JEWISH-LEFT-REVOLUTIONARY

YouTube Premiere "From Kreisky's living room"

Hanno Loewy in conversation with Isabel Frey
JEWISH-LEFT-REVOLUTIONARY

In her search for a secular and politicised Jewish identity in the diaspora, Isabel Frey came across the tradition and music of the Jewish workers' movement, which she uses to refer to contemporary politics.

Isabel Frey is a singer of Yiddish music and an activist for social justice. With her interpretations of Yiddish revolutionary and resistance songs, which also refer to current political issues, she wants to carry on the tradition of left-wing Jewish activism and revive the cultural heritage of the diaspora. She also frequently performs at political protests, for example at the Vienna Thursday demonstrations against the black-blue government, or tries to show solidarity with refugees or Palestinians through her musical practice. Her debut album Millenial Bundist In addition to her musical and political activities, the young social and cultural scientist researches and teaches Yiddish music and Jewish identity as part of her doctorate at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Hanno Loewy, literary and media scholar, publicist and director of the Jewish Museum Hohenems, talks to Isabel Frey about borders and crossing borders in thought.
Talking about Jewish life, anti-Semitism and the Middle East conflict is increasingly being misused as a tool of exclusion and polarisation. To what extent can music and a resistant Jewish tradition be political at the same time and enable other connections and coalitions - across the nationalisms of the present. And finally: how much utopian illusion is permissible at a time when we are currently being shown how political deception works?.