Uploaded June 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Click here to visit the Indiegogo page for this project! igg.me/at/Magillah
'Tur Malka' by Henri Oppenheim's Klezmer group, 'Magillah' (http://magillah.com), offers an intriguing look at Montreal's storied Jewish roots. Parisian born Oppenheim dusts off a forgotten collection of Montreal Yiddish literature - poetry he discovered in the basement of the Jewish Public Library - and sets the prose to infectious contemporary music.
"There is something very deep inside that resonates with this music..." says Oppenheim. "There is a common history between the Jews and Francophones in Montreal, and I thought there was a treasure there... so I chose poems, and I wrote melodies to them".
Oppenheim's literary source for 'Tur Malka' (the term a glib biblical reference to 'Mount Royal' park, which overlooks the Jewish neighborhood) is rich with unbounded passion, gritty industry, and yearning intellectualism. As well, the work is cut through with themes of solidarity and social justice; values that drew together the Jewish community.
Indeed, the idea of Eastern European intellectualism contributing to the secularization of Quebec society is intriguing. This theory is both cautiously supported, and tempered by two historical figures, University of Ottawa historian Pierre Anctil, and Oscar nominated film producer Harry Gulkin, who speak to Oppenheim's project.
"I think the nature of art is... it's a search for truth... and a search for meaning expressed in a variety of ways," says Gulkin. "...and that leads on to certain conclusions as to how people should live, and what there is in a society that prevents them from expressing that. [Jews] are ready to absorb that, based on the value system which they inherited."
Adds Anctil, "...Very rapidly they started to realize that Montreal was a city with freedom of expression, and a liberal climate. They started to write... to create an artistic and intellectual life in Montreal, in the Yiddish language". Anctil, a Francophone Quebecker specializing in Montreal Yiddish literature, has been an academic resource for Henri Oppenheim.
Although both Gulkin and Anctil largely attribute the 20th Century renaissance of Quebec society, known as the 'Quiet Revolution', to movements stemming from within Catholic French society, they acknowledge that in common forums such as trade unions, liberal Jewish values to some extent crossed over the English-French linguistic barrier. "Union activism, minimum wage, women's rights... bit by bit crossed over to the French side", reflects Anctil.
Musically speaking, composer Oppenheim takes sweeping liberties with the Klezmer style, and comes up with a powerful, and novel formula. From tango, to North African rhythms and North American folk, the Yiddish prose are brought up to date in compelling interpretations. Says Oppenheim, "The essence of the Tur Malka project is to find a deep connection between the past and universal emotions that are timeless, and the present. There is nothing tame in those poems... Jewish music by essence is modern, and has to live with its time and context".
Magillah presents / présente Tur Malka
Songs of Montreal's Yiddish poets
Chansons Yiddish de Montréal
Karen Young (voice/voix)
Vanessa Marcoux (violin/violon)
Michael Emenau (MIDI vibraphone, laptop, arrangements)
Henri Oppenheim (composition, accordion/ accordéon)
Loyterkayt (Purity / Pureté)
Author / Auteur : Jacob-Isaac Segal (1896-1954)
Composer / Compositeur : Henri Oppenheim (1968-)
Henri Oppenheim and Magillah
magillah.com - facebook.com/magillah
Click here to visit the Indiegogo page for this project! igg.me/at/Magillah
'Tur Malka' by Henri Oppenheim's Klezmer group, 'Magillah' (http://magillah.com), offers an intriguing look at Montreal's storied Jewish roots. Parisian born Oppenheim dusts off a forgotten collection of Montreal Yiddish literature - poetry he discovered in the basement of the Jewish Public Library - and sets the prose to infectious contemporary music.
"There is something very deep inside that resonates with this music..." says Oppenheim. "There is a common history between the Jews and Francophones in Montreal, and I thought there was a treasure there... so I chose poems, and I wrote melodies to them".
Oppenheim's literary source for 'Tur Malka' (the term a glib biblical reference to 'Mount Royal' park, which overlooks the Jewish neighborhood) is rich with unbounded passion, gritty industry, and yearning intellectualism. As well, the work is cut through with themes of solidarity and social justice; values that drew together the Jewish community.
Indeed, the idea of Eastern European intellectualism contributing to the secularization of Quebec society is intriguing. This theory is both cautiously supported, and tempered by two historical figures, University of Ottawa historian Pierre Anctil, and Oscar nominated film producer Harry Gulkin, who speak to Oppenheim's project.
"I think the nature of art is... it's a search for truth... and a search for meaning expressed in a variety of ways," says Gulkin. "...and that leads on to certain conclusions as to how people should live, and what there is in a society that prevents them from expressing that. [Jews] are ready to absorb that, based on the value system which they inherited."
Adds Anctil, "...Very rapidly they started to realize that Montreal was a city with freedom of expression, and a liberal climate. They started to write... to create an artistic and intellectual life in Montreal, in the Yiddish language". Anctil, a Francophone Quebecker specializing in Montreal Yiddish literature, has been an academic resource for Henri Oppenheim.
Although both Gulkin and Anctil largely attribute the 20th Century renaissance of Quebec society, known as the 'Quiet Revolution', to movements stemming from within Catholic French society, they acknowledge that in common forums such as trade unions, liberal Jewish values to some extent crossed over the English-French linguistic barrier. "Union activism, minimum wage, women's rights... bit by bit crossed over to the French side", reflects Anctil.
Musically speaking, composer Oppenheim takes sweeping liberties with the Klezmer style, and comes up with a powerful, and novel formula. From tango, to North African rhythms and North American folk, the Yiddish prose are brought up to date in compelling interpretations. Says Oppenheim, "The essence of the Tur Malka project is to find a deep connection between the past and universal emotions that are timeless, and the present. There is nothing tame in those poems... Jewish music by essence is modern, and has to live with its time and context".
Magillah presents / présente Tur Malka
Songs of Montreal's Yiddish poets
Chansons Yiddish de Montréal
Karen Young (voice/voix)
Vanessa Marcoux (violin/violon)
Michael Emenau (MIDI vibraphone, laptop, arrangements)
Henri Oppenheim (composition, accordion/ accordéon)
Loyterkayt (Purity / Pureté)
Author / Auteur : Jacob-Isaac Segal (1896-1954)
Composer / Compositeur : Henri Oppenheim (1968-)
Henri Oppenheim and Magillah
magillah.com - facebook.com/magillah
