Le Petit Mish Mash

Clarinetist/flutist Marine Goldwaser, musician of the new klezmer scene, gypsy accordionist Adrian Iordan, from Bucharest, and cymbalom player Mihai Trestian, concert artist trained at the Conservatory of Chisinau (Moldova) knew the moment that they became aware of each others’ musical heritage and styles and began playing together, that the prospect of a new ensemble was not only an exciting possibility, but inevitable. Meshing klezmer and gypsy music, the three musicians intricately weave their cultural and musical identities, tackling an original reading of their ancestral repertoires, and develop an interpretation according to which the search for authenticity is combined with the resources of the imaginary; Romanian dances with swirling, multi-paced rhythms intertwining with ancient transfigured klezmer melodies. From this mirroring you are invited on a musical journey through the group’s revisited soul-inspired soundscapes.

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On parle de nous! Le Mish-Mash dans le presse et sur les ondes

On parle de nous! Le Mish-Mash dans le presse et sur les ondes

Jun 9, 2020

Télérama Sortir Grand Paris « Avant, c’était mieux. » Ce sont eux qui le disent sur leur premier album, en trio, avec la verve et l’esprit bohème qui s’imposent dans une fête tzigano-klezmer. Sur scène, le joueur moldave de cymbalum Mihaï Trestian (repéré aux...

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Starting point

It does not take a long time for the curious who are looking at the roots of klezmer music to find oneself in Romania. Sweet Bessarabia, this ancient province of Moldavia, whose nostalgia brought to America a whole generation of Jewish immigrants during and between two wars and is so often mentioned in the songs, the poems, and the music of the small Ashkenazi world in the diaspora.  This teeming cultural area had a singular destiny, caught in the tornadoes of history in the last century.  Linked in turn to Romania and Russia, this region, which became a republic after the fall of the communist bloc, also sheltered a bit of Yiddishland that had been booming since the nineteenth century, and a great cultural heritage has fortunately survived beyond the Holocaust.  It was the birthplace of Yiddish theater and the fertile ground of an important part of the Ashkenazi culture that developed there through theater, literature, painting and of course music.
All around, there was a rich and varied musical activity.  While in the cities the artistic creation was in full swing, the life of the Romanian villages and that of the shtetl were punctuated by traditional music.  The professional musicians of that time, Jews or Gypsies, roamed the region to practice their craft, peddling local repertoires, sometimes carrying with them some specific melody found on the way, weaving links and undoubtedly exchanging the multiple repertoires that were played.  As a result, the traditional Klezmer, Moldovan and Gypsy repertoires that have come down to us today bear witness to this exchange.  Because of their similarities in certain places, certain melodies, similar in their main structure but with different styles and interpretations, find themselves affiliated with the folkloric heritage.  Moldovan on one side, reappear in the form of a gypsy song on the other, or find themselves transformed into a klezmer dance melody.
It was following this thread that Marine Goldwaser found herself bound to Romania and involved in research, fell in love with its music, hearing and making the connection with something echoing deep down inside her soul-klezmer music, which she had been nursed with in her childhood in her father’s Yiddish theater and inherited from the Ashkenazi culture of her grandparents, a traveling culture that crossed the Atlantic to America.
Following research conducted at the CNSM and returning from an apprenticeship in Bucharest, Marine Goldwaser brought together Mihai Trestian and Adrian Iordan for an initial meeting which sealed the creation of the group and marked the beginning of their personal musical adventure.
In the Yiddish language as in Romanian, mish-mash means a mixture;  this is what inspires this trio, halfway between the folk music, gypsy and klezmer cultures of Romania.  Gathered around these traditional repertoires, the three musicians draw their inspiration from the ethnic and ritual roots of these musical forms and infuse their multiple identities to propose a modern and unprecedented interpretation and multi-faceted repertoire.

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The team

Mihai Trestian

cymbalum

Born in Moldova, he won First Prize at the Stepan Neaga National Competition as well as the Barbu Lautaru International Competition, before becoming a member of the Tele Radio Orchestra Chisinau Folclor.

Following a creative residency at the Royaumont Abbey, he participated in the Chants du Monde of Jean-Marc Padovani in 2000/2001.
In 2002, the composer Gerardo Jerez Lecam hired him to perform with his quartet. He has been working regularly since that time with him.
Since 2004, he has been living in France and has collaborated with Daniel Givone, Sébastien Ginieux, Iacob Macciuca, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the ensemble Ars Nova …

He has also launched personal projects such as Ciocan and Altfel. After meeting Amit Weisberger, he became passionate about Klezmer music and became a member of “Yiddishé fantazyé”(an ancient Klezmer trio) and the “Beigale Orkestra”.

Marine goldwaser

clarinet/romanian flutes

Marine Goldwaser is a musician living in Paris. As a clarinet and flute player, she is regulary invited to perform and to teach all around the world with her band “Le petit Mish-Mash” and other projects (France, Israel, New-York, Bucarest…)

 The deep cultural heritage she received from taking part in her father’s Yiddish theater company has influenced her since childhood and continues to have a strong impact on her current musical journey.

 She studied theater, recorder and clarinet at the Strasbourg Conservatory (France), then continued her studies at CNSM (The National Superior Conservatory of Music) in Lyon, France where she earned a Masters Degree in Musical Research and Interpretation.

 She performs with many ensembles of various musical types, and also works with several theater companies (principally « Der Luft Theater », « Beliashe » and « Le Guépart Echappée » (France).

 With a passion for klezmer music, she continues to do personal research on the roots of Eastern European Jewish Music: she travels throughout Romania to do field research on the relationship between klezmer and ancient gypsy repertoires, and studies with the laureate Cezar Cazanoi, one of the most important figures of the contemporary gypsy and traditional musical scenes in Bucarest.

adrian iordan

accordion

Accordionist from a family of gypsy musicians from Bucharest, Adrian has been living in France for over ten years and has developed a burgeoning musical career: He created two groups of gypsy music (Finzi Mosaique Ensemble and Lautari from Bucharest) where he was the artistic director. In addition to an acting career with Cie. of the Bow and Bellows musical theater group, he worked with the Baroque music ensemble “La Tempesta” under the direction of the violinist Patrick Bismuth with whom he developed a repertoire spanning across Baroque and Gypsy music (production at the Royaumont Abbey).

He has performed for fifteen years in different music formations (Binobin, Soha, Tomuya, Arbols, Les Attacked, Dj Click, Gaelle Marie, etc. ..) at venues such as the Olympia Paris, Zenith, New Morning, The Theater of the Two Donkeys, The Hall of Grains in Toulouse, The Parco Theater of Tokyo, and the Global Copenhagen, among others …

 

Contact us

Mish Mash et Compagnie

Office : 57, avenue Foch, 92420 Vaucresson.

e-mail : mishmashetcompagnie@gmail.com

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