Festival Sefarad de Montréal

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Avi Krispine, president this year of the 44th edition of the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée de Québec’s Festival Sefarad de Montréal, says the goal of the May 21 to June 5 event at various venues is to attract all in the community to the 13 shows taking place over the two-week period.

“This year, more than ever, we’re looking to reach out to over 10,000 people, which would be a first,” Krispine, a partner at the Montreal-based private investment firm Claria, told The Suburban. “We managed to get three new events that are high-profile, and can target different communities — the Jewish community, but outside the Jewish community as well. This is not purely a Sephardic festival — it’s Sephardic, Ashkenazi and non-Jews.”

Krispine highlights the closing event, Koolulam, a solidarity gathering taking place 7 p.m. June 5 at Théâtre Le National, described as an “unforgettable evening of sing-alongs, haunting rhythms and celebrating unity through music – a participatory experience where every voice counts.”

“It really brings together every single community out there, and we’re all going to be singing the [Bill Withers] song Lean On Me,” he explains. “The majority is going to be English, but there’s also French and Hebrew portions. This will be more than 1,000 people singing together. The message of the event is Am Yisrael Chai.”

Kripine says another primary objective this year was to attract all generations, from the Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1946) to today.

“The festival was just targeting a specific generation, and the newer generation didn’t feel connected to it, so one of the events is L’école des fans, which was extremely popular 25 years ago. This will be a concert and seven kids [who pass an audition] will be performing, and the special guest will be Quebec entertainer Gregory Charles. Parents and grandparents, everyone comes to watch this type of show.”

This event takes place 4 to 6 p.m. June 2 at the Rialto Theatre.

Another event is Séfarade du Rire, taking place 8 p.m. May 30 at the Théâtre Le National, hosted by Neev, and featuring stand-up comedians Alex Calta, Gael Comtois, Michael Fhima, Orel Gozlan, Sam Picanero, Ben Soussan and Aric Wizman.

“The performers are both Jews and non-Jews,” Krispine pointed out. “This is very different than having a one-man show.”

The festival will also include a 10 a.m. May 26 launch of a book recognizing past CSUQ presidents from 1966 to 2022. The event, which is free and takes place at the Gelber Centre, will be moderated by journalist Elias Lévy.

Krispine says the festival is also “trying to break a record, and have one May 31-June 1 Shabbat which will bring together 1,000 people, from Laval to the South Shore, downtown, the West Island and Côte St. Luc.

“The idea is to have all of the 13 point of contact synagogues host a Shabbat that same Friday night and Saturday, and it’s really to celebrate all of us together during the festival. This is for all generations and during that same weekend, we’re having a Shabbton up north for those 21 to 35 years old” in Ste. Agathe-des-Monts.

Another festival highlight is an 8 p.m. May 26 concert being held at the Olympia, called Nos Racines Andalouses, “featuring the Montreal Andalusian Symphony Orchestra accompanied by 20 musicians led by the renowned conductor of the ‘Jerusalem Orchestra East West,’ Tom Cohen,” along with talented singers. Krispine says the goal is to have more than 1,200 people attend this event, which features Jewish and non-Jewish performers.

Also, at 8 p.m. June 3 at the Théâtre le National, the play Pourquoi les Femmes Aiment Les Bad Boys?, a comedy featuring actors from France, will be performed.

“The CSUQ is really going all-in to give the city of Montreal two weeks of exciting, educational and fun events,” Krispine says. “This is really open to everyone.”

For more information about all the events, go to festivalsefarad.ca/programmation/. n