The Ukrainian klezmer band Kommuna Lux from Odessa is coming to Trondheim after negotiations to be allowed to travel out of the war-torn country. They finally got permission and are coming to the Jewish Culture Festival via Berlin.

It is no coincidence that the klezmer tradition is strong in Ukraine. Jews have a history of over a thousand years in the country and once made up around a third of the country’s population. Pogroms and oppression have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands throughout history, and the worst happened to the Jews during the Second World War, when over a million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. So although Ukraine has a rich heritage of Yiddish culture, the country has also been a country of strong anti-Semitism, regardless of which regimes have ruled.

The Jewish Culture Festival is therefore very happy about this visit, and looks forward to hearing exciting klezmer music and folk music from Odessa. The multicultural port city of Odessa has previously been a great source of inspiration for musicians, writers, filmmakers and artists such as Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Scholem Aleichem or Isaak Babel, who felt attracted by the city’s liberal spirit and Mediterranean climate. Odessa is also world-renowned for its Jewish history and for being the birthplace of the Russian vice tradition.

The atmosphere at the Kommuna Lux concerts is completely unique – both with a touch of history and the typical timeless humor from the Ukrainian Black Sea coast. Kommuna Lux’ concerts will be characterized by the band’s somewhat wild show, full of rhythms, refreshing madness and lots of zest for life!

From performances in the hometown’s Jewish quarter followed large concerts on recognized stages all over Ukraine, as well as appearances on radio and TV. They have toured in the USA, Israel, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. They have released two albums, “The gold of the old Odessites” in 2016 and “Shalom Bonjour” in 2020. In addition, there have been several singles and collaborations with other musicians and bands from Ukraine.

We are looking forward to meeting these seven musicians from Odessa.

The band consists of the following musicians: Bagrat Tsurkan (vocals), Viktor Kyrylov (guitar), Oleg Vasianovych accordion), Volodymyr Gitin (trumpet), Andrii Okramovych (clarinet), Yaroslav Besh (trumpet and trombone) and Serhii Poltorak (drums).

Ten percent of the ticket revenue from the concert goes directly to help Ukraine.