tuesday  דינסטיק    יום שלישי

mardi

1.4.2014 -- 8.30

.....א וועג, א מהלך, א דרך, א שפאן, א קאנצערט
פון מילענא קארטאווסקי

Tales of a Yiddish/Mizrahi/Activist journey in Israël

Improvised Concert - Performance - Poetry

Milena Kartowski with special guests

in French, English, Yiddish, Ladino, Berber, Hebrew and Arabic

I arrived on the 21rst of March in Israël with the idea to start a PHD in anthropology about the 3rd generation of mizrahi jews and their movements of protest through arts. I had also the idea to come to live here for a while…

On the way I wrote poems, sang songs, learned new melodies, and met great artists.

I have experimented what does it mean to have two family names, Kartowski-Aïach, what does it mean to be at the same time french-ashkenazy-sepharady and berber.

Through music, poetry, singing, food and protests I have met Mizrahi activists, public housing protesters, poets, ראובן אברג'ל an historical militant from the pantherins. I have attended the powerful poetry of ערס פואטיקה Ars poetic, been in Ahoti place for the new book of Sami Shalom Chetrit. I have traveled to Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beer Sheva, Yafo, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem trying to understand more and more the mizrahi issues and this young Israeli society.

From breaking the silence to "Off the derech issue", from a jewish moroccan shabbat to hassidic nigunim, from yiddish to jewish-arabic, from baqqashot at 3am to the jewish-berber history…

With my brothers of soul Neta Elkayam and Amit Hai Cohen I have met cultural activists as me, and found a home for all our cultures and mediums of expression.

I have met friends from "both sides" , I have been in love, I have cried, I have doubted and being overwhelmed.

With Sophie Taïeb we have talked about Aliyah until the morning and what does it mean to be french in this country.

I have been between languages, between borders, between struggles, between dreams and failures, between songs and rhythms.

This journey is the beginning, my beginning in this country.

                                                     Milena