Alexis Kune

The Moïshe Beregowski prize

Moïshe Beregowski (1892-1961) was a ukrainian musicologist who during the soviet regim between W.W.I and W.W.II undertook exhaustiv research of jewish music. The fruit of his work constitutes today a heritage of inestimable value for traditional klezmer music.

The Moïshe Beregowski award is unique in Europe. He was created by Andrea Pancur in collaboration with Yiddish Summer in Weimar to encourage the young talents to carry on the heritage of yiddish culture in the future.

The jury

The jury who granted this award was composed of :

• Andrea Pancur, The president of the jury is the singer the Massel Tov klezmer quartet (Munich). She is a musician and actreess as well.
• Professor Alan Bern is a pianist, accordionist and musical director of the Brave Old World group. Alan Bern is also artistic director of Yiddish Summer in Weimar (Germany). Alan Bern is on of the leaders of the klezmer revival in United States, Canada and Europe. From the beginning of the 80’s he played with the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Andy Statman, the Klezmatics, Itzhak Perlman and many others. Today he teaches klezmer music from the United States to Russia , Japan as well...
• Christian Dawid one of the best klezmer clarinettist on the world is internationally known. He has played with Konsonans Retro, Frank London, Khupe, Brave Old World, Boban Markovic and many others. As in the case of Alan Bern, he teaches klezmer music today from United-States to Russia an Japan...
• Andréas Schmitges – guitarist and dancer in the group A Tickle in the Heart.Andreas sets up dance workshops in Europe (London, Weimar and all over Germany) and also in Klezkamp in New York. He is one of the founders of the Klezmer Alliance project who links klezmer artists from Kishinev (Moldavia), Londres et Cologne (Germany).

Andrea Pancur Interview

President of the jury

What is exactly for you the Beregowski award?

It is a possibility to support young musicians who are interested in klezmer music. As eastern european jewish music is so overloaded with clichés I can support musicians who try to avoid the clichés (the most well known is probably the laughing and cryning clarinette...) And of course, by creating this award I can take influence on how klezmer music developes.

What was your goal creating it ?

Basically I wanted to encourage young musicians in Germany to take part in the competition. In the end we got applications from France, Switzerland, Israel and Germany. Fair enough!

Why did you creat it ?

The main reason is like I mentioned above: to take influence on how klezmer music is being performed in the future. Another reason, a more personal reason, is that i was nominated several times for several awards and never got one. To turn my frustation into sdomething positive I thought "Well if I don't get an award I give an awrd to somebody else". I can tell you, this strategy works!

Why Mentsh did obtain it ?

The jury was convinced that you stayed most closely to the oral tradition of learning and preserving music. We thought that that's something which Beregowski would have supported.

Christian Dawid’s testimony

Clarinettist and saxophonist, jury member

« The Moïshe Beregowski award was created to encourage young musicians to delve into and take inspiration from outside of known paths and to follow different roads of those suggested by the musical industries and conservatories.
This gives Yiddish music its freshness and authenticity, allows it to take risks and explore news roads, connects it to its oral tradition and origins and brings it up to date.
To sume up, this music must be played by authentic hupan beings for an authentic public and it’s precisely for this reason that the Mentsh received the Beregowski award. »