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Thursday, February 3, 2022 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Lebedik (Alive and Lovely): Shlepping Goles (Exile), Yiddish Songs of Migration
Jewish history has always involved migration - ours was never a culture that only existed in one place. From biblical times to the migrations from the Rhineland to Eastern Europe, the waves of immigration to America in the late 19th century to the present day, people moved around, always dreaming of another part of the world. Living in diaspora (goles), Jews dreamt of the promised land in Israel and the golden land of the American dream. They carried this weight-shlepping goles, throughout their travels and the longing and feeling of displacement are retold in the songs.
This new program by Berlin-based international Yiddish culture-bearers Sasha Lurje and Craig Judelman rekindles the songs and stories of our migrations, looking to our heritage to contextualize the challenges so many immigrants and refugees face in our world today. We too were once 'strangers in a strange land', and songs more than anything have been a soothing balm for troubled hearts, a way to send stories across borders, and through the sharing of melodies, modes and themes, the songs themselves are also often travelers, changing shape as they travel.
Retracing the steps of our ancestors through the songs that sustained them, this program makes sure that this tradition remains 'Lebedik' - alive and lively!
Berlin is the perfect point to contemplate these journeys - a meeting place for American Jews and young Israelis, 2nd generation Turkish Germans and recent Syrian refugees, post-Soviet Jews and reform Yekes, 'enlightened' German Jews, and young idealistic Germans
of every variety. Along with a concert, the evening will feature some discussion about the current scene in Germany, the growing Jewish community, and much more
| Berlin-based Sasha Lurje was born in Riga, Latvia, and when a friend invited her to join a youth theater focusing on Yiddish work, she didn’t realize how her life path had suddenly shifted. Receiving early mentorship by many of the giants of the Yiddish music revival at several workshops in Russia as well as Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany propelled her to the forefront of the contemporary Yiddish scene. It wasn’t long before she was joining her heroes on stage, and teaching hundreds of singers herself, making it her life’s work to spread Yiddish culture. Besides appearing at pretty much all the major festivals and workshops for this music, her Yiddish progressive rock band Forshpil has made it clear to the next generation that this music isn’t just a delicate relic that belongs in a museum, but is rather a living cultural treasure trove ready to adapt and evolve as far as we will let it. |
| Craig Judelman grew up in Seattle and since the age of four, he was never more comfortable than when he had a fiddle in his hand. He started with classical music but quickly realized he had much more to say than one genre could allow, studying Klezmer, Jazz, American and other folk music wherever he could. His passion for finding the sounds he hears in old recordings and adapting the violin to whatever context the moment demands has led him around the world, teaching and performing klezmer and old time American folk music on both sides of the Atlantic. He has performed with such legends as John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers), Peter Stampfel (the Fugs), Steve Earle, Patty Smith, Lorin Sklamberg (The Klezmatics), Michael Alpert (Kapelye), and Alan Bern (Brave Old World). Craig currently lives in Berlin, and since the pandemic began has adapted his mission of researching promoting and teaching traditional music into the online universe, teaching lessons on zoom, and especially organizing panel discussions and a facebook page (Beregovski Online Forum) devoted to the work of the pioneering Ukrainian-Soviet ethnomusicologist Mosei Beregovski. |
Via Zoom. (Link will be sent when purchase is complete)