Adah Hetko (vocals) started writing songs at the age of three and hasn’t been able to stop since. One fateful winter night, she fell in love with Yiddish folk song, and began to dream of someday writing new songs in Yiddish. Adah’s dream has come true: today she is a Yiddish singer/songwriter, dance-leader and educator based in Boston, MA. Several of her compositions are featured on the album
Levyosn’s Lullaby, recorded with her ensemble Levyosn (Ashkenazi Hebrew for “Leviathan”), and released by Borscht Beat in June 2023.
Levyosn’s Lullaby has been described as “one of those special recordings that brings joy and a smile each time it is heard” (Ari Davidow) and “a warm Yiddish blanket [to] calm your frayed nerves” (Rokhl Kafrissen). Adah has developed her knowledge and skills in many ways, including writing an ethnographic study of contemporary Yiddish women singers (while completing an MA in Jewish Studies at Indiana University), studying Yiddish song and dance-leading with veteran artist Judy Bressler, co-leading Yiddish song ensemble The Soloveychicks [nightingales], and teaching Yiddish songs to students of truly all ages.
