“56 Sparks Street”
Thanks to her heart-felt TV and radio PSAs in the 1950s through to the 1970s, Lotta single-handedly made 56 Sparks Street in Ottawa the most famous address in Canada.
Words and music: David Rain. Sung by Quartetto al Volo.
“Lotta’s song” (Charity begins at home)
Words: Lotta Hitschmanova. Music: David Rain. Singer: Salima Rain.
“Lotta’s song” attempts to channel:
- the unsettled feeling and terrible pain that Lotta carried with her throughout her life (she lost both her parents in the Holocaust);
- the feeling of being uprooted and having no home;
- and yet discovering and creating for herself a new, second home here in Canada;
- and indeed a third home, around the world, through her work helping the disadvantaged in the four corners of the globe.
“When I first came to this land, I was so exhausted. I had a feeling of absolute solitude in an entirely strange country…”