Retelling Eastern European Jewish Folklore: An Interview with the Magid Ensemble
- May 1
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
Combining storytelling, visual arts and original klezmer-inspired music, Shterna and the Lost Voice comes to Vancouver in May to reimagine Jewish folklore for a contemporary audience.
Looking forward to their performance of Shterna and the Lost Voice at the Peretz Centre in Vancouver, BC on May 19th, we met with members of the Magid Ensemble to chat about the process and artistic decisions that went into creating this unique piece, which brings together Yiddish storytelling, visual arts and klezmer-inspired music to reimagine Eastern European Jewish folklore.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about Shterna and the Lost Voice?
Shterna and the Lost Voice is our the debut theatrical project. Drawing into question boundaries between adult and children’s literary genres, we address our audiences in this piece through the experience of wonder. The signatory elements of the performance are klezmer music, storytelling and the crankie (a hand powered scrolling visual storytelling machine).
Q: Who is Magid Ensemble? Tell us about your name and how you found each other.
Magid Ensemble a collective comprised of visual artist Kiah Raymond, storyteller Weaver, and musicians/composers Mattias Kaufmann (accordion) Raffi Boden (cello) and Rachel Leader (fiddle) who have assembled to create an immersive multimedia storytelling performances that builds on themes and images from Eastern European Jewish folklore. Rachel Leader brought us all together to form this project, which we developed over the course of two years.
“Magid” means storyteller in Yiddish. A magid in traditional Jewish culture was often itinerant, retelling religious stories and morality fables for popular audiences.
Q: How did you find materials and sources of inspiration for creating the piece?
The Ansky Expedition, (a 1911 ethnographic expedition, lead by playwright Sh. Ansky, which collected a large amount of folklore from Russian Jewish towns) is a touchstone for the aesthetic of Shterna, both in its content and for its ideological orientation towards the use of folklore in supporting and giving substance to contemporary Jewish social and aesthetic movements. This culture building project is ongoing and continues to inform our work as artists of the Jewish diaspora.
Collected folktales of Elijah the Prophet were also a source of inspiration, and the magidic form they often follow, blending fairy tales with homiletics, influenced the structure of the narrative.
Q: What were some of the creative challenges you found yourself engaging with while working together on Shterna?
Because Kiah lives in Portland, Mattias lives in Boston, Raffi lives in NYC, and Rachel and Weaver live in Northampton, we all had to compose and create the story, visuals, and music separately, and it only all came together in the week before our first tour. Weaver wrote the story first, and sent it out to Kiah to make the crankie, and the musicians had several retreats in advance to compose and arrange the music, but we weren’t sure how it would all work together until really right before it was time to perform. It was a miracle!
Q: What's next for Shterna and the Magid Ensemble? Are you working on new projects?
After 25 shows in the Eastern US over the past year, we're excited for our West Coast Tour (May 14-29), including our first Canadian show. We hope to find places to do lengthier runs of the show rather than one-night engagements, to bring it to more spaces where the very young and the very old can enjoy it as well as adults, and bring it to other continents! We have some ideas in early phases for other projects... stay tuned!
Get Tickets Now for the Magid Ensemble's Vancouver Performance
Shterna and the Lost Voice comes to the Peretz Centre in Vancouver, BC on Monday, May 19th from 7-8:15pm (Victoria Day). Until May 11th, save $13 when you buy two general admission tickets (youth tickets are available on a sliding scale from $5).
Pre-Order the Album for Shterna & the Lost Voice
Magid Ensemble's new album for Shterna and the Lost Voice will be released on May 15th, 2025 by Borscht Beat Records! Now available for pre-order on Bandcamp.
The Magid Ensemble is a collaboration featuring award-winning klezmer musicians and composers Mattias Kaufmann, Raffi Boden, and Rachel Leader, Yiddishist storyteller A. C. Weaver, and visual artist Kiah Raymond. Learn more at magidensemble.com
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