FOJAM is a vibrant showcase of artists from the Jewish diaspora that questions inherited wisdom and celebrates plurality.
The Festival of Jewish Arts and Music in Melbourne was a festival of contemporary music, art and thought, featuring performances by well-established and emerging performers and writers of Jewish and other heritage from Australia, the United States, and Israel.
The absolute highlight of the festival was the performance by the Melbourne-based ensemble YID!. YID! is a 22-piece ensemble that performs an avant-garde take on klezmer, the traditional music of eastern European Jews. Featuring Yiddish songs and beats with contemporary inflections, YID!’s mesmerising jazz fusion, with its spiritual and political overtones, enraptured the audience. With a smorgasbord of instruments, YID! created a raucous symphony that embodied ‘wild rapture’, a leitmotif in the Yiddish aphorisms that punctuated the music.
The George Dreyfus Quartet celebrated the music of Melbourne-based classical composer and cultural doyen George Dreyfus, whose contributions to classical music in Australia have won numerous accolades.
Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier, veterans of the festival’s earlier iteration, Shir Madness, performed beautiful songs whose lyrics resonated with messages of hope and rebellion against hate. Their standout song, Too Loud, delivered a powerful punch in the gut.
Read the review by Arjun Rajkhowa on ArtsHub.