As were sitting in a cafe in Montreals Mile End neighbourhood, Dolgin
is spotted by the artistic director of another theatre company, who
offers a card and insists they must set up a meeting. Itd be great to
talk about a collaboration, he tells Dolgin.
Its a not-unusual
encounter for Dolgin, who has a penchant for creating strange cultural
alliances and fusions, and turning them into something new. Over the
past decade, hes made an international countercultural name for his
melding of traditional klezmer music with hip hop, a marriage he insists
has never been that odd, given the similarities of both camps beats,
tempos and rhythms. It led some to call him the Yiddish James Brown.
It
also culminated in Dolgin being the subject of a feature-length
documentary, Garry Beitels 2010 The Socalled Movie, in which Dolgin
suggests that perhaps hes the Mahatma Gandhi of hip hop except not as
skinny. Its a typical bit of self-mockery, something Dolgin often
resorts to while discussing his latest creative trajectory, the Yiddish
musical.
I think the first two bits of music I remember are
something by Bach and then West Side Story , he recalls. I mean, theyre a
guilty pleasure. Because most musicals suck.
The new work is
based on a short story collection by Isaak Babel, who wrote about Jewish
gangsters in the Soviet Union at the turn of the 20th century. Its a
grittier premise than his first foray,Have a look at all our thequicksilverscreen
models starting with free proofing. The Season, which tells the story
of the impossible love that blooms between a forest animal and an
extraterrestrial. Its a beautifully nutty story, and just to match form
with content, Dolgin tells it with a cast comprised primarily of
puppets.
That happened by accident, he insists. I had some fur
kicking around and decided to slap some eyeballs on it. I was just doing
it for fun, but a lot of my hobbies end up being my jobs. They found a
place in my ridiculous universe.
The Season was born after
Dolgin was approached by the Pop Montreal to create something, anything,
new. I thought this would be a great opportunity to write an original
musical. And the leap from the form hes become so closely associated
with, klezmer, is not such a leap, as he points out.
Klezmer is
at the heart of Broadway. Every single major Broadway composer was
Jewish, and that means they would grow up with klezmer music. That
culture, which I connected with through hip hop, has really informed my
music and these musicals. The emotional complexity of klezmer, as Dolgin
sees it, lends itself perfectly to the musical. Klezmer music gives you
hope and makes you smile, but it brings you back down to earth at the
same time. They say it laughs and cries at the same time.
Bringing
together an eclectic ensemble from Montreals artistic milieu C
including actor Joe Cobden, Montreal Symphony Orchestra harpist Jennifer
Swartz, the string quartet The Warhol Dervish and renowned funk
musician Fred Wesley (who wrote the overture), Dolgin crafted a musical
that stands out for being oddly moving. It earned a standing ovation at
its one-night run.
And that one-night rush led Dolgin to fight
the ephemerality by recording a live studio album to tape. He
reassembled the original cast and musicians and, with the help of
Grammy-winner Mark Lawson, created the album at Arcade Fires Petite
Eglise studio in Farnham, Que.
When Segal Centre artistic
producer Paul Flicker saw The Season, he immediately saw the
possibilities for another musical collaboration with Dolgin. Theres
always been a very theatrical element to his schtick, Flicker says. His
understanding and knowledge of the musical form is amazing.
Dolgin
told Flicker hed been thinking a great deal about Jewish gangsters. I
was always a bit frustrated that there wasnt a great Jewish gangster
story. There are some great Jewish gangsters in The Godfather II and
Millers Crossing , but then theres something like Once Upon a Time in
America, with music by Morricone and starring Robert De Niro. Hes
obviously a great actor, but not Jewish. There were in fact Jewish
gangsters.
Its Dolgins formal innovation and reinvention that
has earned him praise from industry insiders and critics alike. What I
like about his work is that it is both rigorously musical and literate
but also very playful and flexible, says Henry Sapoznik, author and
expert on klezmer music. His overall cultural literacy, which includes
film, literature, and pop culture, means he can, and does, make smart
and telling platforms upon which to offer his musical explorations.
Dolgin
concedes theres a strange irony to his own practice and the challenges
musical artists face today. While so much of the music he has created
involves sampling (he recalls the all great art is stolen line), the
music industrys business models have been shattered thanks to the
all-content-is-now-free nature of the Internet.Where can i get a
reasonable price parkingguidance?
You
have to see it for what it is. You are never going to sell records like
they used to sell records. There are crazy opportunities that arise as a
result of the Internet. But its a little frustrating whats happened to
the idea of intellectual property. We still need that.Bringing rfidtag
mainstream. People still want to read your article or listen to my
song, and they can, for free, and thats amazing. I mean, I download my
ass off all the time, and Im constantly consuming all this amazing
stuff. But I know that the people who created it need to and should be
supported.You can make your own more powerful chipcard.
At
36, Dolgin says he cant quite believe where the last 10 years have
gone, given his hectic pace. I feel like Ive just grown up enough to do
the things I loved looking at as a kid. I painted the pictures for the
book that accompanies The Season album. I made the puppets for the show.
I get to write about love stories and gangsters,More than 80 standard
commercial and iphoneheadset
exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. and work with puppets. I
feel like Ive found the confidence and skills to do the things I admired
as a kid.
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