One of the most powerful, unique aspects of KlezKanada and the Yiddish cultural renaissance has been its multigenerationality - the opportunity for younger generations to carry forward time-honored traditions learned directly from venerable master practitioners who bridge the Yiddish past and present. Living national treasures of Yiddish music, theatre, visual arts and poetry like Theodore Bikel, Mina Bern, Irving Fields, Beyle Schaechter- Gottesman, Meyer Kirshenblatt, and the late German Goldenshteyn, Lillian Lux, Max Epstein and similar legendary figures have graced KlezKanada over the years. All of them provide windows into Yiddish worlds that once were and still continue, and have transmitted the substance and style of their priceless legacies to participants of all ages.

At KlezKanada 2007, we will share in the master artistry of three exceptional individuals representing a spectrum of klezmer music and Yiddish song spanning eight decades, as well as Eastern and Western Europe, Israel and North America.

Born in the Romanian town of Soroca (Soroke) in 1921, Bessarabian singer Arkady Gendler is one of the finest exponents of traditional and folkstimlekh (folk-style) Yiddish song. His near-inexhaustible repertoire includes original compositions eloquently describing the life-and-death saga of his own experience in interwar Romania, World War II and the Red Army, and his subsequent years in the USSR and independent Ukraine. Arkady's remarkable memory, spirit, knowledge and love of Yiddish song and folklore are unparalleled, and he is one of the few experts in the songs of Zelig Barditshever, beloved bard of 1930s Bessarabia, whom he knew personally. A treasure-chest of Yiddish folklore, tireless cultural activist and teacher, he makes his home in Zaporizhe, Ukraine. He has taught and performed at Klezfest St. Petersburg, Klezfest Kiev, KlezKamp, Yiddish Summer Weimar and the Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, California, as well as at countless concerts throughout the Former Soviet Union. We are blessed to have him join us this summer as part of KlezKanada's East Meets West initiative.

In 2006 we began a new Israel Outreach Initiative, growing from the success of our East Meets West exchange with the Former Soviet Union. This program, unique in the world of the Yiddish cultural arts, develops a direct link between KlezKanada and current, groundbreaking Israeli efforts to nurture a creative, contemporary approach to Yiddish and Ashkenazic culture (including, not insignificantly, the participation of Soviet Jewish immigrants to Israel). This year, in collaboration with Toronto's Ashkenaz, we are pleased to invite 7 younger Israeli artists to join and contribute to our KlezKanada community. They span the stylistic gamut from the brand new ensemble Oy Division– inspired by encounters at KlezKanada 2006 – to clarinetist Arkady Goldenshtein (see "The Goldenshteyn Legacy," above), nephew and student of longtime KlezKanada faculty member and master traditional musician, German Goldenshteyn (1934-2006). We are delighted to welcome back to the 2007 Israel Outreach Initiative experimental and rock composer and producer, academic/researcher and IDF DJ, accordionist Assaf Talmudi of Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities and accomplished Russian-born violinist and contrabassist Gershon Leizersohn, and to welcome to KlezKanada for the first time the other members of Oy Division: secular and religious vocalist Avichai Tuchman and film maker, bassist, composer and singer Noam Inbar of the punk-folk band Habiluyim. Finally, it is our special honor to be able to host Vira Lozinsky, a leading voice among a new generation of singers cultivating Yiddish culture in Israel, a disciple of the venerable Soviet Yiddish singer Nekhama Lifshitz, and a fresh young talent on the international Yiddish music scene. Born in Balti / Beltsy, Moldova (Bessarabia), her repertoire includes traditional songs learned from her family, new Yiddish songs composed by her father Mikhail Felsenbaum, and the songs of classical and modern Yiddish poets from her native Bessarabia and beyond.

Israel Outreach Initiative Sponsors: Avi Morrow, Foundation for Yiddish Culture, Dr. Bernard Rosenblatt, Azrieli Foundation, Ashkenaz Festival, Dolgin Family Scholarship Fund. Special thanks to Jeff Warschauer, Zev Feldman, Assaf Talmudi, Eric Stein and Daniel Galay.

At KlezKanada 2007, we continue our groundbreaking program reflecting the re-emergence and revitalization of Yiddish culture in Eastern Europe, cradle of Yiddish civilization. Once again, we reunite Old Country and New by inviting some of the finest lights of klezmer music and Yiddish cultural activism in the Former Soviet Union to join their counterparts from throughout the globe. Continuing KlezKanada’s remarkable intergenerational tradition, sizzling Ukrainian violinist Stanislav Rayko and virtuosic Moldovan and klezmer clarinetist Alexander "Sasha" Danilov will be featured on this year's faculty along with the extraordinary Bessarabianborn Yiddish singer, cultural activist and folksmentsh Arkady Gendler of Zaporizhe, Ukraine, one of the last pre-WWII, East European exponents and traditional composers of this beautiful genre. Joining them will be the powerful, soulful Moldovan duo of vocalist Efim "Fima" Chorny and pianist Susana Ghergus from Chisinau/Kishinev, as well as expresssive pianist and melodica player Elena "Alyona" Arenkova from St. Petersburg. Latvian vocalist Aleksandra"Sasha" Lurje and accordionist Ilya Shneyveys, both of the Riga ensemble Forshpil, will round out our East Meets West contingent this year.

East Meets West Sponsors: David Sela, Dolgin Family Scholarship Fund

“Di muzik klapt mir in di oyern, un geyt mir glaykh in di fis arayn – The music hits my ears, and goes straight to my feet,” said Bronya Sakina, a master Yiddish folksinger and dancer from Ukraine. Learning the traditional dances done to klezmer music are a wonderful route to understanding and reveling in klezmer music as well as celebrating Yidishkayt in its most social context. KlezKanada’s Dance Program is once again a cornerstone of the event. This year's dance offerings will feature internationally acclaimed East European Jewish dance researcher and instructor Steve Weintraub, the wonderful talents of KlezKanada dance/theatre expert and Scholarship Coordinator Avia Moore, and the expertise of pioneering Yiddish dance researchers and instructors Michael Alpert and Walter Zev Feldman. KlezKanada's Dance Program has grown to offer a number of regular sessions, to music provided by the world’s greatest klezmer musicians.

• SOLES ON FIRE - Head-Over-Heels for Yiddish Dance, teaches the steps, styles and embellishments of traditional bulgars, freylekhs, horas, shers, kolomeykes and all major dance genres of the Yiddish world (taught alternately by all instructors).

• TANTS, TANTS, KLEZMORIMLEKH (Dance, Dance, Klezmorim!): A course specially designed for musicians to learn the dances they accompany! (Steve Weintraub and Kurt Bjorling)

• DECONSTRUCTING/RECONSTRUCTING YIDDISH DANCE: Forging a New Relationship between Klezmer Music and Dance for the 21st century. A course exploring percussive aspects of traditional Yiddish movement and recombining those elements into a performable composition. (Steve Weintraub and Aaron Alexander)

• TO DANCE OR NOT TO DANCE: Playing Dance and Listening Music in the Klezmer Style. European klezmorim could intrepret the same tune for dance or listening. Today many klezmer musicians fail to distinguish between these interpretations. Learn to express tempo, rhythm and phrasing when playing for dancing, OR make a listening piece or improvisation out of a dance tune. An intermediateadvanced class: participants should have experience playing klezmer music and/or good command of their instruments. Less experienced musicians are invited to listen and follow the development of the class. (Kurt Bjorling and Zev Feldman)

• DANCE JAM: A tasty treat in the PM III period before dinner, featuring Steve Weintraub on the Retreat Centre patio leading informal hoofing and hulyanke (getting down), to the accompaniment of a hot jam band.

• AT-LARGE PRIVATE OR SMALL GROUP COACHING by the kinetically astute and articulate Avia Moore. Especially recommended for style-conscious Yiddish hoofers and scholarship students wanting to work in a peer environment.

• THE MOYSH PIT: Evening dance parties in the gym and KlezKabaret, featuring… all of us! The entire KlezKanada community!