The Klezmatics featuring Joshua Nelson
In celebration of our 10th Anniversary (in April 2005),
the Office of Jewish Affairs was proud to present
The Klezmatics and Joshua Nelson in Concert:
"Freedom Songs from the African American and Jewish Traditions"
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
UMass Amherst, Bowker Auditorium
The Office of Jewish Affairs was proud to present the KLEZMATICS in concert with renowned gospel singer JOSHUA NELSON, performing songs of freedom and social justice from the African American and Jewish traditions. Echoing the Passover theme of liberation from slavery into freedom, these songs speak to the parallel struggles of Jewish slaves in ancient Egypt and Black slaves in the U.S.
The collaboration between these outstanding musicians "breathes new life into songs from both the Jewish and African American heritage... a dialogue between cultures and musical styles." Their latest CD, “Brother Moses Smote the Water” (just released in March 2005 by Piranha) was recorded live at a concert in Berlin, Germany, which is amazing in and of itself!!
“A moving summit of African-American,
Jewish workers', spiritual and festival songs"
—Berliner Morgenpost
“The Klezmatics continue to explore the interstices between jazz, ethnic music, and radical culture with considerable style and verve.” —The Village Voice
The Klezmatics are the premiere Jewish band in the U.S. (and perhaps the entire world), known for their reinterpretation of traditional Jewish melodies and musical experimentation. They have been at the forefront of the klezmer revival of the past two decades. (Klezmer is the traditional music of Jewish celebrations in Eastern Europe, the music which inspired American jazz musicians such as Benny Goodman in the early decades of the Twentieth Century.) Their seven CD’s and international tours have been widely acclaimed. They recently performed with Arlo Guthrie at Carnegie Hall; and their U.S. and European performances are routinely sold out.
Joshua Nelson is a widely-acclaimed gospel singer and an African American Jew who traces his heritage back to the ancient Second Temple of Jerusalem. He descends from a long line of Black Jews, their very existence calling into question the dichotomous black/white thinking typically placed on religion, race, and culture in America. “My great, great grandmother practiced a primitive form of Judaism similar to the Jewish Ethiopians and the Lembas of Southern Africa,” Nelson explains. His first encounter with gospel music was from his grandmother’s Mahalia Jackson recordings, which he first heard when he was eight. “I make Jewish music and give it a soul sound,” he says. “They call it the gospel sound. But technically it is soul Jewish music. If you can be Black and put soul in Christian music, you can be Black and put soul in Jewish music!”
“Soul comes out of a bad experience and being able to sing about it,” Nelson continues. “You can hear soul in Jewish cantorial chanting; the wailing you hear in a synagogue. That is also identified as soul, because it’s what one moans and groans about a horrible experience. Black people and European Jews have both gone through hell in the last two centuries.” Nelson’s soulful music is a way to escape and heal from that hellish history.
“One spiritual transformation after another... makes being black and Jewish seem as obvious and natural as matzo." —The Village Voice
Background
The Office of Jewish Affairs (OJA) was created to foster better relations between Jewish, Black and other students. Programs like the annual Multicultural Freedom Seder (a collaboration between OJA, the Black Student Union and other groups) and this concert of Jewish and African American music, help build these bridges of friendship and understanding between racial, ethnic and religious communities. Fostering such good will and mutual respect is the core mission of the OJA, and an important component of the University’s stated commitment to diversity.
This concert was the culmination of a month-long Tenth Anniversary celebration for the Office of Jewish Affairs, which was founded in April 1995. Our other 10th anniversary programs included:
* A Land Twice Promised, a one-woman storytelling performance exploring the complex history and emotions surrounding Jerusalem for both Israelis and Palestinians (on April 5th);
* our seventh annual Freedom Seder (on April 10th); and
* One By One: Descendents of the Holocaust and Third Reich in Dialogue
(on April 13th).
This extraordinary concert was presented by the Office of Jewish Affairs and cosponsored by the Asian Arts & Culture Program, College of Humanities & Fine Arts, Department of Judaic & Near Eastern Studies, Graduate Student Senate, Hampshire College Jewish Studies Program, Office of Multicultural Student Services, Smith College Jewish Studies Program, Smith College Office of the Chaplains, Smith/Amherst Hillel, UMass Hillel, W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro American Studies and WMUA 91.1 FM.
Funded in part by grants from the Alumni Association; Five Colleges, Incorporated; the Jewish Arts & Culture Initiative of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation; the Student Affairs Cultural Enrichment Fund; and the UMass Arts Council.
Tenth Anniversary press release
Download poster
Listen to two songs from the 2005 CD, "Brother Moses Smote the Water" ("Elijah Rock" featuring Joshua Nelson and "Ki Loy Nue" featuring Lorin Sklamberg)
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