Sofia's travels
As part of the 9th Jewish Culture Days in Rostock from October 19 to November 2
WAKS - Sofia's Travels
Inge Mandos (vocals), Klemens Kaatz (piano, accordion), Hans-Christian Jaenicke (violin), Stimmen von Wachswalzen (vocals)
Admission: €12 / €8 (under 18s, holders of Warnow Pass and disabled ID) / students with AStA culture ticket free
The Soviet-Jewish ethnomusicologist Sofia Magid (1892-1954) knew that she only had a short time left. The traditional Yiddish music culture was in danger of being wiped out by Stalinism.
Equipped with phonographs and recordable wax cylinders, she embarked on several adventurous journeys to the people in the shtetls of the Ukraine. There she collected and archived the voices of Yiddish singers.
Sofia's fascinating personality inspired the WAKS ensemble. The songs she collected in the shtetls of Ukraine, which were marked by civil war, pogroms and hunger, are full of intensity and have a depressing topicality.
WAKS has reconstructed and musically traced four of these journeys using the wax rolls, which can be precisely assigned in terms of time and topography. Original compositions by WAKS, modern song arrangements, original phonograph recordings in harmony with the voice of the present-day singer and recitations from Sofia's fictional diary are interwoven into an exciting and multi-layered concert program. Multimedia elements such as video projections or recorded sounds complement the project with a sensual and dramatic effect and bring the voices from a bygone world to the stage.
