Integrating “Yiddishe Mama” with drum and bass, Jewdyssee has set a new tone to the music scene in Germany where Jewish music is still thought of as outdated and traditional. The Jew Spot interviewed Maya (lead singer) and Elina (manager) from Jewdyssee to learn more about their project.

Start by telling us about Jewdysee - how you define it.

Jewdyssee is currently a music project. What we are aiming to achieve through our music is the celebration of Jewish music and culture that shows this culture is alive, vibrant and evolving. The name Jewdyssee comes from the word Odyssey that describes a journey – a journey to consciousness. The name reflects our musical journey exploring the old Yiddish songs and bringing them into a current day musical context. Jewdyssee is not about making a political or religious statement. We just want to show that our culture not only has a tragic history, but that there is a great wealth of music and culture to be celebrated and that this culture is a current part of our lives that we want to express and share.

Is there already a strong German Jewish music scene in Germany? Or is Jewdyssee starting a trend?

In Germany, when people think Jewish music they think of Klezmer bands, clarinet players -- the old traditional and stereotyped music. In our experience, there has been no real German Jewish music scene for the new generation. There has been nothing before now that could be enjoyed and listened to in a new way; that reflected anything other than the very old traditional ways. Jewdyssee hopes to be leading the way in establishing a new kind of scene in terms of the German Jewish music scene.

Your music fills a niche not only in Germany, but internationally, as this genre of traditional Yiddish music with club is quite innovative. How do you hope your audience will react from listening to your music?

We want the people to leave our performance completely sweating, emotionally uplifted, excited and exhilerated after dancing all night long! If, as well as loving the music, having been exposed to something they have never heard before and it has raised their curiosity as to what the songs were about, then this would be a great sense of accomplishment. We just want people to see that our Jewish culture is alive and strong. By giving the youth a voice, by bringing this music to new people, it is going to keep it alive. In 2005, I performed the song Adon Olam with the israeli artist Moshe Ben Ari and german singer Xavier Naidoo at an event in Berlin in front of 9000 people. It was at this moment that it became clear to me that Hebrew and Yiddish were the most beautiful languages and the only ones that i could truly express myself through - Maya.

Why have you committed to using traditional Jewish language in your music as opposed to German or English which more people can understand?

There is so much wisdom in Yiddish music. It is always teaching; always has a message and always has an answer. It is this thoughtful philosophy, this sense of ‘and the moral of the story is...’ that I personally get so much from. It is these answers that I also want to get to other people. The song that describes everything for me is a song called Glick.

In Yiddish it is: glik du bizt gekumen tsu mir, ober a bizl tsushpeyt glik du hozt genumen un farshaft mayn harts azoy fil freyd kh'vil yetst gornit klern, vos der morgn vet brengen far mir azoy lang ikh hob khotkh eyn moment, dos glik yetst in mayne hent, un ikh tants dem letstn tants mit dir.

Which roughly translates to: Good fortune, why did you reach me so late? You provided me but a moment of joy, But I won't think of what tomorrow may bring As long as we have these brief moments together I cannot end the interview without acknowledging your photos and how striking they are.

What is it you are trying to express by using these images along with Jewdyssee?

As with our music, we are trying to mix elements of the traditional with the current fashions. In following with the whole concept behind Jewdyssee, we want to openly display this identity – what we wear and what we play symbolizing the open pride, confidence and strength we feel for our culture but also showing elements of us, the side that is young, stylish and not all serious. Until now it feels as though there have been two ways of living with our Jewish identity, especially having lived all my life in Germany. One with a strong sense of inner pride for our culture, and one because of the history that we don’t always feel comfortable to express. As with our music we just want to express and celebrate our culture in a way that is open, positive and new. That represents how we feel, our ideas, and our generation and is not steeped in all of the history.

Thank you, Jewdyssee for the incredible music you’ve brought into the world, your message, strength (and the interview of course).

Jewdysee plans to expand its project to all artists who fit their message of engaging our generation in Jewish culture. If you’re ever in Germany or would like to book Jewdyssee elsewhere, please contact Elina at Elina@jewdyssee.com.

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Reprinted with permission from The Jew Spot.