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YIDDISH ARGENTINA
Argentina is home to the largest Jewish community in South America, 200,00 in Buenos Aires alone. Argentina's Jewish community - its demographics and history - closely mirror the North American experience, with over a century of successive waves of immigrants from the Jewish diaspora choosing Argentina as their new home. Each wave of immigration strengthened the region's connection to the Yiddish culture and language of Eastern Europe. There were thriving agricultural settlements (Moiseville is the most well-known) that gave birth to the phenomenon of "Yiddish Gauchos," as well as urban neighborhoods in Buenos Aires that paralleled New York's Lower East Side, boasting a full Yiddish educational system, Yiddish newspapers and literary journals, and a vibrant Yiddish Theater. The rich culture produced by this community will be celebrated in the evening's performances.
KLEZMER JUICE
While the term "klezmer," Yiddish for professional folk musician, can be traced back centuries into the Old World, most of Klezmer music as we know it owes its sound to the various 19th-century Eastern European musical forms brought to the New World by Jewish immigrants around the turn of the century. These Ashkenazi were a diverse group that had for centuries lived amidst and interacted with numerous other European cultures. Their music reflected this diversity, encompassing traditional musical styles from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia among others.
While many of us associate this music with European immigration to the United States, Jews at the turn of the century were settling all parts of the Americas, and they and their descendants have a rich history in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and many other Latin American countries. Klezmer Juice bandleader and clarinet player Gustavo Bulgach was born and raised in one such community in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A part of the large and active Jewish community there, he learned Klezmer music from his family at a young age. Inspired by the religious and secular life of the Argentine community, Bulgach, who now lives in Los Angeles, has traveled around the globe, finding that Klezmer music is the "soundtrack of the Diaspora."
In this spirit, Klezmer Juice is vibrant Yiddish soul imbued with musical influences both old and new from around the world. Representing a new generation of Jewish soul musicians, the youthful group members see themselves as torchbearers of an ancient traditional craft that unites generations in spirit, offering fresh interpretations of traditional tunes, such as "Papirosn," "Ot Azoi," and "Zemer Atik."
For more information about the group, visit www.klezmerjuice.com, www.myspace.com/klezmerjuiceband.
DIVINA GLORIA
Divina Gloria, dubbed the "Argentine Madonna," is a popular singer and actress in Argentina whose repertoire includes Yiddish and a career in the Yiddish theater. She studied musical comedy at the noted Instituto Lavardén and began her career performing in Sketches by the late humorist Alberto Olmedo. She has appeared in numerous films and plays such as Alicia Maravilla, Vivitos y coleando, Locos Recuerdos and Sin compasion. She has also recorded several acclaimed pop albums: Desnudita, Bajas pasiones, Caliente, Canibal, Roas del Hampa, Mal de amores and Lo divino y lo dorado. For those of you who speak Spanish, visit www.divinaduerme.com.ar or for non-Spanish speakers visit here.
SCHWEE MIGUEL & TANGO GANAS
While typically spending half the year split between Argentina and Los Angeles, Schwee has extensively studied Tango in Buenos Aires with living masters such as 'Flaco Dany' Garcia, Ernesto Balmaceda y Stella Baez, 'Chicho' Frumboli, Mayoral y Elsa Maria, Carlos Copello, Luis Solanas, Fabian Irusquibelar,Osvaldo Zotto y Lorena Ermocida, Ricardo Biggeri, Claudio Villagra y Guillermina Quiroga, and Horacio Godoy. He has participated in major tango (and salsa) festivals throughout Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. With his TANGO GANAS dance company in LA, Schwee has recently performed tango at the ICON Awards at the Beverly Hilton, LA Dance Experience, Club Tangier, The Electric Lodge, and The Derby. He is currently a principal choreographer for the vibrant Folklorico de Santa Monica dance company, recently staging a tango/hiphop show for a large ensemble. He also fronts a notorious 13-piece New Orleans jazz hiphop orchestra (CRITICAL BRASS) as lead vocalist, lyricist, and saxophonist, while co-producing and having been featured on five album releases for the UNITED SWINGDOM and ART HURTS record labels. Also a Professor of Astronomy, Dr. Schwee was awarded a Ph.D. in astrophysics from UCLA, a B.S. in physics from Harvard University, and has published his extended doctoral research on the formation of orphan planets in neighboring star clusters.
To see an original choreographed piece by Schwee and Tango Ganas, click here.
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Sponsors of "Una Noche Idishe" include: |
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