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Soul Train - a Kosher Ceilidh! |
click on each venue for reports and photos |
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November 2009 |
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Everywhere they went, SCoJeC's "Kosher Ceilidh" tour of Scotland inspired people to jump up and start dancing! |
The tour featured musicians David and Danny from the Israeli outreach organisation Soul Train that connects with members of small Jewish communities round the world – and anyone else who appreciates music and culture with a Jewish heart! Accompanied by guitar, recorder, clarinet and a jambe (an African drum), the musicians sing Jewish soul music, Chassidic rock, Israeli songs, and Hebrew prayers. They have a proven track record in other parts of the world, but, until SCoJec's "Kosher Ceilidh" tour they had never performed in Western Europe. They do have a Scottish connection though - one of the musicians, and Soul Train's administrator have Glaswegian parents! |
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SCoJeC brought Sara, David, and Danny to Scotland for a week-long tour taking in venues as far apart as Maybole, Lochgilphead, Skye, St Andrews, and Aberdeen, as well as Edinburgh and Glasgow, and included events at Calderwood Lodge Primary School, Jewish Care, Cosgrove Care, the Giffnock Friendship Club, Edinburgh Cheder, and Jewish student societies, as well as for the general community. |
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At Calderwood Lodge the whole school was soon dancing. The audience in Lochgilphead were moved to tears as they joined in the singing of Yiddish songs and recalled their grandparents singing to them, and several expressed a desire to take part in more communal events in Scotland. |
At Portree on the Isle of Skye, where 25 people enjoyed David and Danny's music, many discovered for the first time that they were not, as they had thought, the only Jewish person living on the island, and, even as the musicians were packing up after the event, local people were making arrangements to meet up for other events in future. |
"We all enjoyed it tremendously" said Edinburgh cheder teacher, Merav Gardi Kisilevitz; "I am sure this is the sort of fun, exciting, educational activity that the children - and adults - will remember for a long time!" |
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Their enthusiasm was matched by non-Jewish people who also attended some of the events, such as the Christian pastor who takes people from his church on a trip to Israel each year, the couple who spent time working on a kibbutz 45 years ago, and a woman who treated the audience to a rendition of a Gaelic folk song that she had recently sung at the Tel Aviv folk music club. |
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SCoJeC Public Affairs Officer, Leah Granat, who accompanied the musicians throughout the tour, said, " We are delighted that our outreach project has brought the "Kosher Ceilidh" to such a wide cross-section of the Scottish Jewish community. It really was wonderful to see how David, Danny, and Sara succeeded in connecting with everyone, from the people on Skye to the students in Aberdeen, and the toddlers in Glasgow and Edinburgh to the care organisations and Friendship Club in Giffnock." |
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