What's so special about KlezFest?
posted December 25, 2009
Are you hesitating about whether you should attend?
Read what Laoise Davidson has to say before you make up your mind...
It is not an easy decision to spend your valuable holiday time in the centre of London learning Klezmer, Yiddish song or learning to speak Yiddish when you could be gallivanting round the world or lying on a beach somewhere. However, I urge you to think again! There are very few highs in life that you will experience that are on a par with KlezFest or Ot Azoy.
If you are a musician, either amateur or professional, or even 
just
a bit out of practice, there is nothing like discovering something new
or getting a whole lot better on your instrument and getting those wild
endorphin and adrenalin rushes. From the minute you walk into the KlezFest
building you will feel the buzz and the unmistakeable clamour
of fiddles, accordions and clarinets krekhtsing like crazy from
every corner. Someone carrying a massive sousaphone (a large tuba-like
instrument) or a double bass will inevitably almost run you over as he
or she rushes to get to the first session of the day – the Yiddish
dance session. Apart from being a lovely way to get a little bit of fitness
into the hectic day as you and 100 other people dance in dizzying circles,
you will also learn how to do impressive things like a Jewish Ceilidh
– the Sher, or perhaps even a bottle dance. Then there is the Nigun
session where one of the esteemed faculty will turn the room of fairly
sober westerners into a drunken hassidic tavern.
Throughout the day, whether you are learning to play Klezmer tunes on your instrument or learning to sing some stunningly beautiful Yiddish songs or dance some heart-warming traditional Jewish dances, you will be surrounded by some of the most passionate, fun-loving people you are ever likely to meet. Activities go right through the day, interspersed with a couple of breaks for food – great Jewish food by the way – and on into the evening with dance bands, performances by new bands as well as a faculty concert taking place on various evenings. Everyone also gets the chance to perform in the final ensemble concert on the Friday which is both scary and exhilarating at the same time, and to round off the week there will be a specially designed 'Shabbes Tish' with Yiddish as the focal point, a lot like our Ashkenazi ancestors would have had over 100 years ago.
'a lot of wind'
For professional musicians, there is also a series of classes led by the inimitable Frank London, looking at more advanced techniques and areas including composition, improvisation and ensemble management.
If you ever thought you might like to expand your Yiddish vocabulary
from the few words
you know like schlepp and tuches, then Ot
Azoy is not to be missed. In just one week you will change from
a nebech to a gantse makhe, filled with the joy that you get from learning
how to string a sentence together in the language that those Nazis almost
completely wiped out. It's a very good feeling!
So save that bikini and expensive sun-tan-cream for another time, blow the dust off your violin, start warming your voice up and get down to SOAS, Vernon Square Campus, Penton Rise, London WC1X 9EW for the most invigorating week or two of your life.
