Join three masters of Yiddish music as we explore what makes Yiddish art really hit home – how to use essential gestures and ornaments, phrasing and intention to really make a piece move and give it a Yiddishe ‘Tam’ (flavor). In addition as we mark just over a year of war in Ukraine, we’ll be focusing on repertoire from Ukraine in all the workshops.
If you can, join us for the full day and do some dancing, singing and playing as this is by far the best way to really get to know this beautiful culture and understand how it all fits together. The faculty will work hard to make all the workshops meaningful for people of various levels of experience. Whether you’ve never tried it before or have been playing klezmer and singing Yiddish songs for 40 years, with this faculty you’re sure to have plenty to take away from the workshops. And how often do you have Michael Freakin Alpert teaching at your local shul!
The intstrumental workshop will focus on tunes from Moishe Beregovski’s seminal collection of tunes for dancing and listening, as well as some other classic share Jewish Ukrainian repertoire. There’s some wonderful more ‘folky’ repertoire from Ukraine that’s very easy and fun, as well as some weird stuff and the simple but deep tunes that come from the confluence of Ukrainian trad music, Hasidic Nigunim and Klezmer musicians.
Singers will learn some beautiful and heartbreaking tunes as well as maybe a fun silly one from the rich Jewish Ukrainian song tradition. A nign, a folk song, a theater song about that beautiful city on the sea, Odesa, a song from our underground hero, Arkady Gendler and maybe a proper Ukrainian song about love – with celebrated Latvian chanteuse and National Heritage Fellow and treasure of the global Yiddish scene, Michael Alpert, this will definitely be special.
And finally in our dance workshop, we’ll get our bodies moving, learning typical Yiddish and Yiddsh-Ukrainian dances (wear comfortable clothing!) and enjoy dancing to our killer faculty band. We’ll focus on getting the gestures and expressivity in the upper body that make Yiddish dance what it is, as well as some ideas for how to do solo or couples dancing with a Yiddishe Tam when you don’t necessarily wanna dance in a big circle.
This will surely be a very special day so sign up now while there’s still space and come spend a day immersed in Yiddish Ukrainian culture, standing in solidarity with our global family who take a risk every time they leave their homes.
We will also have Cd’s and some Ukrainian crafts available to purchase as we collect donations for UKraine. And don’t miss the concert Saturday night at 7pm!
Tickets at Eventbrite
