Beginning in two weeks, our second annual ‘Put a Yid on it!’ Festival of New Yiddish Culture kicks off, running from January 27 to February 8.
The sophomore year of our one-of-a-kind Yiddish festival features a total of eight unique events featuring world-class bands, films, and speakers.
Yiddish is a warm, funny, poetic language once spoken, written, sung, and dreamt by 11 million people. Our festival honours this rich history and celebrates the New Yiddish Renaissance, a dynamic movement of artists courageously creating and recreating in the language of our ancestors.
Take a look below at our full line-up and register for an event or two. Don’t miss out on your chance to be transported to a very special time and place; a place where the old and the new collide into something truly magical.
Monday, January 27 | 8:30 p.m.
Berney Theatre | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
$30 | Rady Members receive a 25% discount
Schmaltz & Pepper, as described by CBC Frequencies as a “Klezmer Supergroup,” brings together five extraordinary musicians who are revolutionizing Yiddish music with their awe-inspiring fusion of tradition and innovation.
Expect soulful interpretations of traditional Klezmer, alongside captivating original compositions with lyrics delving into themes such as Jewish superstition, the quirks of Jewish mothers, Jewish folklore, and the Yiddish language itself.
Below is a sneak peek of this amazing group. To register, click here
Wednesday, January 29 | 7:30 p.m.
Berney Theatre | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
$12 | Rady Members receive a 25% discount
Co-directed by Joseph Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski, The Jester follows the success of their film Yiddle with His Fiddle in 1936. This delightful musical drama brings to life a love triangle featuring a wandering jester, a charismatic vaudeville performer, and Esther, the shoemaker’s daughter, torn between her family’s desire for a prominent match and her own dreams.
Take a look at the trailer below. To register, click here.
Thursday, January 30 | 7:30 p.m.
Adult Lounge | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
Free to attend | Pre-registration is required
This lecture, presented by Professor Itay Zutra, explores the resilience and survival of Yiddish art, from S. Ansky’s The Dybbuk to the demons of I.B. Singer, through the trauma of the Holocaust and beyond.
It examines how Jewish folk traditions of the supernatural have served modern Yiddish artists as a way to overcome trauma and offer a path to a Jewish cultural revival.
To register for this complimentary event, click here
Saturday, February 1 | 8:00 p.m.
Berney Theatre | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
$15 | Rady Members receive a 25% discount
Yiddishland is an upbeat, witty, and timely snapshot of this movement, by Australian Director Ros Horin, which answers that question as it takes us inside the art and practices of a diverse group of innovative international artists who create new works about the important issues of our time in the Yiddish language.
The film asks why they create in Yiddish, what it means to them personally and professionally, and what obstacles they must overcome to revive what was once considered a dying language.
Take a look at the trailer below. To register, click here
Sunday, February 2 | 2:00 p.m.
Berney Theatre | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
Free to attend | Pre-registration is required
This is a panel discussion highlighting the pivotal experience of the Jewish community in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, with a focus on Yiddish-speaking organizations and newspapers.
Yiddish, the language of the Jewish working class, was a powerful tool for political expression and advocacy, especially through the influential Yiddish newspapers which played a key role in rallying support during this transformative labor struggle for the collective good of all.
To register for this complimentary event, click here.
Tuesday, February 4 | 7:30 p.m.
Berney Theatre | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
$12 | Rady Members receive a 25% discount
Mamele is a timeless masterpiece, brought to life by Molly Picon, the legendary ‘Pixie Queen of the Yiddish Musical’. Picon shines as a devoted daughter who keeps her family together after the loss of their mother. Caught between endless responsibilities and her own dreams, her world changes when she discovers a charming violinist across the courtyard.
Set in the vibrant backdrop of Lodz, this enchanting musical comedy-drama immerses audiences in the rich diversity of interwar Jewish life in Poland – featuring everything from pious communities to nightclubs, gangsters and spirited ‘nogoodnicks’. Mamele is a film full of heart!
Take a look at the trailer below. To register, click here
Thursday, February 6 | 7:30 p.m.
Berney Theatre | Rady JCC | 123 Doncaster Street
$20 | Rady Members receive a 25% discount
Featuring live original music composed and performed by world-renowned Klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals (The Klezmatics) and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin, The Man Without a World is attributed to the legendary (and entirely fictional) 1920s Soviet Director Yevgeny Antinov.
In reality, it is a modern masterpiece by artist and filmmaker Eleanor Antin, created in 1991 as a tribute to the golden age of silent cinema and a personal homage to her mother, a former Yiddish theater performer in Poland.
Painstakingly designed to resemble a lost silent film, The Man Without a World uses sepia-toned imagery, evocative intertitles, and vintage cinematographic techniques. Set in a Polish shtetl at the turn of the 20th century, it follows Rukheleh, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and Zevi, a struggling Yiddish poet, as they navigate societal and political struggles to find love.
Take a look at a sneek peak of this uniqe cine-concert below. To register, click here
Saturday, February 8 | 8:00 p.m.
West End Cultural Centre | 586 Ellice Avenue
$20 in advance | $25 at the door
In 2003, visionary Latvian duo Sasha Lurje (vocals) and Ilya Shneyveys (keyboard, arrangement) asked themselves, “What would have happened if Yiddish had never been interrupted?”. From there, Forshpil was formed.
Together, they imagined an exciting world where young people play in Yiddish language garage bands, where Klezmer musicians wield electric guitars alongside fiddles, and traditional Yiddish ballads are as revered as rock anthems.
Deeply rooted in tradition yet infused with otherworldly psychedelia, Forshpil feels both wildly innovative and profoundly authentic. If Jefferson Airplane and The Doors had ever jammed together at a Jewish wedding, it would have sounded like this!
Take a look at a sneek peak of Forshpil below. To register, click here.
THANK YOU TO OUR INCREDIBLE SUPPORTERS
‘Put a Yid on It!’ Festival of New Yiddish Culture would not be possible this year without the support of our partners and sponsors including The Asper Foundation, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, CIBC Private Wealth Wood Gundy and Uri Kraut, the I.L. Peretz Folk School Endowment Trust, and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.
QUESTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING? CONTACT:
Shira Newman
Producer, ‘Put a Yid on It!’ Festival of New Yiddish Culture
204.477.7534 | snewman@radyjcc.com