The band played to children at Woodfield, Mount Street and St Peter's primary schools, where they taught pupils about the history and cultural significance of traditional klezmer music, which derives from Yiddish words meaning “vessel of song”, its roots in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, and its continuing evolution today.
The workshops opened up discussions about identity, belonging and shared experience.
The Klezmer Village Band playing at The Drum, Theatre Royal PlymouthPhoto: Miles Noble
At a time of rising antisemitism, it is important to introduce other communities to Jews and Judaism in a positive way, said Godwin, who added that the performance reached children who may never otherwise have experienced Jewish culture.
“Right now too many people are imagining Jews through headlines and hostility rather than meeting us as neighbours. You start with visibility and joy, that creates familiarity. Familiarity grows into understanding, and understanding is what actually helps keep a community safe.
“Every child and adult who learns where this music comes from, locally, is one more person who will grow up seeing Jewish life as part of their own city rather than something distant and strange.
"We have a role to play in helping create awareness that nurtures tolerance and empathy towards Jews, we must go out and do some of that work ourselves.”
Plymouth is home to one of England’s oldest provincial Jewish communities, dating back to the 1740s, yet historically has held few Jewish cultural events.
The night before the band visited schools they performed a sell-out show at The Drum, a small performance space at Theatre Royal Plymouth.
“Plymouth has had a Jewish community for nearly 300 years and has rarely seen Jewish culture take centre stage, and for one night the city embraced it. That is the model working exactly as we designed it, joy leading to familiarity leading to understanding,” Godwin said.
After the educational event’s success, Godwin now wants to see klezmer brought into classrooms across the UK, especially to towns with a small or scattered Jewish community.
"The appetite is there, the music travels anywhere and transcends audiences and communities both Jewish and non alike, and frankly we think every community could do with a little more joy and a little less oy."
The Klezmer Village Band is a professional UK-based trio featuring Ilana Cravitz (violin), John Macnaughton (clarinet) and Theo Malka-Wishart (double bass).
The trio have toured extensively rurally, educating people about klezmer music and dance, and performed at KlezFest and KlezNorth. McNaughton, who also leads the ensemble Klezmer Foygl and co-founded both Oysland and the KlezMargate Festival, said: “The more people know about other people's cultures, the less they tend to be racist against them, because it's understanding. They're less likely to fear you.”
After the session, Macnaughton said, “I don't think those children in Plymouth would have ever met a Jewish person. They were very enthused by the musical element, and by the dancing. It was great for them to get an idea of what Jewish culture is. It is much better for integration and understanding between communities.”
