Last saturday at the Rampart. Probably the best purim party in the East End for decades. It was packed solid with people. Hardly anyone dressed up, which is a shame, and the Haman-ears were very small and overpriced. But the music was unbelieavable.
Gettoploz were playing house-kleizmer, culminating in a house-cover for Hava Nagila. As much as this song is the absolute clichee, it worked beautifully. There was a D&B verson later on by a group called Emuna ("the UK new hot Jewish Hip hop act") good competition but still not as good.
The first Vodka and the sounds of Ani Purim, a childhood song, threw me to thoughts about diaspora judaism and Israel. The impossibility of a jewish identity today that is not defined in relation to Israel; and my own ambivalent relation to it all (I am far more Israeli than Jewish). It was good to see Israeli punks in the crowd. There is something about this scene which makes me optimistic. Something very normal. It's about maintaining difference and contiuity at same time. I can't quite explain it but didn't feel the kind of labotomy I usually feel in these situations.
After the second vodka I gave up all attempts to conceptualise and just danced for a few hours.
Gettoploz will be playing at the clockwork Angel on 1st of April and in the Spitz 22nd of april.
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3 comments:
Haman ears? Surely Haman's pocket. But you;re right at 50p they were overpriced. I went there hungry expecting food. I ended up popping round the corner for kentucky. Great night though.
This is how we call them in the land of milk and honey. It might sound a bit cannibalistic and cruel, but you must admit it is in keeping with the spirit of the festival: the hanging of Haman, the killing of his 10 children and various other jolly massacres that follow.
The Book of Esther is my favourite, favourite Bible story. So if there was one Jewish holiday I would celebrate, it would be Purim.
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