Musical cultures will come together this week for two evenings of festivities at the Manchester Jewish Museum.
Building on a five-year collaboration, students from the University of Manchester will take to the stage alongside three prominent Mancunian-Irish musicians in an unprecedented sonic culture-clash of traditional Jewish Klezmer and Irish Folk, in concerts which will also involve several generations of traditional Irish performers.
The idea is the brainchild of Richard Fay who, along with co-founder Ros Hawley, trained the university’s ensemble and will be hosting the events on Thursday and Sunday.
Richard told MM: “This is a really exciting bringing-together of two musical traditions and two sets of very talented musicians who know their music in different ways.
Irish and jewish musical fusion happening next week – not to be missed with @LChaimK #klezmer #irish #music @UoMNews pic.twitter.com/JGipKa9yT8
— Hat Wells (@hat_wells) 28 February 2016
“The university Klezmer ensemble has been playing at the museum regularly for the last four or five years, but we’ve only had one event where there was a taste of Irish music involved, in December, which was a taster for this concert.”
The ensemble is better known as the Michael Kahan Kapelye, named after Manchester-born and educated Jewish musician Michael Kahan, who was tragically killed in a random act of street violence eight years ago.
And Richard believes the project has grown into a fitting tribute to his memory.
“Ros Hawley used to play in a duo with Michael Kahan,” he said.
“When she and I set up the university ensemble we could have just called it the Manchester University Klezmer Ensemble or something boring like that, but we thought it would be nice to name it in Michael’s honour.
“Every year the ensemble includes the next generation of students – at the last concert at the museum we had four generations of students who were part of the Michael Kahan Kapelye.
“We bring those different generations together for a Chanukah concert every year.”
At the last of those concerts, they managed to get thirty musicians on stage for the final piece of the evening.
And although Jewish and Irish musical culture has thrived in recent years, a proper bringing-together of the two is very much a first for the city.
Thankyou #klezmer musicians and audience! What a fantastic night!! #synagigs pic.twitter.com/NKj50NOBxP
— MCR Jewish Museum (@ManJewishMuseum) 10 December 2015
“It’s not the first time this kind of experiment has been tried – there have been two in the past, but none in Manchester,” said Richard.
“So it’s an idea that’s kind of pushing against an open door. But we’ve taken it and we’ve pushed the door wide open, and given it a Manchester feel.
“The product the audience sees is itself the result of a very interesting process.”
The remaining component of the act is made up of Mike McGoldrick, Dezi Donnelly and Angela Durcan (of Toss the Feathers), who will be adding a splash of Irish Folk.
While Richard has played a huge part in the education of the Klezmer ensemble, his association with Jewish musical tradition is a relatively recent venture, and Irish culture is entrenched in his own roots.
“I’m Anglo-Irish-Catholic so I went through Manchester schools, mixing with other kids from Irish backgrounds, so I was familiar with Irish music,” Richard said.
“I’ve been playing music in the city for the last thirty-odd years, on the Irish side. My involvement with Klezmer is more recent, closer to eight years.
“It’s interesting for me because the two communities, and their music, are very different in some ways but also very similar in others.
“They’re both immigrant communities, they both came with the wrong language, the wrong religion, the wrong culture, they experienced discrimination and both lived in really poor conditions.
“But they looked after each other and both communities prospered and contributed to the city.”
And to Richard, whose day-job is as an intercultural educator, the concerts are as much about social and historical awareness for the current generation as they are about music.
“Going up Cheatham Hill Road, one of the most culturally-diverse streets in the UK, isn’t on most students’ map,” he said.
Manchester Jewish Museum https://t.co/rGfQRGwzID pic.twitter.com/GUiAer0Bis
— Subhadrika Sen (@SenSubhadrika) 20 December 2015
“But now we have students playing Klezmer as part of reminiscence days at the Jewish residential homes, particularly with the residents who have dementia, with the idea that music is a great encourager of memories.
“As part of the education we want to encourage the two types of music continue to be played, so I do that through the university and Angela [Durcan] does it in the community with the young Irish kids.”
A few of said students have also created a documentary on Klezmer to be shown as part of the gig on Sunday afternoon.
“They’ve interviewed all the people around Manchester who have been involved with Klezmer to create a documentary about its development and presence in the city, and what it means to them,” Richard said.
“It investigates the story of Klezmer in Manchester from the music’s revival in the 1990s to its flourishing scene in the present day.
“The film has people at its heart, giving both musicians and non-musicians alike an opportunity to express their relationship with Klezmer and its potential development in Manchester, while also featuring live performances of some well-known tunes.
“It’s about people and passion.”
For more information on the event, click here.
Image courtesy of David Dixon, via Geograph, with thanks
