus 1947”, his rabbinate education in NY and, finally, fulfilling his dream to settle his family in Israel.

In Nitzan’s words: “ during the last two years I had the great privilege to produce my grandfathers life story, a Holocaust survival and a real hero. We spent precious time together and as I heard his stories unfiltered, it has been a real honor to invite him in to my world of music.

Saba’s heroic story of survival has shaped who I am today and I’m thrilled to share this journey with the message that life is a gift and that challenges can often be opportunities and stepping stones.

This project is dedicated to Saba with endless love

Every SABA has a story: I’d like to inspire young people all over the world to capture the stories of their grandparents and bring them to life with a musical dimension. The team at SabaProject will edit your recording and add a musical layer to create a unique soundtrack that you will have to pass from generation to generation. Its easy.

Now is the time!

Now, more than ever, as the wise generation is isolated due to the corona threat, this is a wonderful opportunity to pick up the phone and record your grandparent telling their story.

”The stories I recorded are the ones I‘ve been hearing all my life. They were the bedtime stories that passed down from my grandfather to my father and they largely shaped who I am today and who I want to be. It has been a great privilege to deepen into the survival stories of my grandfather and to tell them through my personal interpretation, through my music. The journey awarded me the treasure of quality time with my Saba. The recordings, photo sessions, joint trips were memorable moments with my Saba and were also an important milestone in his own journey of life. It has been a great privilege for me. You can do it too but we‘re gonna make it real easy for you!“ (Nitzan)

Shai Maestro, piano
Chris Tordini, bass
Nitzan Birnbaum, drums

Nitzan Birnbaum
a 21 year-old Israeli drummer, composer and singer-songwriter, began his relationship with music at the age of 6. A graduate of the Jazz Department at Thelma Yellin high school of Arts.

At age 17, he received a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music summer program, “The Workshop” in Boston and also won a full scholarship there for his bachelor's degree which he chose to give up for the IDF service. Nitzan served as an "outstanding musician" and preformed hundreds of times before military and civilian audiences.

At the age of 19 (while still a soldier), Nitzan received a "Merit Excellent” Scholarship from the AICF: America-Israel-Cultural-Foundation. In addition, he won first place in the Rimon School of Music competition – “Jazz Player of the Year", where he studied in the "Jazz Institute" honors course under the direction of Ronen Shmueli.

These days, as a citizen, he once again won a full scholarship to complete his undergraduate studies at Berklee which he plans to attend starting Fall 2020. Nitzan currently plays on Israeli and international stages in various projects. He is a regular member of Anat Fort's Israeli trio and Abata Barihun's “Addis Ken” project celebrating Ethiopian music.

Despite Nitzan's young age, he was able to collaborate with many international and Israeli artists including Eli Degibri, Shai Maestro, Daniel Zamir, Matan Chapnitzky, Gilad Dobrecki, Matan Klein, Mordy Ferber, Yemen Blues, Amos Hoffman and more. In the field of Israeli pop music, Nitzan has performed with Aric Sinai, Alon Eder, Corin Alal, Efrat Gosh, Dan Toren, Daniel Solomon, Hemi Rudner, Rami Kleinstein, Yishai Ribo and with his mother-musician Israeli soul singer Bat Ella. Nitzan is currently publishing his first album SabaProject and in the coming months he will release a solo album as a singer-songwriter.

This album contains no booklet.