96-year-old Holocaust survivor Inge Ginsberg has always been musically inclined.
She co-wrote hit songs such as Dean Martin's "Try Again" after coming to America with her first husband, Otto, and has used lyrics and poetry to express herself and cope with life.
Inge has recently found a new way to use this musical expression: as the front woman for a death metal band.
Inge says of herself:
"I've never been a singer, I've always been a writer."
But when she was 93, her now-bandmates pointed out her poems sounded like lyrics to death metal music.
Ginsberg could shout her lyrics to musical accompaniment instead of singing, and still share her message with the world.
Watch Inge with her band here:
93yo Metal Grandma Holocaust Survivor Spy! "Totenköpfchen" (Laugh at Death) -Swiss Eurovision 2015www.youtube.com
On her way to becoming a member of a death metal band, Ginsberg led a varied and sometimes tragic life. She was born as a member of a wealthy Jewish family in Vienna. Inge's family was torn apart when Germany annexed Austria in 1938, with her father being taken to the Dachau concentration camp.
She fled with her mother and brother to Switzerland in 1942.
In 1944, Ginsberg became the housekeeper for a villa owned by the US Secret Service and began spying on the German soldiers and smuggling weapons for the Resistance in Lugano. Once the war ended, Ginsberg and her first husband Otto moved to America and worked as successful songwriters in Hollywood.
Ginsberg has appeared on the Swiss show Switzerland's Got Talent, where she performed her song "Trümmer" to great delight from the judges.
Heavy Metal-Granny Inge Ginsberg rockt mit der Eigenkomposition Trümmer - #srfdgstwww.youtube.com
In a documentary appearing on The New York Times website, called Death Metal Grandma, you can see more of Inge's life story.Death Metal Grandma:
Filmmaker Leah Galant captures the essence of Ginsberg's life, and reminds people to live their lives to the fullest and seek out new experiences.
Twitter is loving Inge, the very idea of being a death metal singer at her age stunning many.
Even if death metal isn't your cup of tea, it's hard not to be inspired by Inge Ginsberg.
Her astounding life experiences lend her plenty of inspiration for her lyrics, and they touch on subjects that resonate with many people, much as they might not always like to talk about them.
But that is the formula for the best music: expressing those things our hearts feel but cannot find the words to speak.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
