Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 8, 2022

When the Elm Duo sings these words on March 18, Mike Bell will be thinking of his grandfather, and millions more:

Sorrow, sorrow, for my beloved

For my cherished native lands

Sorrow, sorrow, my heart does weep so

Never will I be able to see it again

The words are translated from the Ukrainian song Hej Sokoly, which Bell and his daughter Eleanor Mayerfeld, the other half of the Elm Duo, will perform later this month at North Street Cabaret.

Musicians from left, Elm Duo members Mike Bell and Eleanor Mayerfeld, and Yid Vicious band members Anna Purnell, Daithi Wolfe, Greg Smith, Kia Karlen and Geoff Brady gather on the steps of the state Capitol after Saturday's Rally in Support of Ukraine.

The show will feature the father-daughter duo as well as the Madison klezmer group Yid Vicious, and is a benefit for the humanitarian aid nonprofit UnitedHelpUkraine.org.

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Musicians from both groups also were at Saturdays Rally in Support of Ukraine on Capitol Square. Four members of Yid Vicious horn and accordion player Kia Karlen, percussionist Geoff Brady, clarinetist Greg Smith and vocalist Anna Purnell played with the Forward Marching Band to welcome hundreds of participants to the rally.

Anna Purnell, center, sings with the Forward Marching Band before the start of Saturday's Rally in Support of Ukraine on Capitol Square. Purnell and several other of the band's musicians also perform with Yid Vicious, a klezmer group co-headlining a benefit for Ukraine March 18 at North Street Cabaret.

I think its really important for the artistic community here in Madison to band together and show support for artists and everybody in Ukraine, Karlen said.

Yid Vicious also will perform March 19 at the International Festival, a free, annual, all-day event that is returning to the Overture Center after a pandemic-induced hiatus.

The festival fills Overture with concerts and performances by local artists featuring arts and cultural traditions from around the world. That includes the UW Russian Folk Orchestra, a long-standing feature of the festival.

Honestly, I hate whats going on in Ukraine, said Victor Gorodinsky, founder and director of the UW Russian Folk Orchestra, who placed a We stand with Ukraine! message on the orchestras Facebook page.

Its absolutely horrific. I have friends in Ukraine, he said.

The UW Russian Folk Orchestra plays music from across eastern Europe, including Ukraine.

About the music

Still, Gorodinsky felt compelled to reach out to his orchestra members and to International Festival organizer Karra Beach to make sure they were comfortable with the idea of the orchestra performing.

Weve played the International Festival for years, Gorodinsky said of his apolitical group. I assume most people who attend our concerts are smart and intelligent enough to realize that all we do is play music.

Backed by musicians of the Forward Marching Band, Nataliya Akulenko, a native of Ukraine who lives in Madison, waves the Ukrainian flag before the start of Saturday's Rally in Support of Ukraine.

The orchestra plays some Russian music, but we also do some Ukrainian numbers, as well as music from Poland and other eastern European countries, said Gorodinsky, who emigrated from Russia to the U.S. 40 years ago. Our programs are always mixed.

The 36-member UW Russian Folk Orchestra, composed of UW-Madison students, retired faculty and community members, has been around for 25 years and plays music on traditional instruments. The Slavic-style costumes the group purchased just before the COVID-19 shutdown were made in Ukraine, Gorodinsky said.

Overtures International Festival is designed to create a safe space for community performers and cultural traditions to come together, Beach said. Although performers are bound by their contracts not to make political statements at the festival, Beach said she would not be surprised if some express sympathy for the people of Ukraine from the stage.

I dont consider that political, she said. Its solidarity.

Klezmer roots

The Elm Duo used to play more bluegrass and Americana music, but about two years ago Mayerfeld became increasingly interested in Yiddish and klezmer music, which draws on the traditions of Ashkenazi Judaism and eastern European folk music.

Supporters of Ukraine following the invasion of that country by Russia rally Saturday outside the state Capitol.

Bells grandfather, Joshua Beliavsky, was from Lubny, Ukraine, but left in 1903 for the U.S. rather than fight in the Russian czars army.

A lot of klezmer music comes from that area, Mayerfeld said. A lot of songs, both in Yiddish and Ukrainian, talk about exactly my great-grandfathers experience of having to go out and fight this war and be separated from your family for a cause that means nothing to you, but you have no choice in the matter.

Eleanor Mayerfeld, left, and her father, Mike Bell, make up the Elm Duo.

A former Wisconsin state fiddling champion, Mayerfeld teaches voice and violin, sings in the Madison Opera Chorus and next year will enter a masters program in classical voice. Her father, who plays guitar in the duo, is a sociology professor at UW-Madison and a part-time composer.

Madison klezmer band Yid Vicious plays many benefit concerts, including an upcoming benefit for humanitarian relief for Ukraine.

When Elm Duo and Yid Vicious decided to share the bill at the March 18 show at North Street Cabaret, the venue was excited to have an-all klezmer evening, Bell said.

Some of the music Yid Vicious will perform comes from the region that is modern-day Ukraine, Karlen said.

Wed like to make it into a celebration of resilience and keeping the culture alive, she said, and doing what we can to help.

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Watch now: Ukraine is on the minds of these musicians - Madison.com

Category: Ashkenazi
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