Événement

Lebedik! Coming to America, Feat. Sasha Lurje, Craig Judelman, and Matt Sircely

Lebedik! Coming to America, is a new program by celebrated Yiddish singer Sasha Lurje (Latvia) and klezmer violinist Craig Judelman (USA), which explores the journey of Yiddish songs from Eastern Europe to America.

Jewish immigrants flocked to the new world in n the late 19th and early 20th century, bringing their songs and stories with them. Both the people and the culture shifted in this process and the music they made gives us a unique and personal insight into their experience. In these songs we see the emancipation of women, the growth of the labor movement, the challenges and adventures of freer social spaces, and the addition of popular instruments to a traditionally mostly a Capella repertoire.

Lurje and Judelman bring a special relationship to these songs, starting from opposite ends of the journey. Sasha Lurje is one of the leading voices in the contemporary Yiddish scene, and has performed and taught at numerous festivals in Europe and America. Growing up speaking Slavic and Baltic languages, she has a unique old world perspective on this repertoire, which perhaps is part of why she has become one of the only specialists in Yiddish lyric songs and ballads. Craig Judelman grew up in Seattle, studying violin and folk music from around the world since a young age. He currently performs with Litvakus, one of the only klezmer bands devoted to Litvak music, music from the northern European region of Jewish settlement. For this program they are joined by special guests on guitar and mandolin.

Traveling through the sounds from the Old World to the New, this program makes sure that this tradition remains lebedik - alive!