On the cover this week ...
March 12, 2010
Camp life is now on display
A new exhibit reveals the heart of our community’s history.
KYLE BERGER
Jewish community centres, Jewish federations and synagogues are important components to building community. But summer camps really represent the backbone, past and future, of any Jewish community.
This is the message that the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia will share when their newest exhibit opens March 18.
Home Away from Home: Building Identity and Community at Jewish Summer Camps will focus on the three major overnight facilities that British Columbia’s Jewish youth inhabit each summer: Camp Miriam, Camp Hatikvah and Camp Solomon Schechter.
Exhibit curator Michael Schwartz said the displays will paint as clear a picture of the growth and development of our community as could any other organization.
“Too often history is understood as grown-ups or important people doing big or important things,” he said in an interview with the Independent. “I think that is a really antiquated way of understanding things.
“The camps teach the kids about leadership, community values and social justice, and then the camps feed back into the community by providing leadership, skills and the personal relationships that make people want to stay involved,” he continued, noting that the three camps have flourished alongside the community after the Second World War. “Camp experiences and what we gained from them, tell us a lot about the history of our community and how our priorities have evolved.”
Schwartz has spent months collecting old photos, T-shirts, letters home, yearbooks and 50-year-old promotional materials for the exhibit, which will include a timeline to chart the growth and history of the camps.
There will also be an interactive display that features an area where visitors can hear portions of some of the interviews done with camp alumni. They will also be able to listen to the songs that are sung at camp and learn what they are about.
Schwartz noted that other key elements of the exhibit will examine the educational components provided by the camps, as well as how city life and camp life differed and how they came together.
“You learn in a way at camp that you don’t learn at school,” he said. “Fun has a lot to do with it, creativity has a lot to do with it and community has a lot to do with it.
“There is something about the opportunity to build a community in isolation from adults, which allows [campers] to do things outside of the boundaries of what they may have in the city,” he continued. “When kids are playing together in the basement with Lego or with blocks, they invent whole new worlds. When we take those kids and stick them in the woods with young adult leaders, the boundaries just fall down and they can really invent anything.”
Schwartz, who was a camper, counselor, education director and, most recently, the head of Camp Miriam a few years ago, said that he enjoyed learning more about a topic he thought he already knew so much about.
He specifically appreciated listening to the stories that emphasized how much the camp experience has changed over the years.
“Hearing some 60-year-olds talk about camp, we can see that they did a lot of sitting around and the responsible ‘adults’ were 15 years old,” he explained. “That wouldn’t fly today, where every hour is scheduled and there are all sorts of activities aimed at widening the kids’ horizons and exposing them to different things. It’s a whole different game now.”
Regardless of the development and growth that has taken place over the years, there have also been some consistencies to which all campers can relate. Some of this was articulated in one of the letters home framed for display.
“On the last night they gave us spaghetti that tasted like rubber,” wrote a camper named Carmi. “And when we turned the bowl upside down the spaghetti didn’t even fall out.” Some things never change.
The community is invited to the opening event, March 18, 7-9 p.m., at the museum. There will also be an after-hours wine and cheese event for camp alumni on March 25. Schwartz will then lead a curator’s talk, on April 15.
The museum is also working on other events set for June that will feature an open mic for alumni to share camp stories and a family day at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, featuring arts and crafts for kids and a large Ga-ga game in the gymnasium.
For information, call 604-257-5199 or visit jewishmuseum.ca.
Kyle Berger is a freelance reporter living in Richmond. He is also one of the featured interviewees in the exhibit.
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A unique dance party
Balkan Beat Box defies traditional labels.
ALEXIS PAVLICH
Blue Eyed Black Boy. A striking description that connotes beauty in difference, and a fitting title for Balkan Beat Box’s (BBB) third CD, whose sounds are as distinct as the image it offers. The desire to break down barriers – both musically and socio-politically – clearly fuels the work of this band.
By telephone from Israel, BBB founding member Ori Kaplan told the Independent, “It is boundaries that keep our minds conditioned by artificial separations.” He is referring to the album’s image of a boy from two different cultures and the need for society – particularly younger generations – to combat stereotypes and racism. However, he could just as easily have been speaking about genre and BBB’s inclination to transcend musical boundaries.
BBB challenges traditional labels, fusing a multitude of traditional sounds from eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Balkans with contemporary electronica and hip-hop beats. According to Kaplan, BBB is recognized for their own “very specific sense of esthetics and personal sound.” Descriptions of the group’s music range from “hard-edged folk” to “gypsy punk” to “all-world techno explosion.” This successful cross-cultural musical fusion embodies the best in artistic collaboration and musical tolerance. From the eclectic mix of klezmer horns and Arabic doumbek (or darbuka) drums, and lyrics in a variety of languages, a BBB performance is a unique, high-energy, multi-ethnic dance party.
BBB was founded in 2004 by Kaplan (saxophone) and Tamir Muskat (percussion), both of whom originally hail from Israel, but have been living in the United States for the past 15 years. They relocated because “Israel is small and it’s hard to expand ... you gotta go to Berlin or New York and, in the ’90s, New York was a fresh place.”
Kaplan explained that New York offered the artists a favorable atmosphere to create their music. “You can say it is music that started in immigrant nightlife in New York ... it has an express uniqueness and charm of people of different cultures. [It doesn’t] try to erase the past.” He continued, “We took influences from back home – things we grew up on – and mixed it up with DJ sets.”
MC Tomer Yosef joined the duo as “the arm” and they became a “full-on trio.” However, there are always at least six musicians on stage, including Jeremiah Lockwood on guitar, Itamar Ziegler on bass and Peter Hess on saxaphone, and sometimes up to 10 musicians, including guest performers that hail from around the globe. “We add guests when we can,” said Kaplan, adding, “When we find the right person.” BBB concerts in Israel have included Palestinian artists.
BBB has traveled extensively over the past five years and enjoys performing more than 100 shows a year, although, Kaplan said, “we like to take time in the studio and to recharge.”
Their largest fan base is in New York – their “homebase” and the first place where they performed to sell-out crowds – but fans span the globe. Tracks are downloaded across Europe, and the band has cultivated a large following in Israel, where, Kaplan said, “Israelis feel pride in the band’s success abroad, as well as pride in their own culture and efforts in dialogue with the Palestinians.... We’ve become quite huge [in Israel]. It’s refreshing.”
BBB members do not consider themselves ambassadors or politicians. However, the group speaks through innovative music that expresses social and political change.
“We are musicians first,” Kaplan insisted. However, he said, “By default we speak about [politics] because we have a mic and we feel we must speak about it ... the responsible should speak about it.” Kaplan is proud that BBB’s song “Ramallah-Tel Aviv” was selected to represent Israel on the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) 2010 soundtrack.
BBB is playing the Venue (881 Granville St.) on March 18, at 8 p.m. For tickets, call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com or ticketstonight.ca.
Alexis Pavlich is a freelance writer in Vancouver and already has her ticket to the March 18 BBB show!
For more March stories, click here. |
