THE GOLDEN DREYDL
A KLEZMER "NUTCRACKER" FOR CHANUKAH
It's a family entertainment featuring the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky ingeniously adapted by Shirim Klezmer Orchestra with an original story written and narrated by Sound & Spirit host Ellen Kushner.
The story:
Sara is a little girl with a problem: She hates the annual family Chanukah party! But when a mysterious party guest gives her the gift of a golden dreydl, Sara is catapulted into a magical world of demons and fools, sorcerers and sages.
The background:
Shirim originally recorded klezmer arrangements of dances from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite on their 1998 album, Klezmer Nutcracker. Combining Shirim's music with Ellen's storytelling was a natural...
Ellen Kushner says: "Getting to collaborate with Shirim was a dream come true! Together we wanted to create a new holiday story rich in Jewish themes and values. It's like: 'Tchaikovsky meets Harry Potter and they go to a Jewish wedding!'"
Shirim leader Glenn Dickson explains how they "klezmerized" a holiday classic: "Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite shares Russian roots with klezmer music...When we started to experiment, the results surprised us: this was not just a novelty, but a piece of music which made sense and had its own integrity and charm."
In the 19th century, no Eastern European Jewish celebration was complete without the music of wandering musicians called klezmorim: a Yiddish term drawn from the Hebrew words for "instrument" and "song." A single musician was known as a klezmer, and the music he played was also called klezmer. Klezmer was an improvised blend of village tunes from Hungary or Romania or Russia...wherever they chanced to be...as well as synagogue chant, mothers' lullabies and whatever else struck the ears of these wandering entertainers, including music played by their fellow-travellers, the Gypsies. Often the two joined forces to play at huge weddings and the like.
In the great immigration period of 1890-1910, klezmer musicians came to America, where they encountered jazz, the blues, ragtime... It all became part of the rich mix of American klezmer sound. Then, as Shirim explains, "The Great Depression forced out many of the small record labels that had record klezmer... The klezmer sound survived in a much reduced role in Jewish weddings and Bar Mitvahs"--that is, until the folk revival of the 1970's, when young Jewish musicians searching for their roots found old 78's in their parents' attics, and old surviving klezmorim still eager to share their memories and their riffs... The Klezmer Revival was born, and today is still going strong, taking klezmer into the 21st century.
THE RADIO SPECIAL
The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer "Nutcracker" is a special holiday production from the people who bring you the weekly public radio series, Sound & Spirit.
During the 2007 Chanukah season, The Golden Dreydl will broadcast on public radio stations around the country during the first week and a half of December. Consult the Sound & Spirit Station Listings to see if your station is among them; if not, listen online!
The Golden Dreydl features a powerful King and Queen, threatening Demons, a wise and tricky Fool, Riddles and lots of new Klezmer music. As Sound & Spirit host, Ellen has devoted complete shows to these related topics:
The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer "Nutcracker" is available from Rykodisc!
For more information about this recording, check out the WGBH Shop or the Rykodisc online Catalog.
Reviews of The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer "Nutcracker" have been published in Strange Horizons and on Klezmershack.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
Ellen Kushner & Shirim
Photo credit: Michael LutchThere will be at least FOUR live performances of The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer "Nutcracker" in 2007. Please visit www.EllenKushner.com for her 2007 performance schedule.
Here are interviews with Ellen about past performances in Philadelphia and New York City.
To arrange for a performance of The Golden Dreydl in your community, contact Eric Rosenthal, (617) 522-2900 - E-mail: ear@shirim.com
FALL 2007 - Ellen Kushner's new children's book, The Golden Dreydl, a book-length version of her original story, is published by Charlesbridge Publishing, with illustrations by Ilene Winn-Lederer
HOME | About the Series | Programs | Stations and Times
Feedback | Above and Beyond | Sound & Spirit Albums | Listen Online
Sound & Spirit | WGBH Boston | Public Radio International
