Telegrams to the Future: Niggunim of Dvekut & Joy from Ukrainian Klezmorim. Nign Singing Workshop with Christina Crowder

A nign is a wordless melody invested with spiritual intention—elevated by those who sing them. The melodies presented in this workshop were collected from klezmorim and baal-tfile (prayer leaders) in early twentieth century Ukraine and Belarus during the An-sky ethnographic expeditions between 1912-14. The workshop will present a small nign “toolkit,” that includes a nign for quietening the mind, one for thoughtfulness and connection, and few for joy, celebration, and solidarity. No experience required. Tunes will be taught by ear with sheet music provided to take home to remember afterward.

All Ages, $18/Person

Christina Crowder has been performing and researching Jewish music for nearly thirty years, beginning in Budapest, Hungary in 1993 as a founding member of Di Naye Kapelye, and continuing with a Fulbright grant to Romania to document Jewish music in 1999, and since 2002 with an active research, teaching, and performing career in the US. She is Executive Director of the Klezmer Institute, which has been awarded two NEH Grants for Institute projects (2021-2024). Current projects include compilation of a folio of Jewish-adjacent Moldavian music, and publication of selected field recordings from the Fulbright grant period. Christina lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and performs with her klezmer quartet Bivolița. She also performs regularly with Michael Winograd and the Honorable Mentschen, the Dave Levitt Klezmer Trio and many others. She has been a guest instructor in klezmer accordion and ensemble performance in the US, Canada, and Europe, and was both musical director and performer in the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the 2020 ART Portland productions of the Broadway play “Indecent.”

Made possible in part by the Yiddish Arts and Culture Initiative for Jewish Communities at the Yiddish Book Center.

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