Revival of local Jewish music a response to antisemitsm
"Since 7th October, we have found ourselves relying heavily on music to navigate our emotions through the darkness."
Sydney Jewish music festival Shir Madness, which ran from 2014 to 2018, is being resurrected as SHIR, with plans to launch in 2024.
Asked why the time was right for SHIR to be revived, its director Ben Adler, prominent violinist and founder of klezmer fusion band Chutney, stated, “Since 7th October, we have found ourselves relying heavily on music to navigate our emotions through the darkness. We have experienced the central role music has played in vigils, synagogues and other spaces in which Jews have gathered. We know that the Sydney Jewish community is craving the connection, succour, solidarity, empowerment and catharsis that only music can offer.”
Adler said that SHIR was also born from a response to resurgent antisemitism, as many Jewish musicians felt ostracised from artistic communities who were hostile to Israel.
He said, “We recognise that political partisanship and outright hostility have rendered many spaces and organisations within the broader Sydney cultural landscape increasingly inhospitable to Jewish audiences and artists over recent months.
“We wish to respond creatively and constructively by (re)establishing a space for the highest quality music making in which Jewish audiences and artists are not only welcome but celebrated.”
In contrast to Shir Madness which held an annual festival with many acts, SHIR plans to host several smaller curated events each year.
SHIR held a pitch night in Sydney on January 18, attended by leading Australian Jewish musicians to discuss SHIR’s plans for the year including a concert to commemorate the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
The pitch night was treated to performances by Adler, as well as Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier.
While SHIR is based in Sydney, it hopes to expand to Melbourne in the future.
Adler said, “Jewish music in the Diaspora is rarely heard outside of synagogues, simchas and rallies. We are passionate about creating a platform dedicated to Jewish music and the celebration of Jewish culture in addition to, but separate from, expressly religious and political spaces.”
He added, “We also recognise that there is little more universal than music (and food), and we envisage SHIR as a much-needed gateway to Jewish culture and the lived Jewish experience for non-Jewish allies and friends.”
Adler would like to see SHIR deeply enmeshed within Australia’s Jewish communities and become an integral element of the communal landscape.
comments