“I had this strong feeling of pride and identity as a Jew even from being very little. But…you couldn’t go to synagogue. You couldn’t do stuff like that. But we did have little relics of religion passed down here and there, like my grandmother, my mom’s mom, would always make sure that we knew when Passover was and she would somehow get, through a connection of a connection, we would have matza. And so she would make chicken soup with matza balls, but then we would have bread alongside that because we didn’t know that you’re not supposed to eat bread.”

—Regina Spektor on Jewish Identity and Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union

World War two was fought on its soil. There was the blockade. Every single person was touched by the war in some way. Everybody had a lot of people in their family that fought that died. It’s very different having war on your soil rather than sending troops to some remote place where the people don’t really feel it. There are people walking around with an arm missing a leg missing. It was just real visible wounds and stories of survival, stories of heroism, stories of destruction – that all the kids grew up with it all the time.

— Regina Spektor, On Growing Up in Russia, Feeling Like WWII Just Happened

Some Music For Your Tuesday: NPR Music is streaming Regina Spektor’s new album ‘What We Saw From The Cheap Seats’ in its entirety. Enjoy!

(via First Listen: Regina Spektor, ‘What We Saw From The Cheap Seats’ : NPR)