In this two-part concert programme, Herje Mine explores the musical roots of two of its band members and presents Ladino songs, songs in the language of the Sephardim who can be found in many countries around the world. The second part of the concert focuses on Pijjutim – poems intended for liturgical use that Jewish people often encounter: at Shabbat meals, but also on the radio, at school and even in proverbs. The themes of the various poems are sometimes ancient, but still relevant today. Love, happiness, war, forgiveness, the conflict between faith and everyday life, etc. – all of this is reflected in beautiful rhymes and metaphors.

Migration is a central theme in Jewish history. Whether through flight, expulsion or the search for a better life, Jewish existence has always been shaped by migration.
Every migration is ambivalent: it means loss of home, personal suffering and deprivation, but at the same time it opens up new opportunities, possibilities for development and a broadening of one's horizons. Mobility as a prerequisite for cultural exchange also plays an important role in the history of Jewish music.
The Via Regia, the most important west-east connection in Europe, is symbolic of Jewish history and the development of Jewish musical cultures along its route. In addition to cities with significant Jewish communities such as Frankfurt/Oder, Breslau, Krakow and Lemberg, Leipzig in particular – at the intersection of the Via Regia and the Via Imperii – became a central location for Jewish life and Jewish music.

Le Chant Sacré is a male choir founded in 1951 and consisting of around twenty passionate singers – both adults and children. Its repertoire includes 19th-century Ashkenazi Jewish liturgy as well as Ladino melodies, songs from Central Europe and modern, Oriental and Hasidic compositions. The choir is one of the last synagogue choirs in Europe and performs at most of the Sabbath services in the large Synagogue de la Paix in Strasbourg, as well as at celebrations, weddings and ceremonies. The choir thus makes a significant contribution to the preservation of Ashkenazi and Alsatian liturgy.

The TATE-MAME project [Yiddish: parents, Polish: mum and dad] is a musical exploration of singer Karolina Trybała's family history, whose ancestors came from Galicia in Eastern Europe. On stage, Karolina presents favourite songs from her ‘LIDER BIKHL’: klezmer classics, old tangos, songs from Jewish theatres in Lviv, Krakow and New York, where many Galician artists emigrated. She interprets well-known and forgotten musical treasures in Yiddish and Polish, but also in German, English and Hebrew.