{"id":41729,"date":"2023-07-07T01:58:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T08:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=41729"},"modified":"2023-07-06T16:19:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T23:19:28","slug":"connect-with-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/07\/07\/connect-with-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Connect with music"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oot n\u2019 Oots band helps launch Mission Folk Music Festival. (photo from Mission Folk Music Festival)<\/em><\/p>\n

Family band the Oot n\u2019 Oots helps kick off the Mission Folk Music Festival on July 21, as part of the main-stage lineup that opens the weekend of concerts and workshops. Several other Jewish community members are also participating over the weekend, including Boris Sichon, Jesse Waldman and Abigail Lapell, who helps close out the annual event on the evening of July 23.<\/p>\n

The theme of this year\u2019s festival builds on last year\u2019s, said artistic director Michelle Demers Shaevitz, also a member of the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2022,\u201d she said, \u201cI programmed a festival that reflected the experience of homecoming, the coming back together of our community, our festival family. This year, I\u2019m digging into the process and ideas of connection and reconnection, as we move through our experiences beyond that initial homecoming and return to the festival. For me, the idea of reconnection speaks to getting to know who we are as a community post-pandemic and how we have changed\/emerged as a result of our experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to our 2023 artists through the ways they express their connection to their homelands, their languages, their heritage and cultures, and musical traditions,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt\u2019s how Okan celebrates their roots to their homeland of Cuba and her languages and stories, while Terra Spencer sings of the Maritime landscapes and communities around her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be reconnecting to language, as Cedric Watson and Jourdan Thibidoux explore their roots in the Creole community based in Louisiana alongside Wesli, who sings in his Haitian Creole of home and in French from his newly adopted community in Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the ways that Leonard Sumner and Twin Flames sing their connections to their heritage or how Alysha Brilla presents her identity in her songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, she said, it\u2019s how the Jewish musicians weave their Jewishness into their stories and songs.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a>
Boris Sichon on TikTok, playing an instrument he made himself. (screenshot)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sichon, a classically trained percussionist, plays more than 400 different instruments from around the world, many of which would send most of us to the internet to find out what they are, such as mayuri, zurna and agogo bells. He can also make music from wrenches, plastic containers, kitchen bowls and even rocks \u2013 basically, anything. His TikTok videos are quite entertaining and mind-broadening. It\u2019s easy to see why he is in demand for school and other educational workshops. He told the Independent<\/em> he is currently \u201cin the process of preparing a new program with an accent on voice and wind instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to perform for kids,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives them an opportunity to travel around the world with exotic musical instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n

In performances, Sichon sings songs about \u201clove, friendship and freedom [in] Ukrainian, Gypsy, Russian and Yiddish.\u201d He also plays klezmer, and has taken part in the International Klezmer Festival in Jerusalem for many years. He has played at and collaborated with the Mission folk fest many times and, at this year\u2019s festival, he takes part in a Sunday afternoon session, called Global Routes, with Dongyang Gozupa and Robin Layne & the Rhythm Makers.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Jesse Waldman (photo from Mission Folk Music Festival)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earlier that Sunday afternoon, Waldman takes to the stage as well. A blues and folk artist, the Independent <\/em>spoke with him ahead of his participation in the 2019 festival (jewishindependent.ca\/blues-klezmer-at-mission<\/a>). A couple of years ago, he shared more about himself and the importance of family in a piece for the JI <\/em>about being inspired by his great-grandmother, Adele Waldman, to reimagine the Yiddish song \u201cPapirosen\u201d (jewishindependent.ca\/a-great-grandmothers-song<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Making her debut at the Mission Folk Music Festival is Lapell, with a shared session on Saturday (with Alysha Brilla) and on Sunday (with Terra Spencer), as well as being part of the festival closing concert. She said \u201cthere\u2019s so much great music on the lineup \u2013 personally, I\u2019m especially excited for the workshop stages, to have a chance to collaborate with and get inspired by artists from across Canada and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based in Toronto, Lapell\u2019s latest album, Stolen Time<\/em>, which came out last year, earned her a 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award for English songwriter of the year. She was similarly recognized in 2020 for her album Getaway<\/em> and she received a CFMA for contemporary album of the year in 2017 for Hide Nor Hair.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always trying to challenge myself as a writer and collaborator,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the chance to work with so many great players and personnel on these albums and I think it\u2019s really helped me grow from one project to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapell has always sung.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinging and writing songs is very intuitive to me and definitely a big source of comfort and community,\u201d she said. \u201cUltimately, I think it\u2019s such a primal thing, singing and sharing music \u2013 for me, it\u2019s a way of connecting with myself, with nature and with the world at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Abigail Lapell (photo by Jen Squires)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her Jewishness finds its way into her work subtly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find my writing is infused with a lot of biblical and natural imagery,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very drawn to stylized, sometimes repetitive language, whether prayerful or playful or both. I was raised in a religious Jewish family, and I think there\u2019s a reverent spirit to my music \u2013 and sometimes a touch of gentle dissonance or wry humour \u2013 that reflects some of the Hebrew and Yiddish traditions I grew up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Oot n\u2019 Oots \u2013 16-year-old Ruthie Cipes (voice, ukulele) with her dad Ezra (voice, guitar, keys) and uncles Ari (voice, guitar, keys), Gabe (voice, bass) and Matthew (voice, drums) \u2013 Judaism and Jewish community are important parts of their lives, but don\u2019t necessarily influence their music.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re grateful for the wisdom of our ancestors and the culture bestowed since Abraham,\u201d wrote Ezra and Ari in an email interview with the Independent<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a great gift that makes our lives rich and meaningful. We\u2019re members of the Okanagan Jewish Community and supporters of Chabad Okanagan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family lives in Kelowna.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur parents moved us from Westchester County in New York to Kelowna, B.C., in 1987,\u201d said the brothers. \u201cThey wanted to get off the money-go-round and be farmers living in connection with the earth. They ended up founding Summerhill Estate Winery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oot n\u2019 Oots was formed in 2007, when Ruthie was born, \u201cbut it really got going in 2015 once Ruth joined the band. We released our first album in 2016, although it was mostly recorded back in 2007. Then we made two more albums after our elder brother Matthew joined the band on drums.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group is currently recording their fourth album. Their third album, Ponderosa Bunchgrass and the Golden Rule<\/em>, was nominated for a 2023 CFMA for children\u2019s album of the year and it also garnered a 2022 Juno Award nomination \u2013 they were named Children\u2019s Artist of the Year at the 2022 Western Canadian Music Awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe write songs to make each other laugh and to inspire each other. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve always done and it\u2019s what we continue to do,\u201d said the brothers. \u201cIt\u2019s a practice that\u2019s ongoing. We want it to continue to be meaningful as we all grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the awards may refer to children\u2019s music, the Oot n\u2019 Oots describe their music as \u201call generations together music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the sweet spot for us \u2013 when it\u2019s toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents all on the dancefloor together,\u201d said Ezra and Ari. \u201cWe have a couple of other musical projects that we do, but the Oot n\u2019 Oots is our focus because it seems to provide the most tangible value, and it feels really good to bring that energy of joy to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the festival opener, the Oot n\u2019 Oots play a few sessions with other musicians over the weekend, which takes place at Fraser River Heritage Park. The festival includes food and artisan market vendors, as well as a licensed bistro, and attendees can choose to camp in the park for an additional fee. For the full lineup and tickets, visit missionfolkmusicfestival.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oot n\u2019 Oots band helps launch Mission Folk Music Festival. (photo from Mission Folk Music Festival) Family band the Oot n\u2019 Oots helps kick off the Mission Folk Music Festival on July 21, as part of the main-stage lineup that opens the weekend of concerts and workshops. Several other Jewish community members are also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[22445,22444,9133,21629,9136,22443],"class_list":["post-41729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-abigail-lapell","tag-boris-sichon","tag-jesse-waldman","tag-michelle-demers-shaevitz","tag-mission-folk-music-festival","tag-oot-n-oots"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}