26th Jewish Culture Festival

Saturday, June 25, 2016 - Sunday, July 3, 2016

  • Saturday, June 25, 2016 - Sunday, July 3, 2016
  • ICE Kraków Congress Centre, ul. Konopnickiej 17
  • Alchemia, ul. Estery 5
  • Pod Baranami Cinema, Rynek Główny 27
  • Cheder Cafe, ul. Józefa 36
  • Jewish Community Centre, ul. Miodowa 24
  • Tempel Synagogue, ul. Miodowa 24
  • High Synagogue, ul. Józefa 38
  • Bez Rzędów Theatre, ul. Krakowska 13
  • Forum Przestrzenie, ul. Konopnickiej 28

25 June – 3 July 2016

Remembering Zion

The Diaspora and the Sabbath are the leading themes of this year’s Jewish Culture Festival. For the 26th time, the event becomes a bridge connecting different nations, traditions and hearts – after all, we are all constant exiles of this world.


“By the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion,” as Psalm 137 tells us. This year’s festival demonstrates that the concept of the diaspora continues to gain new meanings. It allowed Jews to create a rich, diverse culture demonstrating the spiritual strength of Israel. In a world where there is nowhere without refugees and migrants, it reminds us that their presence doesn’t have to be negative – quite the opposite: it can contribute to the colourful cultural melting-pot. “I hope that the Jewish and Polish experiences will help us gain a better understanding of the changes taking place before our very eyes,” says Janusz Makuch, director of the festival.
The second motif is the Sabbath, the Hebrew word meaning rest. During the numerous meetings and lectures we will discover the religious and secular aspects of the most important Jewish celebration which shapes the Jewish people’s identity and their relationship with the world. It is an important communal experience for believers and non-believers, with the latter appreciating the benefits of observing Sabbath rites. Both the ideas guiding the 26th Jewish Culture Festival (25 June – 3 July) will be revealed through an extensive, diverse programme.

Musical Sabbath

Fulfilling the duty of joy (oneg Shabbat) will be provided during the event to the rhythm of Mizrahi music combining Arabic, European and African elements: on the Sabbath evening on 25 June, Forum Przestrzenie hosts the Israeli DJs Khen Elmaleh and David Pearl. And that’s just the start of the series of club music concerts.
On Sunday (26 June), the Tempel Synagogue resounds with the singing of cantors. At noon, we will hear the most beautiful Sabbath hymns performed by Benzion Miller accompanied by the piano virtuoso Menachem Bristowski; during the evening concert By the Rivers Of Babylon…, they will be joined by Yaakov Lemmer, Avraham Kirshenbaum and the Choir of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue under the baton of Elli Jaffe with Sinfonietta Cracovia. The stage at Cheder Cafe traditionally belongs to the young generation: we will see Ola Bilińska and ensemble performing Libelid, a cycle of pre-war love songs in Yiddish.

Diverse sounds

As every year, classical, avant-garde, Ashkenazi and Sephardic music intertwines at the festival’s music scenes. This year, many ensembles cannot be classified easily. Examples include the Glass House Orchestra combining klezmer and Roma music (26 June, Tempel Synagogue) and the Kronos Quartet; known for their musical innovation and artistic vision, they perform with the festival’s icon David Krakauer (28 June, Tempel Synagogue). The ensemble Ouzo Bazooka intertwines exotic sounds of the Middle East with hard rock (29 June, Alchemia). Riff Cohen joins the festival for the first time (30 June, Forum Przestrzenie). The Israeli artist of Algerian and Tunisian origins sings in French, combining influences of many cultures in a dazzling, lively way. But the most explosive music blend comes from the joint concert by the Israeli quartet Boom Pam and Selda Bağcan, legend of the Turkish scene of the 1970s and 1980s, known as the “bitter voice of the Turks”.

There’s plenty to choose from!

The Jewish Culture Festival is about much more than just music. As every year, the organisers are hosting meetings, lectures and workshops. Walking in the footsteps of Cracovian Jews who lived in Kazimierz, around the Main Market Square and in Podgórze, we’ll discover traces of mezuzahs at gates to tenement houses. The literary cycle co-hosted by the Kraków Festival Office brings a debate between four authors – Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska, Łukasz Orbitowski, Jarosław Mikołajewski and Paweł Smoleński – and a promotion of the biography Marek Edelman. Being On the Right Side with the participation of the authors Witold Bereś and Krzysztof Burnetko. And there will be workshops for kids: as part of the Styczne project, recalling the tradition of the former School of Crafts, young guests will create works using traditional techniques with elements of artistic handicrafts typical of the Jewish community.

***
139 events as part of the main programme and over 100 accompanying events, 151 artists, lecturers and instructors from around the world, and 30,000 (!) expected visitors – that’s the 26th Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków in numbers. But don’t lose your heads! Everyone will be able to find their own tikkun olam (righteousness). More about festival events, including the contemporary dance spectacle at ICE Kraków Congress Centre, in the July issue of “Karnet”. (Justyna Skalska, Karnet magazine)


www.jewishfestival.pl

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