| The Ashkenaz Foundation is trying to break through stereotypes and draw a younger crowd to its biannual festival.
“One thing that always has defined Ashkenaz is that the festival has always represented cutting-edge music and art,” said Eric Stein, artistic director of the Ashkenaz Foundation.
The Ashkenaz Festival runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6, and introduces a slew of bands inspired by traditional Jewish music but fuse it with more contemporary styles such as reggae, rap, and indie.
Balkan Beat Box and Sway Machinery, two bands that will perform at the festival, both involve guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood, who also provides vocals for Sway Machinery’s songs.
Sway Machinery uses cantorial vocal techniques fused with more recent styles, such as blues and rock ’n’ roll.
Lockwood said cantorial music was always part of his identity because he spent a lot of time with his grandfather who was a cantor.
“I just kind of made it part of my childhood,” Lockwood said. “In order to fully be myself as a musician, it was one of the faces that I needed to wear.”
The New York musician said his bands play almost exclusively for a young audience, proving there is definitely a scene where there are people interested in this kind of music.
Performing in New York brought him in contact with many other musicians, including Colin Stetson of the Arcade Fire and Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, both of whom contributed to the band’s music.
The current lineup consists of Lockwood on guitar and vocals, John Altieri on saxophone, John Bollinger on drums, Jordan McLean on trumpet, and Stuart Bogie on tenor saxophone.
Balkan Beat Box will play a free show at the Sirius Stage at Harbourfront Centre on Sept. 5, and Sway Machinery will have a free performance at the centre’s Brigantine Room later on the same night.
Geoff Berner is another klezmer-influenced artist performing at this year’s festival. He has a different perspective, saying that it’s not about attracting young people, but rather being able to appeal to all ages.
“If you’re making good weird stuff then weird people of all ages will get into it and then you’ll have a career,” he said.
His music combines klezmer with a “punk esthetic,” and he said he’s a big believer in favouring ideas and emotional expression over technical precision and perfection. He will play at the Lula Lounge on Sept. 2 as part of the festival.
To spread the word of the festival, the Ashkenaz Foundation hired Samahra Zatzman, 23, as a youth engagement, education and outreach co-ordinator.
She said the music is definitely attractive to young people, which she defines as 18 to about 30. The problem, she said, is spreading the word.
“A lot of people don’t realize how vibrant and how amazing Jewish artists and culture are,” she said. “I never realized that Jewish culture could be cool and cutting edge, and Ashkenaz changed that for me.”
She has been forming relationships with other organizations directed at young Jews, such as the Birthright Alumni Committee and the Annex Shul, to share the message that there is something for them in the Ashkenazi culture.
“I really believe Ashkenaz fills a niche or hole in the community that is not being reached and has had and will continue to have a profound impact in the arts and culture sector of Toronto and definitely the Jewish scene,” she said.
Stein said this goal simply reflects the trends in the community of younger people, particularly artists, going back to eastern European Jewish music and incorporating it in contemporary works.
He said he only became interested in this kind of music about 12 years ago.
“Before that, I had a very stereotypical and superficial understanding of what Jewish music was, and the long and short of it is, it wasn’t very cool music,” Stein said. But after he delved into the music, he realized he’d “been missing something great for years.”
And he’s sure that if people give it a try, they’ll find the beauty in these traditions.
“Our job is to get the horses to the water,” he said. “We know they’ll drink it once they’re there.”
For more information, visit www.ashkenazfestival.com. | 
