Synopsis

A jouney to the heart of Yiddish music revival. As seen through the passion of young european artists such as Karsten Troyke, Shura Lipovsky and the KlezRoym. Chava Alberstein and Myriam Fuks follow their gripping paths through different cities in Europe. 

Subject

Jewish folk music has made a most powerful impression on me.  I never tire of tasting it.  It has many facets, and while seeming to express happiness, it is at the same time tragic.  You always find laughter between its tears.
Shostakovich

Yiddish music was thought to have disappeared in the ashes of the ghettoes. Yet it is quite alive!  Through the portraits it paints of Karsten Troyke and two talented young performing artists – one Jewish, the other not – this film introduces us to the immediate pleasure of Yiddish music. The musicians’ different experiences and sensitivities open the doors to this form of artistic expression and its development, past, present and future.

The music, like the language used and the words of the songs, is a faithful mirror of a wandering people, with its feelings and misfortunes. Love songs, lullabies, hymns to God and barroom ditties, the sacred and the profane, melancholy and joy, irony, humour, and a sense of tragedy all coexist in this tradition, often within the same song!  Klezmer music and Yiddish songs have both been handed down from generation to generation and country to country for centuries, all the while conserving their own memories and borrowing new sounds from other cultures. They have thus been enriched by music from Germany, Poland and Russia; Gipsy and Arab music, and even America, where they merged with jazz.

Shura Lipovsky (a Yiddish dancer and singer), Karsten Troyke (a musician and singer), and Barbara Wolf (an actress, singer and accordionist) will serve as our guides from one country to the next, separately or together. They will discuss and sometimes argue with each other about the authenticity of Yiddish music and singing.

The scenes will be ‘carried’ on the shoulders of a young child who will traverse the film, putting questions to the protagonists. Like Alice in Wonderland, s/he will enter a musical fantasy world and ask about the music’s origins and manners of being.

Klezmer – a secular music with both folk and religious groups – has survived all of the exiles and persecutions borne by the Jews, whose various feelings it expresses vigorously and ingeniously. With our performers, we shall discover a heritage that is still alive, vital and a source of inspiration for musicians with the most varied backgrounds. Everyone feels the immense freedom of being able to express themselves in klezmer, of giving free rein to their emotions and impulses. Karsten, Shura and Barbara bear witness to the Yiddish soul, which still lives and is spreading with intense vivacity.  

Synopsis

CONCERT YIDDISH SOUL

We sample the rich repertoire of Yiddish music on the exceptionnal concert of march 16th 2005, featuring Karsten Troyke, Shura Lipovsky and the KlezRoym, under the aegis of Myriam Fuks.