Films and Documentaries
On March 12, 2023, Shura Lipovsky was guest in the wellknown classical music program “Podium klassiek”, live on Dutch national television. She performed ‘Tumbalalaika’ which she learned as a child and her latest creation, ‘Di goldene pave kert zikh um’, accompanied by Kimball Huigens on piano, and Peter van Os,accordion. In the interview with presenter Floris Kortie, Shura speaks of her passion for Yiddish culture and its idealism for a better world.
An interview with Gary Beitel, as part of the Project: 'Wandering Muse' of Tamas Wormser (Artesian Films).
Shura Lipovsky tells her family story and her career.
The purpose of this project is to transmit the Yiddish language and its culture by having the Purim Shpil inscribed on the Unesco list of intangible cultural heritage. It is coordinated by a group of french non-profit organizations under the auspices of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (Directorate-General for Heritage).
The presentation of the project took place in the City hall of Paris, on December 12th, 2013 in the presence of 600 participants.
The Purim Shpil, a Yiddish term for a Purim play, refers to a comic or satiric play and the festive events that accompany it, based on the biblical Book of Esther and the holiday of Purim. The Purim Shpil, which includes music, text, mime, masks and disguises, jokes and pranks, improvisations, etc., is the precursor of Yiddish theater.
It is mentioned in the Cambridge Codex of 1382, the earliest known Yiddish text.
Documentary by filmmakers Turi and Nathalie Finnociaro – Belgium 2005 (In English and French)
A journey to the heart of Yiddish music revival. As seen through the passion of young european artists such as Karsten Troyke, Shura Lipovsky and the KlezRoym.
By Sivan Cohen for the CidiTV - Information and documentation center Israel television TV (in Dutch) - 2011
On the occasion of the Dutch Jewish Music Festival, interview about including songs from her new show with Novaya Shira.
http://www.cidi.tv/video/Interview+Shura+Lipovsky_716
By Pamela Sturhoofd for the Dutch National Television (in Dutch and English) - 2012
For the documentary "Yiddish is my instrument”, Shura Lipovsky has been followed around the globe for over a year, performing and teaching Yiddish songs.
In 2013 her ensemble ‘Novaya Shira’ was filmed and recorded in Amsterdam with her new compositions for the project; ‘Wandering Muse’ by Tamas Wormser from Montreal, to be shown on Canadian Television, later this year.
Articles and reviews
in German:
in English Galileo Music :
Music and Words CUP 8058
NIW - Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad - New Israelite Weekly
Posted by Ari Davidow on March 3, 2013 | Permalink
Such an amazing official kickoff to the Boston Jewish Music Festival last night. The first half was a heimish, wonderfully played tour of familiar klezmer from Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein--The Tarras Band--complete with Pete Sokolow, David Licht, Jim Gutmann, Ben Holmes, and Michael Winograd. Pete's comments on Tarras and the bad old days remain a big part of the fun, as was his final solo at the end of the set where he unleashed his inner "Klezmer Fats."
Anywhere else, that would have been enough, but then Lerner and Moguilevsky took to the stage and we realized that listening to the Tarras Band was in part so that we'd be able to associate the intense and wonderful improvisational music we were now hearing with the originals. I haven't seen the band for a couple of years (Ashkenaz, Toronto, as usual). Such a wonderful feeling to see them on a local stage. But then, Shura Lipovsky took the stage with a big, wonderful voice and Yiddish originals and Cesar and Marcelo were the perfect accompaniment. Talk about three musicians in one mind and performing intimately, flawlessly.
Lerner and Moguilevsky are in New Hampshire today. Lipovsky is off to Berkeley where she will perform with Theo Bikel. Check out the full schedule
at :
http://bostonjewishmusicfestival.org/events/
Review Concert 02-16-2011, Concertgebouw
Amsterdam, 18 February 2011 - by Basia Jaworski
She is without question one of the most important performers behind the revival of Jewish music and Jewish song: Shura Lipovsky…
Article General Anzeiger 12-04-2012 - by Mathias Nofze
Bonn. “Dos Yidishe harts zingt” - sings the Jewish heart. Who listens to Shura Lipovsky, also known as the “Grande Dame” of Yiddish songs, agrees immediately. Charm and stage presence of the singer are overwhelming and that without having airs or being artificial…
Westedeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung 09-25-2012
At ‘Klezmerfest’ Shura Lipovsky performed music as if reciting poetry.
Shura Lipovsky enters the stage and magnifies the
audience immediately with her intense energy. Her warm charm will be with the audience throughout the whole concert…
Musicians without Borders – by Frances Baker Dickam
Mostar Sinfonietta/ singer Shura Lipovsky/ accordionist Merima Kljućo/ conductor Tamara Brooks in an exciting collaboration with the inter-ethnic Mostar Sinfonietta…
Eastern European music -Yiddish, Bosnian Sevdah, and Sephardic songs from Sarajevo - were performed…
Rheinische Post 25-09-’12 - by Garnet Manecke
Shura Lipovsky goes strong immediately.
...The audience is given a heart-warming evening, full of melancholy, spleen and pragmatic humour.
....Shura Lipovsky whispers with tender tones, where yearning infuses every syllable.
With the next piece: Shura Lipovsky’s voice gets a selfconscious, energetic force.
.....Many songs are new compositions of Shura Lipovsky, ‘you hear many world premieres’ says the singer to her audience, which receives her and her ensemble with a warm applause.
(Syncoop 5735 CD 153). Distributie: Music , Words
NRC Handelsblad BV 10-01-1994 - by Frans van Leeuwen
On 18 and 19 January performs singer Shura Lipovsky in Vredenburg, accompanied by pianist Zalmen Mlotek and guitarist Jeff Warschauer. With the same musicians she recorded the CD ‘Moments of Jewish Life’, prepared at a festival in Krakow.....
Regarding her repertoire, Lipovsky appears to be cosmopolitan, with texts in Yiddish, Ladino and Hebrew, and music ranging from folk to polkas and ballads.
Music and Words 4056
januari 2007 – by Patricia Werner Leanse
Tender recording
TSART (tenderness) is the well-chosen title of Shura Lipovsky’s (1961) new CD. This perfectly stylized album (with illustrations by Shura’s mother) shows a variety of Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino songs. The Amsterdam singer, an authority in this area, captivates with her versatile beautiful voice. The accompaniment is clear and simple: a violin cries and dances with a cimbalom. This is a typical Hungarian instrument full of life and fire.
by Anna Dodziuk, 2010
… The greatest luminaries of the genre sang in Kazimierz: Theodore Bikel (USA), Michael Alpert (USA), Chava Alberstein (Israel), Shura Lipovsky (Netherlands)...
Those who have heard Shura Lipovsky, speak about her in superlatives, like Maria Makuch: ‘A superb sound of her singing, the voice emission on a very high level, wonderful expression’.
and
http://www.jiddischforbundet.se/index.php/hem/124-shura-lipovsky-jiddischsangens-stora-ambassadris (Interview)”Shura Lipovsky’s warm, heartfelt and professional performance of Yiddish songs brought down the house. Above all, her new self-composed songs were a wonderful blend of Klezmer and Jacques Brel. At the grand piano her accompanist Tamir Chasson shone with his light-handed and fine tuned pianoplay…”
by Fredrik Sieradzki
The Yiddish Federation of Sweden (publication Sveriges Jiddischfoerbund, August 2012).
Deutschlandradio Kultur, soundcheck 2004 - by Jonathan Scheiner
Singer Shura Lipovsky was requested to give a concert for the 50th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1993, which she gave in the capital of Poland. An astonishing fact is that the live recording of this concert became only now a CD. However, those thirteen Yiddish songs are clearly worthwhile to be heard.
This CD is by all means strongly recommended.
Music in Medieval Spain. Syncoop 1996. By Judith R. Cohen :
Shura Lipovsky, vocals; with ensemble of rebab, recorders, percussion, harp, portative organ and lutes. The repertoire is divided between Judeo-Spanish songs and medieval Iberian songs. Shura Lipovsky uses her clear and flexible voice with skill and intelligence…
Podium klassiek