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May 16, 2003
Vancouver enjoys choir
Community observes Yom Ha'atzmaut Ethiopan style.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
More than 1,300 people crowded into the Chan Centre for the Performing
Arts May 6 to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut with Shlomo Gronich and the
Sheba Choir. Youth from the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel
comprise the choir. Most of their repertoire is original music composed
by Gronich, who is the group's artistic director.
In their Chan Centre performance, one of the more moving pieces
was "The Journey to the Land of Israel," with lyrics by
Haim Idissis. It tells the story of the hardships faced by Ethiopian
Jews during 1985's Operation Moses. In a similar vein, "Memories
of Africa" by Shlomo Mashiah tells of 1991's Operation Solomon.
The group also sang a few covers, including "Motherless Child"
and "We are the World," but it was the Ethiopian and Jewish
selections that were the crowd-pleasers. People sang along with
such songs as "Adon Olam," "Eli Ata" and "The
Klezmer Medley."
Gronich invited on stage local drummaker and musician Kwasi, who
got the audience clapping and the choir literally jumping to the
music.
Other locals involved were Geoffrey Druker, co-chair, Israel Affairs
of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. He concluded Yom
Hazikaron before initiating the celebration of Yom Ha'atzmaut. Eve
Camerman sang O Canada. Stephen Gaerber, who co-chaired the Yom
Ha'atzmaut committee with his brother Allen, welcomed the audience,
and Bette-Jane Israel, co-chair of the 2003 Combined Jewish Appeal,
gave the Federation address. Greater Vancouver youth – participants
in the Federation's annual public speaking contest – provided
a wonderfully informative (and very endearing) background of the
Ethiopian Jewish community and how its members were brought to Israel.
Behind the scenes, many individuals and organizations contributed
to the evening, which ended with an emotional rendition of Hatikvah.
Many Israeli flags were visible throughout the theatre.
While the event was a great success by most accounts, there were
problems with seating. The event was general admission and the doors
weren't opened until some 15 minutes prior to the concert start
time. There was a huge crowd and people, many elderly, were forced
to wait for a long time in the foyer.
"We thought it was a wonderful evening, but clearly there were
some problems with people being forced to wait outside the theatre,"
said Stephen Gaerber. "The plan was for the doors to the lobby
to open at 6:30 p.m. and the doors to the hall itself at 7 p.m.
The fact that they didn't open as planned was beyond our control
and we're waiting to hear back from the Chan Centre as to why that
occurred. We will find a solution for next year."
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