In case you're not familiar with the vocabulary, shep means to draw from a well; nakhes means, approximately, pride and joy. Yiddish is a dying language; in the first half of the 20th century, Montreal was a major centre for Yiddish theatre, with The Main (rue St-Laurent) as its base. But as the first immigrants aged and their children assimilated to Canadian culture, the language slowly joined the list of things left behind in the old world. The Jewish community stabilized in enclaves such as Outremont and Cote-St.-Luc, and for years, the Saidye Bronfman's annual Yiddish Theatre was the only place to soak up its cultural offerings. But in the late 1990s, KlezKanada founder Dr. Hy Goldman noticed a growing interest in the language and its music, klezmer (a blend of Eastern European folk music and Jewish traditional melodies). In 1996, KlezKanada began as a series of workshops and jam sessions with musicians from Canada and all over the world. The founders wanted "to try to recreate some of the buzz that went on right after the war," says Goldman. KlezKanada awards scholarships to young musicians who want to learn about Yiddish music, whether or not they are Jewish; Goldman says that one of last year's participants was a six-piece Quebecois band from the provincial capital. At this year's Jazz Festival, KlezKanada will present four bands headed by former youth scholarship recipients. The organisation's annual festival in St. Agathe is an international extravaganza of music, theatre, literature, dance, and art. With a large number of young attendees each year, the festival appears to have reinvigorated the Yiddish cultural scene.
A number of local bands, including DJ Socalled and So what is so special about Yiddish? Why the growing interest in a minority language that has seen such steady decline? For these artists, Yiddish culture represents an emotionally charged history, and a distinct way of seeing the world. And it's not just happening here; Vancouver artist Geoff Berner has had great success writing new klezmer with a hard edge and English titles such as 2005's Whiskey Rabbi. "When I sing in Yiddish I feel like it comes from my heart," says Fiona Stuart, lead singer for The Yiddenes. "It really expresses how I feel more than when I sing in English? I feel connected to my culture, my heritage, myself, and my family." Stuart has been singing in Yiddish since age six, having learned it from her mother. "I hope to pass this on to my children the way my mother passed it on to me," she says. "It's up to our generation to keep it alive."
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