Eden Glasman – fiddle
Isaac Beaudet-Lefebvre – fiddle, feet, and vocals
Zafer Mamili – fiddle and viola
Mélina Mauger-Lavigne – Québecois step-dance, bodhran, and vocals
Everest Witman – guitar and vocals
Avia Moore – Yiddish dance

Laura Risk
Interviewed by Avia Moore

The Frying Pan and the Fire by A. Lutzky
Translated from Yiddish by Asya Vaisman Schulman
Read by Asya Vaisman Schulman
Images and edit by Magdalena Hutter

Music coordinated by Isaac Beaudet-Lefebvre
Sound Engineering by Everest Whitman
Filmed by, and in the beautiful kitchen of, Tamás Wormser
Edited by Magdalena Hutter

Produced by KlezKanada, 2022
www.klezkanada.org

With thanks:

This concert was made possible thanks in part to the Earl Parker Award for Jewish Film, generously presented to KlezKanada by the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival and the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, Alberta.

This concert was made possible thanks in part to the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.

 

Conceived and produced for the KlezKanada 2022 Digital Intensive, this digital concert features an iconic tradition of the Canadian folk scene – a kitchen party! Cherished by many cultural traditions across Canada, the Kitchen Party conjures a welcoming scene of good company, good cheer, and good tunes. What does it look like, I asked, for Jewish culture to take a seat at the table?

For this digital concert, I gathered friends – and friends of friends – of KlezKanada to gather around the kitchen table to share klezmer, Quebecois, Newfoundland, and Irish tunes. Interspersed with the music and dance, I included Yiddish poetry from the kitchen and an interview with musician and musicologist Laura Risk who frames the artistic content with scholarship and context on the role of the Kitchen Party in Canadian culture.

Over the physical distancing necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we missed these joyful gatherings. As we began to meet again, we knew that it was not yet safe enough for everyone to gather or to travel. Therefore, we wanted to feature this concert as part of the 2022 Digital Intensive so that we could send our Kitchen Party into everyone’s kitchen, no matter the distance!