What Does the Future Sound Like? celebrates the diversity of Jewish music. How does secular music such as Klezmer differ from the traditional music sung at the synagogue?

Anna: “The music sung in synagogues is pretty diverse: differing across denominations and ethnic groups so what you might hear in an Orthodox Sephadi synagogue could be pretty different from a Reformed one for example. However, I haven’t spent enough time in any Shul to feel equipped to answer this question in great detail. In Judaism, the Hazzan (Khazn in Yiddish) leads the congregation in sung prayers. This can be an officially ordained position, requiring as lengthy and as deep a training as to become a Rabbi. As far as I know; purely instrumental music isn’t heard so much in a religious context, although instruments can be present to accompany choirs and singing. Klezmer is broadly speaking an instrumental genre played for celebrations and during lifecycle rituals such as weddings. Klezmer music is often danced to, although not all Klezmer is dance music. There is a crossover between wordless melodies sung by the Hasidim called nigunim which form part of worship. Many of these melodies have made their way into Klezmer repertoire”.

How would you describe Klezmer music for those unfamiliar with the genre?

Anna: “Klezmer music is the traditional, instrumental music of the Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews. The word Klezmer (pl. Klezmorim) originally referred to a Jewish musician, rather than the style of music. Like all traditions, it’s a varied, complex and nuanced music, with many sub-categories of dance styles, ritualistic/functional forms and regional variation depending on locality. However, the most ‘recognisable’ sound of Klezmer might be a lively tune in 2/4 or 4/4 time, in what might sound to people like a minor key. However, Klezmer makes use of modes that don’t all fit into ‘Western’ music theory, and the relationship between major and minor modalities isn’t so binary. For me, the beauty of this music is expressed through these modal tensions; simultaneously joyful and mournful, with phrasing and ornamentation that stylistically aims to mimic the expressive quality of singing”.

What is Klezmer fidl style?

Anna: “This is a difficult question to answer in terms of the technicalities, so I’ll answer it in terms of what it is today and the ways in which I engage with it. As this music was, and to a large extent still is, an oral tradition, much of what we know about the way the music sounded when it was still widely played across Eastern Europe comes from old recordings made on wax cylinders. Much of the work I have done to learn about the style is to listen to these recordings, slowing them down and attempting to transcribe and copy the details in how these players phrased and ornamented melodies. However, some fidl players – Alicia Svigals, Deborah Strauss, Michael Alpert to name just a few – have been lucky enough to learn from musicians who still knew the music in its original context. There was a fiddler called, Leon Schwartz who was still alive in 1970s/80s New York. He was originally from Bukovina and taught and recorded his repertoire and style – much of which is still being passed on through teachers today”.

How does the UK Klezmer scene fit into that tradition?

Anna: “The UK Klezmer scene is small but perfectly formed community of players who have dedicated much of their professional lives to the study of this music. All of us have engaged in the process I outlined above: working with and learning from archival material, as well as travelling internationally to learn and perform with great Klezmer musicians and scholars around the world including Yiddish Summer Weimar, KlezKanada and Yiddish New York. However, I think the UK Klezmer scene has marked itself out to be a really forward thinking and progressive one. The London Klezmer Quartet have written lots of their own repertoire which stays true to the tradition whilst being exceptionally fresh and original. String duo, Fran&Flora brought a 21st century sound world to traditional and archival material by incorporating innovative and experimental production techniques into their album Unfurl. In my own work, I have begun an experimental duo project with Klezmer drummer Simon Roth to explore the stylistic language of Klezmer through an improvisational lens”.

How does being Jewish influence you as a musician?

Anna: “Whilst I don’t believe that one has to be Jewish in order to play this music and engage with it in deep and meaningful ways, I feel that my Jewish heritage is in part what drew me to it. I was brought up in a secular home in the middle of the Hasidic community of Stamford Hill and so the sounds of Friday night and High Holy Day prayers were in my ears from an early age. Despite the totally secular upbringing, I have always felt culturally connected to Judaism – my dad raised us on a diet of year round matzah snacking and the Marx Brothers. I also experienced a lot of anti-semitism at school which I think in many ways shaped my identity and brought me closer to my Jewishness. When I started playing this music in my late teens, something clicked. I felt I was able to express myself in ways that came much easier to me than the classical music I grew up playing. It just felt right somehow; like I had been wearing the wrong sized shoes up until that point”.

How did studying at Manchester University influence your career?

Anna: “The two biggest influences on my career so far were my studies in ethnomusicology, anthropology, and participatory music in theory and practice. The ethnomusicology course taught me to think critically not just about music, but about wider social and cultural issues. In particular, it taught me to see the ways in which certain narratives dominate and shape our perceptions and world view. The Participatory Music module solidified my early ambitions of wanting to use music in ways beyond performance that would positively impact society. I have worked and volunteered in a wide range of settings, from concerts in care homes for the elderly to workshops with residents in Immigration Removal Centres. The majority of my work currently comes through Newham Music Service working with children and young people with Special Educational Needs. At the moment I’m also part way through the application process to train as a Music Therapist at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama”.

Can you tell us a bit about Songs from the Stamford Hill Shtetl?

Anna: “This is a project I started writing in 2017/18 while living above a shop on a parade of ultra-orthodox and Hasidic owned business in Stamford Hill. I plan to write a Klezmer tune for each of the shops that I formed a relationship with and present it as both an interactive website with a combination of illustration, music and words as well as a live performance that will combine storytelling and music. I’m interested in the various tensions that are at play within this project. I am composing and playing Jewish music about a community for whom I am prohibited to play for or with because of my gender. It’s also interesting to think about the ways in which different communities relate to this particular form of Jewish music”.

How has the pandemic impacted your work?

Anna: “Before the pandemic I was in rehearsal for and due to start a run of show called Indecent at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The show’s music written and devised by Klezmer fiddle player Lisa Gutkin and it was an amazing piece of theatre by playwright Paula Vogel about a Yiddish play and its unfortunate history. The production is currently on hold, as are most of my other performing projects: I have’t had a gig since May when I played for my parents and their neighbours on their street. The only work I have now is in schools but even that is pretty limited. Many schools either cancelled their provision or severely restricted it due to the bubble systems. Its hard but there have been silver linings: in particular I’ve been developing my compositional voice over this time, becoming more familiar and fluent with music production on Ableton Live and creating some new and interesting sounds. I’ve also had time to play lots of Bach: seeing as it was written to be played solo, its the perfect soundtrack to a pandemic. Not sure whether my housemates would agree, but it’s keeping me sane and stimulated at least”.

How did you get involved with the film project with the Manchester Jewish Museum?

Anna: “Through my dear friend and unofficial mentor, Francesca Ter-Berg – the cellist and multidisciplinary artist who makes up one part of the duo I mentioned earlier, Fran&Flora”.

What will you discuss in your film?

Anna: “Some pretty similar things to here but in more or less detail. Insights into the ways in which artists think and feel out their craft – a bit like going backstage at a show maybe?”

What do you hope people will take from the film?

Anna: “Hope and excitement for the future: not just for the UK’s Jewish music scene, but the return of live music and performance in general. We all need it”.

What Does the Future Sound Like? is one of a series of events from Manchester Jewish Museum ahead of its re-opening in Spring 2021 following a £5 million restoration. The films are available to watch online from 10-15 December 2020. See website for details.

Songs of Arrival stories of Jewish refugees in Manchester

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What is the story behind the Jewish refugees arriving in Cheetham Hill?
Peter: “Cheetham Hill was a place of refuge for Jews escaping Nazi occupied Europe in the 30s and 40s. It became the home of Manchester’s Jewish community. Those displaced came from all walks of life and brought with them the rich traditions of their former homes. Manchester Jewish Museum is lucky enough to have oral histories which tell the diverse stories of this community”.

Who are Manchester Jewish Museum’s song writing group?
Peter: “The song writing group is made up of past and current residents of Cheetham Hill. Whilst none of them are related to the refugees whose stories we are telling, all have a strong connection to the local area. One of the group has never lived in Cheetham Hill, but courted his wife in the cinemas that used to line the high street!”

What was the idea behind Songs of Arrival?
Peter: “The idea is to share stories that would otherwise remain untold. It’s important for us to be able to elevate marginalised voices of the past and present them alongside more contemporary stories of migration. Cheetham Hill remains one of the most diverse areas of the country and that richness should be celebrated”.

Are all the songs original?
Peter: “In addition to new songs written by the song writing group and composer Na’ama Zisser, the performance will also include music by Jewish composers who were also forced to flee Nazi occupied Europe – composers such as Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler and Arnold Schoenberg”.

How were the songs developed?
Peter: “The songs have been developed through weekly song writing sessions led by composer Joe Steele. The lyrics have been generated from oral histories held in the Museum’s collection. It seems that these stories are endowed with intrinsic melody or underlying rhythm. Given the emotional depth of the histories, it’s felt very natural to translate these words into music”.

Do you tell the stories of real people or are the songs an amalgamation of true stories?
Peter: “They’re the stories of Cheetham Hill residents from the past. We’ve taken these stories and interpreted them from a contemporary standpoint. Through engaging with local community groups, we’ve also managed to translate sections of the original histories into some of many languages spoken in Cheetham Hill today”.

What is special about telling history through songs?
Peter: “Singing is such a natural form of expression and is the perfect way to capture the emotional depths of these historical accounts”.

What does it mean to you to be a part of the first Festival of Belonging?
Peter: “It’s an opportunity to give voice to those who haven’t been heard in the past or struggle to find a voice today”.

What do you hope people will take form the event?
Peter: “I hope people will come away feeling that they’ve not only made a connection to the past, but also that the event encourages active engagement with those living on the margins of society today”.

What will happen to the songs after the performance? Will a recording be kept in the museum?
Peter: “We’re going to create more songs based on the oral histories! When the Manchester Jewish Museum reopens next year they’ll be permanently installed for all to enjoy”.

Songs of Arrival with Peter Brathwaite, Na’ama Zisser, Joe Steele and MJM’s Song-writing Group is at on Thursday 12 March 2020 at Manchester Central Library as part of Manchester Jewish Museum’s first Festival of Belonging from March 7-14, featuring one off events and nights of comedy, theatre, storytelling, films and visual arts to examine how we assimilate in new places, explore what makes us feel that we belong and question what happens when we don’t. Visit website for full festival details.

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Who were Bluma and Isaac Tischler?
Tamara: “They were the grandparents of my lifelong friend Yael, and friends of my family as well”.

Why did you choose their stories to include in the show?
Tamara: “Their older son, Aron, offered their stories to me to tell in a piece of theatre. That was the starting point for this show.”

What is Holocaust Brunch about?
Tamara: “Holocaust Brunch tells the remarkable true story of my friend’s grandparents, who survived the War in a Soviet Union medical school before becoming world-renowned doctors in Canada after the war. And it looks at what it’s like growing up as a descendant of survivors, and how that experience still affects us today. The show explores how we can honour the histories we inherit, whilst breaking free from them. And I serve the audience beigel brunch”.

How much of your own experience is in the performance?
Tamara: “ The show is a mix of my own experience and the experiences of people I know, including family, friends and others who been affected by the Holocaust/Second World War in some way”.

Can you tell us about your visit to Poland?
Tamara: “I went to Poland in the summer of 2016 (the day after the Brexit vote, actually!) with my sister, and it was our first time going there. The visit was difficult, fun, incredibly sad, a whole combination of experiences. We visited the hometowns of our father’s parents, outside the city of Lublin in southeast Poland, and we also visited Krakow, Warsaw and two concentration/death camps. I would visit Poland again, but this time I’d be better prepared for it being quite an emotional experience”.

The play is described as darkly funny – how do you find humour in this subject matter?
Tamara: “There is a rich tradition of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish comedy using humour to look at hard things, and this show is very much working in and with that tradition. I think humour can help us go to difficult places and can give us some catharsis. That’s my hope”.

“I think humour can help us go to difficult places and can give us some catharsis. That’s my hope.”

What is your game, “Top 10 things non-Jews say to you about the Holocaust”?
Tamara: “It’s one of those games that kind of isn’t a game … At various points in the show, the audience and I go through weird or problematic things that people have said to me, or to people I know, about the Holocaust or about Jews, and I respond to them. Part of the idea is to look at how the War continues to affect us today, and to use humour to look at something uncomfortable – the stereotypes and assumptions that some people have about Jews or about the Holocaust. It’s about bringing things to light, rather than blaming people or pointing fingers, and kind of going: ‘Hang on a minute, that’s a bit weird, isn’t it? What’s that about?’

Why do you think people sometimes say the wrong things?
Tamara: “I wouldn’t say that people sometimes say the ‘wrong’ things. I think we can get confused, or get misinformation, about history and about people today. For example, one stereotype that emerged about Jews and the Holocaust after the War was that Jews didn’t fight that persecution. And that’s not true. Jews did fight (and we’re still fighting oppression!), and were not passive victims. I think sometimes people don’t realise that they might be saying something hurtful or untrue”.

What do you hope people will take from the play?
“I hope people will have a better understanding of how the War still affects us today, whether we’re Jewish or not Jewish. And I hope they’ll take a beigel!”

Holocaust Brunch is at the Manchester Jewish Museum as part of its Holocaust Memorial Day event on 27 January 2020 at Central Library Manchester. See website for details.

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During this time staff will move its collections into the basement of Manchester Central Library, ­creating an interactive pop-up Jewish Museum in the centre of Manchester for the very first time.

Quays Life talks to the Chief Executive of Manchester Jewish Museum, Max Dunbar to find out more:

What is the history of the museum?

Max: “The museum is housed in a former synagogue on the edge of the city centre. The museum was formed by a group of local historians who had been collecting archive material about Manchester’s Jewish heritage. In the early 1980’s this group raised funds to convert the old Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue on Cheetham Hill Road to a museum. The synagogue’s congregation moved to another synagogue in 1982. The museum opened its doors on Sunday 25 March 1984”.

Are services still held in the old synagogue?

Max: “No – the synagogue is now solely a museum, enabling visitors young and old to explore a former place of worship”.

What type of artefacts and information does the museum hold?

Max: “We hold over 31,000 items in our collection, including:

“Over 530 oral history testimonies, providing in depth accounts of the experience of both first and second generation Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe. The testimonies are important sources of knowledge, capturing individuals’ memories, perceptions and reasoning of events.

“An extensive photographic collection, numbering nearly 21,000 items, portraying the life of one of the UK’s earliest migrant communities.

“A wide-ranging collection of objects, documents and ephemera of historic interest including: work tools, Sabbath candlesticks brought over from countries of origin, circumcision gowns, raincoats made by Jewish manufacturers, ceremonial silverware, posters, programmes, letters, pamphlets, prints and paintings.

“A unique Holocaust collection comprising 138 in-depth recorded interviews with Holocaust Survivors and refugees – amounting to over 700 hours of testimonies. Over 1,500 photographs, objects and archives are also held relating to these Survivors. As sources of evidence, the material in our Holocaust collection has both national and international significance”.

Does it have special exhibitions and events?

Max: “Over the past 35 years we have held over 1,000 events and 100 exhibitions. Recent exhibitions include a Chagall art exhibition and an exhibition about Jewish footballers – ‘Four Four Jew’. Recent events have included a Bollywood concert, Irish folk/Klezmer mashup, hip hop acts, a Polish dumpling house, an Afghanistan bakery and a circus school, with tightrope, juggling and a trapeze in the synagogue!”

What changes are being made with the refurbishment?

Max: “We are trebling the size of the museum, building a two-storey extension at the side of the synagogue. The extension will include a new café, shop, learning studio and major new gallery. Our Grade II* listed synagogue will also be repaired and refurbished”.

If the museum grows in this way, in what way will the collections expand?

Max: “We are now collecting more contemporary material to reflect the diversity of Manchester’s Jewish community today. In the extension we will have a new collection store, enabling us to house more material on site”.

Will researchers be able to access the collections during the closure?

Max: “Yes, our collection will be housed in Central Library where researchers will be able to access material. Researchers will need to book an appointment with our Curator. You can email: curator@manchesterjewishmuseum.com“

What was the idea behind a pop-up museum at Central Library?

Max: “We have been given an exciting opportunity by Manchester City Council to create a ‘pop-up’ museum in Central Library. We want this pop-up to be more than just a static museum display, which many Library users would simply walk past. We want to ultimately transplant the spirit of our museum from Cheetham Hill to the city centre, animating our Library space to reach new and diverse audiences”.

Will it be open for the whole time the museum is closed for refurbishment?

Max: “Yes – which we expect to be 18 months”.

What can people experience at the pop-up museum?

Max: “In this pop-up museum we are creating an interactive, immersive experience, where visitors can explore our collection through an object machine and by flicking through old photograph albums and listening to old recordings. School groups will also be able to build their very own synagogue in the Library!”

What is an object selection machine?

Max: I”t is like an arcade machine. Visitors are confronted with a series of options to choose from. After pressing a series of buttons an object is selected and the story behind that object performed. Visitors are then encouraged to explore that story further in other areas of the pop-up museum, browsing photograph albums and listening to oral history recordings”.

Is there an entry fee?

Max: “No – its free admission (the pop-up museum will be on the Lower Ground Floor, next to the Race Relations Archive)”.

You are also planning some community outreach during this time. What will that involve?

Max: “We are planning a range of music, food and storytelling activities in the Cheetham Hill Welcome Centre. We will also be going to out to schools and community centres across Greater Manchester, making pop-up synagogues with different communities”.

What are the opportunities for people to get involved?

Max: “We are always looking for new volunteers – and you don’t have to be Jewish. If you are interested in meeting new people and sharing stories we want to hear from you. Contact: admin@manchesterjewishmuseum.com“

Manchester Jewish Museum opens its temporary pop-up museum at Central Library from 16 July 2019.

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