CONCERTS
[scroll down for workshops/open rehearsals schedule]
All KLEZCADIA events will take place within a 10-minute drive from downtown Victoria. Except for the Festival Finale Concert (see below), specific venue information will be provided only after registration, and only to in-person participants; all registrants will receive a virtual-link list.
Tuesday 9 June – 8pm PT
Geoff Berner with Cookie Segelstein
Vancouver singer/songwriter/accordion player/novelist/political activist Geoff Berner is back at KLEZCADIA, this time to open our season with a pre-release show of music from his newly-recorded album, his first to be completely in Yiddish, which also features fiddler Cookie Segelstein.
Wednesday 10 June – 8pm PT
Segelstein-Horowitz Duo
Celebrating thirty years as a dynamic duo, Cookie Segelstein (violin) and Joshua Horowitz (19th-century button accordion) return to the KLEZCADIA stage with music drawn from the entire history of klezmer, interspersed with their own original compositions and arrangements.
Thursday 11 June – 8pm PT
Jordan Wax
A fast-rising star on the klezmer/Yiddish scene, Jordan Wax is a New Mexico-based singer/songwriter who spices his musical stew with cross-cultural flavours drawn from his experience with sources as diverse as the Missouri Ozarks, the Indo-Hispanic world, and the entire Ashkenazic diaspora. Jordan’s show will include gems for your inner child from Pantakozak, his newly-released album on the Borscht Beat label, as well as sneak previews from his upcoming album.
Friday 12 June – 8pm PT
Klezmer Shabes with KLEZCADIA’s faculty artists
A soulful, contemplative mixture of instrumental music from every corner of the Eastern European diaspora, with a special spotlight on tunes notated in long-lost shtetl towns more than a century ago and recently transcribed by a global network of musicians as part of the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project.
Saturday 13 June – 8pm PT
KLEZCADIA Kabaret
Ready for a walk on the vilde (wild) side? Musical mash-ups, klezmer-adjacent adventures, song parodies, unusual instruments: you never know what will pop up in this clearing in the klezmer/Yiddish jungle. San Francisco-based klezmer chanteuse Jeanette Lewicki will headline with a Yiddish tango set, while Victoria klezmer band Kvell’s Angels (with a special guest star) and Seattle’s Duo Rymanow will bring some Pacific North West tam (flavour) to the party.
Sunday 14 June – 3pm PT
Festival Finale Concert
The entire KLEZCADIA cohort heads downtown to Stage in the Park (AKA the Cameron Bandshell), where lively instrumental klezmer tunes will alternate with inspiring Yiddish sing-alongs in a celebration of culture and nature. Come to listen, to dance, and to serenade Beacon Hill Park’s resident herons with us! No registration or ticket is required for this concert.
WORKSHOPS/CLASSES/PRESENTATIONS/OPEN REHEARSALS
All KLEZCADIA events will take place within a 10-minute drive from downtown Victoria. Specific venue information will be provided only after registration, and only to in-person participants; all registrants will receive a virtual-link list.
Tuesday 9 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PT)
- Joshua Horowitz Klezmer Kalisthenics [see description #1 below]
- Andy Muchin Yiddish Rock ‘n’ Roll [see description #2 below]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PT)
- Christina Crowder Spontaneous Arrangements: Democracy in Action on the Lead Sheet [session 1 of 2, see description #3 below]
- Marianne Tatom Yiddish Through Song: Translating To and Fro [session 1 of 4, see description #4 below]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Geoff Berner
Wednesday 10 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PT)
- Cookie Segelstein Playing for the Dance [see description #5 below]
- Jeanette Lewicki Kleynkunst: Root and Branch of Yiddish Cabaret [see description #6 below]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PT)
- Christina Crowder Spontaneous Arrangements: Democracy in Action on the Lead Sheet [session 2 of 2, see description #3 below]
- Marianne Tatom Yiddish Through Song: Translating To and Fro [session 2 of 4, see description #4 below]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Segelstein-Horowitz Duo [virtual only]
Thursday 11 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PT)
- Cookie Segelstein & Joshua Horowitz Fills, Trills, Thrills, and Spills. Ornament, Variations, Rhythmic Tricks, and Harmony. All the things!
- Jeanette Lewicki Yiddish Tango: Origins, Examples, Outright Fantasies [see description #7 below]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PT)
- Segelstein-Horowitz Duo Band-to-Band Master Class [for The Klezbians and the Kvell’s Angels; open to all attendees]
- Marianne Tatom Yiddish Through Song: Translating To and Fro [session 3 of 4, see description #4 below]
- Daniel Carkner Max Leibowitz v. Columbia Graphophone Co. and Naftule Brandwine – a klezmer lawsuit in 1920s New York [see description #9 below]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Jordan Wax
Friday 12 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PT)
- Cookie Segelstein & Joshua Horowitz The Slow Tunes: Doinas, Dobridens, and Processionals
- Syl Green Yiddish Herbalism – Stories and Recipes for (Re)claiming Our Abundant Relationships to the Plant World [see description #10 below]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PT)
- Christina Crowder Jam Session Boot Camp: A Practical Tool Kit for Fun Jamming! [see description #8 below]
- Marianne Tatom Yiddish Through Song: Translating To and Fro [session 4 of 4, see description #4 below]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Klezmer Shabes
Saturday 13 June
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PT)
- Open Rehearsal for KLEZCADIA Festival Finale Concert
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for KLEZCADIA KABARET
Sunday 14 June
Afternoon (1-2:30pm PT)
- Dress Rehearsal/Soundcheck for KLEZCADIA Festival Finale Concert [Cameron Bandshell]
Workshop/Presentation descriptions:
#1: The boot camp of klezmer to get you in shape with the 10 things every klezmer needs to be able to play. Fun drills that will gel into a tune before your very ears and give you the skills to continue on for years to come.
#2: After Yiddish music was performed in Swing and Latin styles, the next hybrid genre was inevitable, baby. Jewish-music radio host Andy Muchin explores the seven-decades-old niche of Yiddish Rock ‘n’ Roll.
#3: In the “olden days,” the klezmer was the klezmer and (he) not only called all the tunes, he played the melody nearly all the time (unless he handed the playing of dance music off to the second fiddle or the clarinetist). With all due respect to the traditional ensemble, we’re different people today, and a more democratic approach to arrangements is not only more fun, it suits the many different contexts in which we find ourselves performing. In this workshop we will identify, define, and practice the core roles in the ensemble and learn some practical techniques for boosting ensemble creativity–for use on the bandstand or to deploy as an ongoing exercise to develop new arrangements. We’ll practice stepping into each other’s “musical shoes” as a means to explore rhythm, texture, melody, and harmony.
#4: In this workshop, we will explore songs translated both into and out of Yiddish. All translation is commentary, and you might be surprised how ideas and images change across languages. Materials will be presented in transliteration, so beginners are most welcome!
#5: Much of klezmer music is dance music, but there are specific techniques we use to make the tunes we are playing danceable, from communicating with a dance leader, to musical tricks to keep the music hopping.
#6: Street urchins quarrel over a spot in the gutter. A balalaika orchestra plays. A girl seduces a rabbi in a sketch called, “Is it kosher?” Then another sketch: “Two Nazis smell a plot.” In her history of Yiddish Theatre, Nahma Sandrow described these scenes and more as part of the “Kleynkunst” movement [in English “mini-art” or “miniature theatre”]. Kleykunst appeared in Eastern Europe before and during World War II, as a low-budget, highly accessible alternative to “straight” theatre. Sandrow adds that in this minyatur-teater the stage was small, the sets were small, the room was small — and audiences were also small. In fact, it seems, the whole scene was so underground that few sources exist in English. Jeanette Lewicki will draw on her own translations of Yiddish texts and rare recordings to visit a time in between wars when very little was funny—and yet a person still had to laugh.
#7: How did an African rhythm travel to Uruguay, through underworld Buenos Aires, to Paris, Minsk, Pinsk, and points beyond? The tango diaspora reaches all over the world and speaks many tongues — including Yiddish. Singer/accordionist Jeanette Lewicki first heard Yiddish tango in Oxford, England from her Argentine Yiddish teacher, Pesakh Fiszman [z”l]. Later she accompanied playwright Jeyn Levison in Jeyn’s one-person Yiddish tango show, with musical director Pablo Aslan of Buenos Aires, in Portland, Oregon and New York, New York. Now Jeanette will present and translate original Yiddish texts, gather wonderful recordings, and explore songs–both serious and satirical–in a visit to the heart of Yiddish Tangoland.
#8: Jam sessions can be a lot of fun, but they can also be intimidating: playing without sheet music is a nudge out of the comfort zone, and learning new tunes during the session can feel like bungee jumping out of the airplane entirely. This workshop will explore practical jam session survival techniques that will help you play along as an active contributor even when you don’t know the melody. We’ll explore a step-by-step process to learn tunes on the fly, road-mapping shortcuts, and “memory palace” techniques for remembering tunes we know but forget the minute someone asks us to lead a tune!
#9: This lecture will delve into why New York klezmer violinist Max Leibowitz (1884–1942) tried and failed to sue his competitors over the tune Terkisher Bulgar, and what it tells us about how ideas of composition and ownership shifted as klezmer was transplanted to America.
10: Around a year ago, Syl started The Knobl un Honik Yiddish Garden, a new Yiddish community space in Vancouver. The garden is nestled in a chaotic yet heimish multicultural community garden based in the old working class Jewish neighbourhood, with a giant rose bush and a crabapple tree, protected by garlic and a rosemary bush. Syl will share some of the history and context of the space, how it is being used for Yiddish language and cultural “re-claimation” and learning, and how it is integrated with the diverse neighbourhood of human and greater than human kin.
This schedule is subject to change.
KLEZCADIA 