Academic literature on the topic 'Toronto Jewish Folk Choir'

Using the texts from concert programme notes, this paper describes the growing Canadian identity of Toronto Jewish Folk Choir during and after World War II. During this period the choir used rhetoric similar to what we would today call multiculturalism to argue for their place in Canadian culture. The choir's claims to Canadian identity are juxtaposed with colonialist and assimilationist attitudes toward culture at the time, demonstrating that through musical performance and discourse, the choir members were able to construct a positive Canadian identity for themselves despite their position as an ethnic minority outside the political mainstream.

This article considers the ways Yiddish-speaking immigrants to Canada creatively adapted folklore that they learned in “the old home” in order to make it fit their new Canadian contexts, and in doing so created new hybrid folklore and identities. To do this, I discuss the autobiographical texts of three people who migrated between 1900 and 1930, J.J. Goodman’s Gezamelte Shriften (Collected Writings) (Winnipeg: 1919), Michael Usiskin’s Oksn un Motorn (Oxen and Tractors) (Toronto: 1945), and Falek Zolf ’s Oyf Fremder Erd (On Foreign Soil) (Winnipeg: 1945). I argue that these personal narratives offer important insights into how the first major wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants to Canada formed and expressed Canadian-Eastern European Jewish culture.

The article analyzes the ensemble work of the diaspora bandura players. It is noted that ensemble music has its origins in the so called “kobzarism” in Ukraine. The development of bandura art in the diaspora of the twentieth century occurred differently. This is due to the chronological, spatial, geographical and cultural factors of the countries of the world where the bandura cells were located. The history of the appearance of Ukrainian bandura players on the territories of other continents is covered, and the emigration waves that became the impetus for the development of bandura art abroad are mentioned. The leading bandura ensembles of the diaspora were analyzed – the Taras Shevchenko Bandura Band (Detroit), the Canadian Bandura Band, the Gnat Khotkevych Bandura Ensemble (Toronto), and the Maiden Bandura Band. P. Orlyk (Detroit), ensemble “Haidamaki”, children’s choir “Golden Strings” and their cooperation with various groups both in the diaspora and in Ukraine. The article also describes the repertoire, tools and their modifications in connection with certain historical events. It is noted that the Ukrainian theme became the basis for the repertoire of the diaspora bandura players – Ukrainian folk songs, patriotic, Cossack, Duma, spiritual works, carols, works of Ukrainian composers, instrumental melodies and others. The names of famous bandura masters abroad are mentioned. Ensemble performance of non-mainland Ukraine is associated with the names of many artists, including Vasyl Yemets, Mykhailo Teliga, Hryhoriy Kytasty, Hryhoriy Nazarenko, Stepan Hanushevsky, Volodymyr Lutsyv, Viktor Mishalov, Olga Gerasimenko-Oliynyk and Yuriy Oliynyk. The article mentions the close cooperation of bandura ensembles and representatives of choral and vocal art. The concert life of famous bandura groups of the diaspora and their artistic achievements are described. It is also noted that the ensemble art of the diaspora is currently actively studied by scholars of the diaspora and Ukraine.