Bridging the heartfelt and heartbreak with soaring celebration, traditional and contemporary Yiddish music will fill the air this July as the Yidstock festival returns to the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. The four-day cultural celebration, running from Thursday, July 9, through Sunday, July 12, features an array of concerts, talks, workshops and film screenings.
The music lineup includes singer-songwriter Riki Rose; klezmer ensemble Levyosn, singer Eleanor Reissa performing with the band Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars; Yiddish folk singer Ethel Raim performing with The Socalled Band, led by rapper Socalled; singer and composer Jordan Wax; Yiddish folk band Midwood; and klezmer group The Klezmatics, who will be celebrating a 40th anniversary at the festival.
The Klezmatics have performed at almost every Yidstock, and Artistic Director Seth Rogovoy noted the group served as the initial inspiration for the festival due to a unique approach of blending outside genre influences with traditional klezmer and Yiddish music. The anniversary concert, Rogovoy said, is going to “be a celebration for them, who really launched the modern klezmer renaissance that we’re still living in.”
Rose, raised in the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, praised the artistic pairing. “The way that music and Yiddish go together, it’s just beautiful,” Rose said, adding that the language is “already musical” and possesses “a kind of krechtz” — a sigh or a groan — which creates a “form of art that’s just one-of-a-kind” when set to music.
“We’re trying to keep [the language] alive and going, and through music, I feel like that’s a very good way to reach people who don’t know Yiddish as well, because music is universal,” she said.
Rose said her dialect of Yiddish will be somewhat different from what most other people at the festival speak, but even those who speak other dialects of it will still be able to understand her and enjoy her show.
“It’s gonna be amazing. We’re gonna rock out, we’re gonna have a good time, and it’s gonna be really fun,” she said.
In fact, a new addition to the festival will make it possible for more people to understand the performances: all of the concerts will feature supertitles, like those in opera houses, translating Yiddish lyrics into English. About a third of the audience, by Rogovoy’s estimation, is familiar enough with Yiddish that they might not need supertitles, but even those who don’t know Yiddish will still be able to enjoy the programming.
“You don’t have to speak the language. You don’t need any kind of fluency to enjoy it on a lot of levels,” Rogovy said. “Obviously, the more you understand about it, the more you can appreciate it, but that’s a high bar, so we’re not looking for that.”
Plus, he added, non-fluency doesn’t keep guests away from Yidstock.
“People know they’re coming to a Yiddish music festival, and … we usually sell out most of the concerts, so we must be doing something right,” Rogovoy said.
When asked what makes Yiddish music so special, Rogovoy highlighted its deep historical roots and unique emotional resonance.
“As we like to say, it laughs and cries, and it evokes those emotions very often when it’s at its best among listeners. Some of it is heartfelt and heartbreaking, and some of it is celebratory, and a lot of it is dance music,” he said, adding that there are also a lot of pro-labor and anti-fascist songs in Yiddish as well. “[Yiddish music is] hard to encapsulate because it’s a whole world unto itself.”
He noted that providing Yiddish-speaking musicians, especially contemporary ones, a platform to share their work is crucial to keeping the language alive and “perfectly melds with the mission of the Yiddish Book Center itself.”
Still, he said, the festival isn’t looking to grow into something bigger; the four-day format works well as it is.
“We’re not looking to expand,” Rogovoy said. “All we’re looking for each year is to put on a combination of fun, entertaining, interesting, challenging, provocative, intellectual … and cutting-edge Yiddish music.”
Admission to Yidstock events varies in price. To purchase tickets or for more information about the festival, including a full schedule, visit yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock. Admission to the Klezmatics’ concert is sold out, but livestream passes are available for all of the concerts.
