Up on the Roof: Yiddish Café featuring Yosl and the Yingels

Enjoy an afternoon of music and Mameloshn at our first ever Rooftop Yiddish Café! An homage to the great European Yiddish cafes and coffeehouses, this in-person event will feature a Yiddish concert performed by Yosl and the Yingels, a Yiddish swing and folk band who fuse together classic Jewish European folk songs with Yiddish big band and theatre music. We will also have a Yiddish open-mic portion, for those wishing to read poetry, prose or perform an acapella song. Traditional kosher desserts will be served.

This event is co-sponsored by the Committee for Yiddish. Presented in partnership with Grodzinski Bakery and the Yiddish Vinkl.

Yosl and the Yingels are a Yiddish swing and folk trio who fuse together Jewish Eastern European folk songs with Yiddish big band and theatre music. Formed in the summer of 2021 as a pandemic busking project, their repertoire spans across the wide Ashkenazi Diaspora, with music originating from America to Turkiye. Yosl and the Yingels are releasing their debut ep this spring.

Accordion/Vox – Joseph ‘Yosl’ Landau is a Toronto-based and Thornhill raised multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and band leader. Although he holds a BFA in music from York University where he studied classical guitar, and composition he is better known today as an accordionist and singer. Joseph regularly sings in English, French, Hebrew and Yiddish. However, setting him apart from some of the other very talented Yiddish singers in Toronto is that he is one of very few secular, Canadian artists dedicated to writing original music in the mamaloshn. Besides his work with Yosl and the Yingels you can see him performing such disparate styles as french jazz with his band Musette, or blues and cabaret rock with Badger’s Caravan.

Bass – Bret Higgins is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Toronto, Canada.  He leads a varied career that includes writing music for film and television, original music for ensembles, co-writes, producing, arranging, and performing & recording with an array of artists from across a broad spectrum of contemporary music. In addition to leading his own Bret Higgins’ Atlas Revolt band, the bassist performs regularly with Canadian folk-rock group Great Lake Swimmers and Canada’s leading Klezmer-Balkan group Beyond The Pale.  Bret performs extensively in Toronto, and has toured throughout North America, Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia.

Clarinet – Jacob Gorzhaltsan is a Juno-nominated multi-instrumentalist,  composer, and singer-songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario.  Born in Jerusalem, Israel to parents who are both visual artists, Jacob moved to Canada and (with his parent’s encouragement) began studying music shortly afterwards. He now performs and records professionally as a sideman with numerous groups in Toronto, and leads several bands of his own (Wide Arches, The Jellyfish, JG Quartet). Throughout his career, Jacob has played in countless venues and theatres across Canada and the United States.

The Committee for Yiddish was created in the early 1960’s under the auspices of the Canadian Jewish Congress to coordinate, foster and promote Yiddish cultural activity in Toronto. To this day, the Committee for Yiddish continues to fulfil this goal through a variety of activities that include classes in Yiddish language and literature, theatre workshops, concerts and lectures, and through its support of Yiddish programming by various other Toronto organizations and groups. For more information please visit http://www.committeeforyiddish.com/