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Moishe Oysher was born in 1907 in Lipkany, Bessarabia. He is considered one of the most entertaining Chazanim (cantors) ever recorded. It is said that there were Chazanim in his family going back for six generations.
In 1921 he traveled to Canada with his family and joined a traveling Yiddish theatrical company. In 1932 he started his own company and traveled to South America. After returning from South America to the U.S., he took a job as a Chazan in the High Holidays at a Rumanian Synagogue in New York.
Some say that Oysher's voice was like the "roaring of the Lion". He liked the Jazz style, popular at that time, and he used similar rhythmic melodies in his prayers, respecting always the traditional Bessarabian "Doinas" and "Nussach" moods of the prayers.
He starred in 3 Yiddish films and also made many recordings.
He died in 1958.
Filmography
- The Cantor's Son (Dem Khazn's Zindl) 1937, USA, B&W, 90 min, Yiddish with English subtitles. ISBN 1-56082-079-9
Directed by Ilya Motyleff and Sidney Goldin. Other actors: Judith Abarbanel and Florence Weiss.
Based on Moishe Oysher's life. A very poor young immigrant lands a job as a custodian, where he is "discovered" and becames famous immediately. However, his success seems meaningless as he yearns for home.
- The Singing Blacksmith (Yankl der Shmid) 1938, USA, B&W, 95 min, Yiddish with English subtitles. ISBN 1-56082-085-3
Directed by Edga G. Ulmer. Also with Miriam Riselle and Florence Weiss.
This is a classic story of a blacksmith that is a womanizer and almost an alcoholic. One day, he meets a beautiful lady called Tamare and his life changes.
- Overture to Glory (Der Vilner Shtot Khazn) 1940, USA, B&W, 85 min, Yiddish with English subtitles. ISBN 1-56082-063-2
Directed by Max Nosseck. Starring Helen Beverly and Florence Weiss.
Oysher is the "Vilner Balabesl", a cantor who leaves his job as the Vilna Cantor to seek fame and fortune as an opera star in Warsaw, to finally find out that he misses his old life, his old town, his wife and child, and cannot live without them.
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