Klezmorimalta Foundation to host workshop in Klezmer music

The Klezmorimalta Foundation announces its first-ever workshops in Klezmer and acoustic music, conducted by two internationally-renowned artists.

Musician Chris Haigh
Musician Chris Haigh

The Klezmorimalta Foundation, with the support of the Malta Arts Fund, the Malta Society of Arts and the Arts Council Malta, is very proud to present the country’s first-ever workshop in Klezmer music, conducted by the London-based fiddler Chris Haigh and the lead of the Yxalag Klezmer Band, Jakob Lakner.

‘A Workshop in Klezmer Music’, which will run between Monday 20 and Saturday 25 April 2015, aims to introduce one of the oldest genres of music in the world to Maltese musicians, music students and music teachers, and will have practical sessions for all kinds of different instruments, focusing on the intricate musical scales used in the genre.

The workshop is being organised by the Klezmorimalta Foundation, a recently-established NGO whose aim is to preserve millennia-old methods of creating music as well as forging new links between Maltese and foreign artists. The workshops will be free to all musical professionals who manage to snatch one of the very limited spaces available.

“Since its inception, the Klezmorimalta Foundation’s role has been to safeguard the traditional ways of making music and the instruments and practices required to create it,” says Birgit Albreht, one of the Foundation’s founders.

“We’re incredibly happy that, through the help of various entities, we were able to make these workshops absolutely free, thus enabling musicians who would like to get a hands-on approach to acoustic music a chance to do so with two huge names in Klezmer,” she adds.

‘A Workshop in Klezmer Music’ will be conducted by fiddler Chris Haigh, who has worked with the likes of Morcheeba, Alison Moyet and Riverdance, and who has appeared in the BBC’s Timeshift documentary ‘Klezmer’. He will be joined by Jakob Lakner, who has performed with his band, the Yxalag Klezmer Band, all over the world, including at Pjazza Teatru Rjal just last August at the highly-acclaimed Klezmorimalta Nights.

Anyone who wishes to join the workshops, which will be held at the Malta Society of Arts’ building in Valletta, is kindly requested to send a short description of their background in music and why they would like to join, to [email protected].