The Peacock and the Sunflower is the third collaborative project between klezmer veterans Veretski Pass and Joel Rubin, a deep exploration of the centuries of musical interactions between Jews and Ukrainians. The peacock and the sunflower are important symbols of ethnic and national importance to East European Jews and Ukrainians, respectively. In Yiddish songs and literary works, the mythical golden peacock (goldene pave) symbolized the wistfulness of youthful days gone by and the eternal optimism, triumphant spirit of the Jews, and perhaps most importantly, a symbol of Yiddish folk culture itself – alive wherever Yiddish is spoken. In Ukraine, the sunflower is the national flower, representing the warmth and power of the sun.