Join Bubbaville for a weekend of concerts, workshops, dancing, and communal music-making as we celebrate Eastern-European Jewish music and culture. Featuring music by Midwood, Michelle Alany and the Mystics, Yankl Falk, and Varda. Weekend passes and a la carte tickets available here! Please contact bubbavillepdx@gmail.com for work-trade opportunities.
Sunday Workshops at the EJC
1:00-2:30
Yiddish Singing with Yankl Falk and Ethan Chessin
Klezmer for Beginners with Michelle Alany – Are you brand new to klezmer? New to your instrument? Feeling like taking things slowly for any reason whatsoever? This class is for you! Join us for an introduction to klezmer scales, rhythms, ornaments, and melodies. You’ll come away filled with sounds and inspiration to help start you on your klezmer journey.
Finding your Voice: Composing new Jewish Music with Yoshie Fruchter – While we study and experience the amazing history and heritage that we have in klezmer, Jewish music and culture, this workshop is an opportunity to continue writing the future. With Midwood guitarist Yoshie Fruchter, we will explore some new compositional directions that have been taken by boundary crashers and adventurers like John Zorn, Frank London, Jewlia Eisenberg, and Marc Ribot. We will use some of the traditional themes and nuances of Jewish folk music and incorporate whatever new elements we can come up with, including rock, jazz, metal and the avant-garde. Join us as we run Yidl’s Fidl through a sonic blender!
Klezmer for Melodic Players with Jake Shulman-Men – Open to all instrumentalists from intermediate through professional levels, in this workshop we will learn old spiritual and dance melodies by ear in the way klezmer music has traditionally been passed down. We will also learn to phrase, ornament, and accompany the melodies in the Ashkenazic Jewish folk style, and explore modal improvisation using typical Eastern European Jewish motifs and scales.
3:00-4:30
Klezmer Groove Train: a Body Percussion and Rhythmic Flow Class with Richie Barshay – A crash course in body percussion and movement, designed to enhance your groove and rhythmic creativity in the klezmer idiom. For beginners and seasoned musicians alike who are looking to find a little more pocket, rhythmic independence, and more familiarity with klezmer drumming in general. The class will teach traditional rhythms found in klezmer and yiddish music going back to folk yiddish folk dance, with a focus on traditional folk dance and the fundamentals of grounded time and groove. Through elements of the Alexander Technique (Richie is also a certified teacher), you’ll learn to use your body as a gateway to more rhythmic flow!
Yiddish Folklore: Stories, Legends, and Magic with Natan Meir – The Jews of Eastern Europe had a rich folk culture stretching back hundreds of years. In this session we will explore some different genres of Yiddish folklore, including folktales and magical practices such as incantations against the evil eye. We will discuss what makes the Yiddish language and Yiddish folklore unique, and gain a new understanding of Jewish culture.
One Tune, Four Ways with Joshua Horowitz – In this workshop, Josh will take just one simple tune and teach how it can morph from a beguiling doina into a lilting hora, then a meditative khusidl, and finally a rollicking Bulgar, all using the same musical DNA. In this way, students can experience and understand firsthand the elements that make up each of these genres, using both melodic and accompaniment patterns as building blocks. For intermediate to advanced students.