Portland EJC tune workshop 2025 — Moldavian & Bessarabia Jewish tunes

Zev Feldman tells a story that when he spoke to a Moscow radio producer in the 70s he said that they couldn’t play Moldavian music on the radio because it was too Jewish! I spent two years in Romania on a Fulbright grant (and many years after) trying to understand how Moldavian and Jewish music influenced each other. So what’s the secret? Two highly professionalized musical clans— Roma Lautari and Jewish klezmorim—playing on each other’s gigs to service the jumble of ethnic and social groups in early twentieth century Bessarabia. This workshop will present some of the musical discoveries I’ve made on this journey — klezmer tunes flipped on their head to suit fast Moldavian dances, khosidls drafted into Christian wedding rituals, and Moldavian dance tunes that would feel right at home at a Jewish wedding today.

Tunes will be taught by ear and with sheet music in various clefs. All ages and instruments are welcome.

All Ages $18/Person, Register Here