“A lot of people love klezmer music and know that it made a big comeback starting around 50 years ago. But not a lot of people know that the klezmer revival of the 70s and 80s was connected to queer Jewish liberation.”

Today we will hear from Eve Sicular, an American queer Jewish woman, and the drummer and leader of the all-female klezmer group, Isle of Klezbos. In excerpts from this JWA podcast episode, we will learn about klezmer music and its role as a tool for activism and self expression for queer Jews. When people think of klezmer music, they may think of religiosity and traditional spaces. This episode will challenge our understanding of the genre and reaffirm how music can be used as a tool for community and belonging. The podcast that we will hear today features host Jen Richler interviewing Eve Sicular.

Listen to 2:00 - 7:35 

Transcript:

Jen: To understand klezmer’s revival in the 1970s and 80s, we first have to talk about its history. It’s not clear exactly when and where klezmer first appeared on the scene, but in the late 1800s in Eastern and Central Europe, it was a key component of weddings and other celebrations.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Jewish immigrants brought the tradition with them to the US. But after World War II, klezmer started to decline, as Jews felt pressure to assimilate. They were more likely to listen to and play the music of other cultures, rather than Jewish music. 

It was only in the ’70s that the klezmer revival really took off, as Jews started to feel more comfortable with their status as Americans. Musicians started discovering old klezmer recordings and composing their own tunes.

The Klezmer Conservatory Band was one of the first klezmer revival bands. Eve heard them when she was a student at Harvard in the early ’80s and was immediately hooked. Klezmer appealed to her drummer’s sensibility—she’d been playing since she was 7. 

Eve: I loved it so much musically—the syncopation, the different kinds of beats that were going on, really danceable, really interesting. It totally excited me.

Jen: She also loved that it spoke to the Jewish part of her identity in a way that other kinds of Jewish music, like Israel folk, hadn’t. What she didn’t know yet was that klezmer would connect her to something else she really cared about: queer liberation. She first got a sense of that when she attended KlezKamp, an annual klezmer festival in the Catskills, in 1989. A friend told her she had to go.

Eve: She said, they have a group there that's calling themselves the Freylekhe Felker. And I knew just enough Yiddish at that point to sort of unpack that. So freylekhe, freylekh, meaning “happy” or “gay.” So it was like, you know, all this play on words, the Freylekhe Felker—you know, the happy gay people. And I was like, “Wait a minute, you are kidding me.”

[horn music plays]

Here was this thing that was this really amazing set of repertoire in so many ways and just…lit up my soul. But then on top of all of that, to have it be this really affirming context for—you know, I had already come out as a lesbian but, there was all kinds of, um, stigma in coming out, and also all kinds of really important political work being done in terms of people not feeling shame, people dealing with the AIDS crisis. And to have this music turn out to be part of a culture, a scene, that really embraced all of that was so incredibly exciting.

Jen: Klezmer and queer activism came together in a dramatic way with the release of the Klezmatics first album in 1989. It was called Shvaygn=Toyt.

Eve: “Shvaygn=Toyt” is literally the translation of one of the main ACT UP slogans, which is “Silence equals death.”

Jen: ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, was an activist group that formed in the late ’80s to fight for an end to the AIDS epidemic. They used the slogan “Silence equals death” on their posters to urge the government and people in general to speak up about the issue. 

Eve: During the Reagan-Bush eras, when, you know, the AIDS crisis first came to be, and the government was not only doing nothing, they were saying nothing. So the whole idea was “No, we are not going to act as though this isn't happening. We're not going to allow this to be something that is suppressed.” So silence equals death and, you know, action equals life. 

And with Yiddish, on the one hand, you could translate that literally—shvaygn is “to be silent,” toyt is “death”—but also in terms of Yiddish culture and in terms of, um, the decades that had elapsed, which saw a decline, you know, in Yiddish culture due to the Hurban, the Holocaust decimation, but also in terms of cultural developments that either assimilation or say, Soviet persecution of Yiddish culture—you know, all these different things influenced the fact that Yiddish was so not heard and so in decline.

So, Shvaygn=Toyt, meaning also that in terms of Yiddish specifically, that silence equals death, and the whole idea of calling a klezmer album with all kinds of, you know, amazing, vibrant Yiddish this name gave it all that many different levels of meaning and power. 

Jen: Here’s Lorin Sklamberg of the Klezmatics singing a song off Shvaygn=Toyt called “Ale Brider,” or “All Brothers.” It’s a classic Yiddish folk song that was popular among Jews in the labor movement. The Klezmatics gave it a queer twist by changing the last verse to “We’re all gay, like Jonathan and King David.” 

[clip of “Ale Brider” plays]

Throughout history and across cultures, popular music and traditions have risen, faded, and been resurfaced in new and unexpected ways. While some languages, traditions, and music forms are lost over time, others are revived and reimagined in a new and unique way. Music has the power to connect people in community and allow them to reimagine or reinvent traditional practices that don’t completely align with their identities and values. This is something we see even today with projects such as ‘Let My People Sing!’ which gathers multi-racial, multicultural, and multi-gender Jewish communities to practice Jewish communal singing. Eve’s words solidify the power of music to connect and empower marginalized people in a community that feels authentic and true to their identities and values. During Pride Month and beyond, it's important to create space for celebrating the diversity of queer Jewish people by lifting up their voices, stories, and the many ways they connect with and express their Jewishness and queerness.

Listen to: 9:41- 12:26

Jen: Eve felt this nostalgia at KlezKamp, and from then on she was all in. She did an intensive Yiddish course at YIVO. She launched a research project about the gay and lesbian subtext of Yiddish cinema in its heyday. And she started playing in klezmer bands herself, first as a substitute drummer.

Eve started Isle of Klezbos in 1998 as a spinoff to Metropolitan Klezmer, a band she’d formed a few years earlier, in which she was the only female. She loved the idea of being in a band with more women. And so, Isle of Klezbos was born.

Eve: One of the reasons that, for me, naming a band Isle of Klezbos did not seem—which it did to a lot of people in ’98, who you know, cared about me, cared about the idea of a music project like this—and “Did you really want to give it that kind of name? Don't you think you're shooting yourself in the foot?” And I was like, “No, I know this is going to appeal to people who I would like to reach”.

Jen: Over the 25 years they’ve been together, Isle of Klezbos has composed and played songs across many genres: traditional folk melodies, tangos, and what they call “late Soviet-era Jewish drinking songs.” They’ve played at countless weddings and b’nei mitzvah celebrations and released three albums. The latest one is called Yiddish Silver Screen, a name that highlights the band’s 25th, or silver, anniversary, and also the fact that many of the songs come from Yiddish films. One is called “Farlangen” and comes from a very well-known film made in 1937, The Dybbuk. It’s sung by Leah, about a man named Khonen who has left. 

Eve: In this scene in the movie, she's singing what seems like a kind of traditional folk song about someone who's going away and, you know, the person left behind who's heartbroken that they are leaving. So, it's called Farlangen, which means—it's something in between longing and, you know, asking for what must be. So I decided since it was Isle of Klezbos performing it, that it would be wonderful, um, to have the language reflect the desire of a woman for a female object of desire. So instead of saying, Der vos iz avekgegangen, the one who has gone away being a male, it's Di vos iz avekgegangen.

[clip of “Farlangen” plays] 

-AND-

Listen to 15:05- 20:37

Jen: How do you think your modern queer klezmer band relates to klezmer's traditional legacy, tracing back to the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, being played at weddings, and that kind of interplay between the traditional and the, you know, the modern, and bringing it into today?

Eve: Yeah, I want to talk about that. And I also want to say…I wouldn't necessarily call the band, um, any one thing. You know, like, we had a great experience a number of times where Isle of Klezbos was brought into a setting that you might really say, “Wow, that's amazing that that particular synagogue brought you—you know, they seem very staid,” but they would be loving having this band. I don't really want to say there's no such thing as a queer band, but these are very fluid concepts. 

So anyway, yeah, it's really great to be also brought to play at many different kinds of weddings. I think that sometimes, people who brought us to play at a wedding that might be a guy marrying a woman, it would be sort of a gesture to say, “Yes, we're embracing tradition, but we want that tradition to not be something too rigid,” you know? 

Eve: One of the things that's really exciting me is that so many people who are doing this now are just taking things to, you know, incredible places and coming at it from all the other experiences they've had.

Having music that you can relate to and continually reinterpret, you know, it gives people that much more ability to connect with each other and have dance parties and protest songs and songs of love, songs of— you know, ballads, tragic understandings. There are all these ways in which things are feeding back into having a vibrant, creative Yiddish culture now. And that is inspiring, and wonderful.

[clip of “A Glezele Yash” fades up]

Activity #1: Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions - Adult Learners

• How does music help you connect with your Jewish identity and practice?
• Are there particular tunes or niguns (melodies) that are core to your holidays, cultural/religious practices? Do you know anything interesting about them?
• How does the preservation, revitalization, and reimagining of traditional Jewish music contribute to the continuity of cultural identity within the Jewish diaspora?
• The queer klezmer scene created a safe space for queer Jews to express themselves and come together. What kind of spaces (physical, cultural, spiritual, religious) do you think are still missing and/or underrepresented in Jewish communities today, particularly for marginalized voices? 

Discussion Questions - Grades 9 - 12

• How do song and music help you connect with your Jewish identity and practice?
• Are there particular tunes or niguns (melodies) that are core to your holidays, cultural/religious practices? What are some memories or stories associated with the song(s)?
• In what ways can music act as an identity-affirming tool that nurtures community, diversity and communities on the periphery? What are some examples you can think of from today?
• How can breathing new life into traditional/cultural Jewish music strengthen the Jewish artistic landscape?
• How is klezmer music a reflection of societal changes?

Discussion Questions - Grades 4 - 8

• Did you know about klezmer music as a Jewish genre of music before listening to the podcast? If yes, what did you know? If not, what are you most surprised about?
• What are some of your favourite Jewish songs? What do the songs mean to you?
• How does music help people feel like they belong in a community?
• Is it important to breathe new life into traditional Jewish music? Why or why not?
• How is Eve Sicular’s story a lesson to us about community and belonging? 
• What do you find inspiring about Eve’s story? 

Activity #2: Big Paper

This activity is best suited for adult learners & Grades 9-12. 

Facilitate a silent conversation using the Big Paper Activity. In this exercise, participants read and respond to selected excerpts by writing their thoughts and questions directly on large sheets of paper, allowing everyone to contribute at their own comfort level. While the room should remain silent until the group discussion at the end of the activity, you may want to play klezmer music from Eve’s YouTube in the background.

Instructions:

1. Print out the following excerpts from the podcast and tape them onto larger pieces of construction paper. 
2. Engage in a silent reflection activity where learners are assigned an excerpt to read and respond to by writing comments of the texts, and posing questions to each other. 
3. Learners rotate to other excerpts and respond to their classmates’ comments and questions.
4. Everyone returns to their assigned excerpt and the silence is broken to engage in a full-group discussion about what they noticed and what they learned. 
   

Big Paper #1: “It's interesting, because on the one hand, it was not obviously encouraged to come out as a gay or lesbian or queer person when I was growing up. And also Yiddish was, you know, in many ways…either ignored or derided or just seen as something, um, interesting, but kind of antique…

So both of these things, which I was so thrilled to discover, um, they were just things that were discouraged, things that were not valued. On the other hand, you know, to find them actively celebrated together was just amazing. And in a kind of homecoming way, you would feel—I mean, there's a saying that, you know, you can be nostalgic for a place you've never seen or a place you've never been before.” - Eve 

Big Paper #2: “Here was this thing that was this really amazing set of repertoire in so many ways and just…lit up my soul. But then on top of all of that, to have it be this really affirming context for—you know, I had already come out as a lesbian but, there was all kinds of, um, stigma in coming out, and also all kinds of really important political work being done in terms of people not feeling shame, people dealing with the AIDS crisis. And to have this music turn out to be part of a culture, a scene, that really embraced all of that was so incredibly exciting.” -Eve

Big Paper #3: “One of the things that's really exciting me is that so many people who are doing this now are just taking things to, you know, incredible places and coming at it from all the other experiences they've had…Having music that you can relate to and continually reinterpret, you know, it gives people that much more ability to connect with each other and have dance parties and protest songs and songs of love, songs of— you know, ballads, tragic understandings. There are all these ways in which things are feeding back into having a vibrant, creative Yiddish culture now. And that is inspiring, and wonderful.” - Eve

Big Paper #4: “We had a great experience a number of times where Isle of Klezbos was brought into a setting that you might really say, “Wow, that's amazing that that particular synagogue brought you—you know, they seem very staid,” but they would be loving having this band. I don't really want to say there's no such thing as a queer band, but these are very fluid concepts. 

So anyway, yeah, it's really great to be also brought to play at many different kinds of weddings. I think that sometimes, people who brought us to play at a wedding that might be a guy marrying a woman, it would be sort of a gesture to say, “Yes, we're embracing tradition, but we want that tradition to not be something too rigid,” you know?” - Eve

Option #1 (10 minutes): Ask participants to reflect on and share their responses to the following prompt:

I came here thinking __________________

I’m leaving here thinking ________________

Option #2 (20-30 min): Klezmer music is known for its emotion, rhythm, and melodic style that emulates the human voice, often imitating crying, laughing, or wailing. To conclude this session, allow participants to explore the works of Isle of Klezbos. Each participant will spend 10 minutes listening to the songs and will choose one song that they connect to most to analyze and talk about with the group. They can mention:

• Rhythmic patterns 
• Range of emotions 
• Speed/tempo 
• Instrumentation
• Melodic style 
• & more!

Once everyone has had enough time, the facilitator should guide participants to share their responses. 

Option #3 (10 minutes): 

Adult learners and high school students can share their favorite Jewish song(s).

Children can draw a picture of how they feel listening to Klezmer music- what do they see?