Out of all this, we wanted to make a new Jewish music, not simply a revival: a music that captured the energy of folk traditions and transformed it through our own idiosyncratic tastes, at once embracing and subverting tradition.The revival of Yiddish language and music also opens up a space for a new Jewish radicalism, sidestepping the dominance of the state of Israel and the Hebrew language in Jewish life. We celebrate Yiddish culture as a still-living alternative to state culture in every form.
The formation of Black Ox Orkestar coincided with the beginning of the second Palestinian intifada, and we have always been explicit in our condemnation of the ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as in questioning some of the cardinal assumptions of Zionism on which the state of Israel is based. Members of Black Ox have worked with Montreal political groups like the Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation and Palestinian and Jewish Unity, and Gabe Levine and Scott Levine Gilmore are also founding members of Le Petit ThŽatre de l’Absolu, a radical puppet theatre company who recently completed a month of performances for children in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
We feel in general that there is a lack of political awareness in the klezmer revival scene, possibly caused by a fear of offending providers of money and support. For our band, playing the folk music of the Jewish diaspora goes hand in hand with a critique of state power, particularly the military power exercised by the state of Israel, which claims a monopoly on Jewish culture and Jewish voices.
Our record, Ver tanzt? (Who’s dancing?), comes out of these musical and political concerns. The title track, an original composition, speaks directly against the Israeli occupation (The sad race of wise men/sends brutes to the border). Other songs like.