LimmudVan ’14 at the JCC

Serving as a vestige to a homeland and folk, klezmer music in early twentieth-century Montreal and the new diaspora became synonymous with a particular place and time that was physically left behind, yet, was instantly accessible through the music’s soundscapes which connected the Jewish immigrant to their shtetl and the Yidishkayt of their ancestral past. Solely through the sounds and melodies of klezmer music, the Old World, complete with nostalgia, memories, and emotions came to life within a New World context. Based on ethnographic field research, this presentation illuminates an image of a Jewish Montreal filled with song, dance, and celebration. Utilizing interviews, photographs, and documents, this presentation also outlines a comprehensive history of klezmer music within Jewish Montreal from the perspective of the performer as well as the audience member in order to reassert the notion of a particular understanding and experience of this music which subsequently influenced how they perceive the Old World and their identities in the New World.