I attended several of the events at J-Fest this year. I have already written about the Keren Peles concert which was truly outstanding.
Hadar Maoz's "Persian Groove" concert on November 4 was very unique and enjoyable. Maoz electrified the audience with a musical journey into the world of Persian and Bukharian music, singing songs that were mixed with reference to Jewish liturgy. Maoz ,who lives in Israel, sung many songs in Persian (I have never heard Persian music before), and there were a group of Iranian's who support regime change in Iran, who attended the conceert sitting beside me. One could tell from their singing and and clapping that they loved the concert.
Maoz uses the music of her Persian and Bukharian Jewish roots in central Asia from over 2500 and combines them with groove, and blues. She explained how she was taught to play many musical instruments as a child by her Persian grandmother, and wowed the audience by playing and Persian guitar and drums. She was joined by renowned violinist Maestro Johannes Graber, who produces a Jewish musical festival in Germany, even though he was not Jewish. The audience was made up a wide cross section of people of different faiths and backgrounds, all of whom enjoyed the musical offerings and clapped throughout the high spirited performance.
Winnipeg’s own Flatland Famous Band delivered a great performance on Nov 6,2025 as they did a musical high energy journey of Jewish rock legends who have shaped rock'n roll history. Lisa Windsor, a singer in the band who is not Jewish researched Jewish musicians in the field of rock-n-roll and there were interesting facts she came up with, that I was not aware of.
For example, Flatland Famous Band performed "Closer to the heart" by the renowned Canadian group Rush after Windsor explained that Rush's bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee is Jewish, as his parents were Holocaust survivors from Poland. Flatland Famous Band also performed Billy Joel's "Piano Man" after noting that Joel's Holocaust roots trace to his father , Howard Joel (born Helmut) whose family owned a textile factory in Nuremberg, Germany which was confiscated by the Nazis, and used to make striped prisoner uniforms for Jews in concentration camps. Many of Joel's family members who remained were murdered at Auschwitz, Auschwitz while Joel's father later returned to Europe as a soldier and liberated Dachau.
Flatland Famous Band also performed songs by the iconic rock band KISS, noting that Gene Simmonds and Paul Stanley are Jewish. Gene Simmons was born in 1949 in Haifa, Israel. His mother was a Hungarian Jew and Holocaust survivor who watched her family die in the concentration camps when she was 14 years old. Paul Stanley’s mother and her family fled Nazi Germany from Amsterdam and his father’s parents were from Poland. there are even suggestions that the name KISS comes from the ritual Jewish kissing of the mezuzah or Torah scroll or Prayer book.
There were also songs by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, and the last song in the concert was Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. Zack Antel, (Oscar Antel's grandson) plays keyboard for Flatland Famous Band and he noted his whole family was in the audience. The special guest singer for this concert was Jeremy Koz, who has a gorgeous voice. The concert was not only fun to listen to, but it was a very educational expericence.
I also attended the unique craft making session given by Ruth Livingston where each participant made a personalized Hebrew "Blessing on the home" framed by an abstract watercolour background. All the participants enjoyed this and some did a watercolour of their actual home. Mine was the image of a real home in Ein Kerem in Jerusalem as I love to paint Jerusalem doors.
I also attended the art exhibit in the Adult Lounge of the Asper Campus where Dmitry Kirshner 's photographs, and the artwork of by Dimitry Melmans, Dmitry Kirshner, Ashley Segal and Gayle Charach was on display. All of the artists featured are full of talent and there was something for everyone in this display. Some of the artwork was sold.
I also saw the movie The Ring, which was incredibly worthwhile. Israeli comedian and actor Adar Miller shines in The Ring, which follows a father’s journey with his estranged daughter to Hungary to find a ring that saved his life as a baby and that of his mother's during the Holocaust. This is a beautiful film, which is filled with drama and emotion but also is injected with muchh humour. I was grateful to have had the a chance to see this impactful film
All told the Rady JCC delivered a first class J-Fest and much thanks are to be given to the Asper Foundation for sponsoring the week of cultural events. I was very impressed with the breadth of the diverse offerings and all involved are to be commended for what was a terrrific week of Jewish cultural programming.
