Family Ties

The Open University

Jenny Adams-Barbaro is a professional singer. Fostered from a young age, she knew her mother, but only discovered who her father was as an adult. He was Grisha Farfel, a Russian trumpet player with the Billy Cotton Band Show. The Billy Cotton Band folded, Grisha Farfel emigrated to the USA. But by the time Jenny contacted the American Musicians Union she was too late - her father had died just six months earlier.

Jenny decided to find out more. She bought a computer and got online. Putting "Grisha Farfel" into a search engine led her to a genealogy site where she typed in her father's details. Jenny received an e-mail from a woman in the US saying she knew somebody who was looking for a violinist by the same name. It was Aleksey Farfel, Grisha's younger brother. He hadn't seen Grisha since he was ten. Aleksey left the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and emigrated to the USA. He then tried to locate his long lost brother with his daughter, Natasha.

Jenny also has a half-sister. We caught up with Jenny to find out from her how she felt that the Internet and technology had helped in her search and changed her life.

Now, read our interviewwith Jenny.