Black Ox Orkestar

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The cover of "Ver Tanzt?"

Black Ox Orkestar is a European Jewish Folk quartet of musicians from Montreal, Canada that formed in the summer of 2000 to explore their common Jewish heritage for sounds that could speak to them in the present.

1 Music
2 Politics
3 People
4 Discography
5 External Links

[edit] Music

Black Ox Orkestar's music is entirely acoustic. Texts are sung in Yiddish. The group's four musicians distill Balkan, Central Asian, Arabic and Slavic sources; while this range may seem eclectic, it should be noted that music forms falling under these regional rubrics were themselves influenced by one another. The result is a coherent, impassioned sound that gives teeth to old Ashkenazi Jewish songs. Member Scott Levine Gilmore has said, "We certainly didn’t have any grand ambitions when we started. But we did share an idea of playing social music, music that was very danceable and approachable. And also to be doing it in a sort of indie rock milieu."

[edit] Politics

Black Ox Orkestar are linked with so-called "New Jewish music", which proponents define as a form which rejects contemporary fusion and musty nostalgia in equal measure. By creating original song-settings for European Jewish folk ballads traditionally sung a cappella; by writing and performing new, politically-charged Yiddish texts; and by borrowing freely from traditional and contemporary musical sources, Yiddish and otherwise, Black Ox Orkestar hopes to challenge what they view as artistic and political orthodoxies that try to define the meaning of "New Jewish music."

In so doing, the group celebrates Yiddish diasporic art as a living alternative to state culture in every form and as an alternative to holding Israel as the cultural and ideological Jewish center. They use Yiddish as a code meant for deciphering, a message from the recent past that, in their view, cautions against the separation of peoples. As a hybrid tongue, the group feels that Yiddish has never stood for disengagement and enclosure, but always thrived on contact and exchange. Indeed, much of the group's music revolves around political statements. Singing in Yiddish becomes a celebration of their heritage and a rejection of the assimilation undergone by the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants who spoke Yiddish, resulting in the language's virtual extinction as a spoken or daily language outside Hassidic Jewish communities.

Critics of this position take issue with the idealization of Yiddish, particularly at a time when it has virtually ceased to exist as a secular living language. Some critics charge Eurocentrism since, as a European Jewish creole, erecting Yiddish to a pan-Jewish status excludes Jews whose family histories do not include Europe. Critics more focussed on the political spin given to the Yiddish language, meanwhile, note that the only living communities in which the Yiddish language thrives as a living language are Hassidic communities whose ideologies are rooted precisely in disengagement and enclosure, not contact or exchange.

[edit] People

Black Ox Orkestar's members name as influences the poet Itzik Fefer and a range of Jewish and non-Jewish music which was current in the years preceding World War II. Their own backgrounds are in folk, weird-folk, punk rock, out jazz, and free jazz music. They are:

Thierry Amar (contrabass)
Scott Levine Gilmore (vocals, cymbalom, guitar, mandolin, saz, violin, percussion)
Gabriel Levine (clarinet, guitar)
Jessica Moss (violin)

Thierry Amar is a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion. He has contributed to countless recordings and live musical projects in Montreal, figures prominently in the jazz and improv scene, and currently studies with Jacques Beaudoin of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He co-founded the Hotel2Tango recording studio, where he works as a recording engineer.

Scott Levine Gilmore studied Yiddish Literature at McGill University in Montreal. He currently plays in A Silver Mt. Zion and Friends of Cush (with composer Sam Shalabi). Former musical projects include Luftmentsch Fareyn (with Josh Dolgin, aka So Called). He was a founding member of Le Petit Théâtre de l'Absolu, a puppet theatre that toured a children's show through Israel and the occupied West Bank in the fall of 2003.

Gabriel Levine played in Montreal groups Sackville, Friends of Cush (with Sam Shalabi) and the Wild Lawns. He has worked in Vermont for the Bread and Puppet Theatre, and was a co-founder of Le Petit Théâtre de l'Absolu. He is currently finishing a post-graduate degree in Social and Political Thought at Toronto's York University.

Jessica Moss has been playing her instrument since she was five. Breaking with her classical training early on to seek out more ensembles and genres she felt were more exciting and innovative, she has been a part of many bands and collaborations in Montreal, and has been a guest player on numerous records in Montreal and Toronto. She plays in A Silver Mt. Zion, has been a contributor to Broken Social Scene, creates illuminated boxes, and makes soundtracks for film.