Shtetl Montreal » Shtetl

In this song Jake Smith, musician, comedian and...choirboy at an Orthodox synagogue, sings about checking out attractive young Jewish women at shul while standing for hours on the bima during high holiday services. Caution: Contains some untoward language and imagery.

Latvian-born David Bezmozgis-on The New Yorker's list of best writers under 40- is the author of Natasha (a must read!!) and was shortlisted for the Giller prize for his 1st novel The Free World. His storytelling brings the Soviet immigrant experience to life with a wickedly sharp sense of humour and history.

Comedian Jake Freakin Smith of indie band Lakes of Canada is also a choir boy at Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in Montreal. And what does he think about while singing from the bima? Also, find out about a unique Judeo-Quebecois delicacy called poutka. Chanukah will never taste the same!

Eddy Portnoy shares tales of bizarre and tragic suicides in the Yiddish Press. Montrealer and atheist Tevya Heller talks about seeking the divine on TV, and Palestinian comedian Eman finds what's funny about Jews and Muslims.

Shtetl, Frid. Nov, 18th: They don't draw inside the community lines. They're musical, creative, from Orthodox families, political, pissed off...they're Punk Jews! Also, are you OBSESSED. Tally Abecassis tells us about her awesome storytelling night: This Really Happened. The theme? Obsessions.

In American Passages, Viennese documentary filmmaker, Ruth Beckermann, focuses her camera on the United States. This "epic panorama" takes us on a nuanced tour of the American Dream. Plus music by Enrico Macias, Corrina Rose, Stereo Total and Arcade Fire.

Alicia Jo Rabins, poet, classical violinist, Bible enthusiast and lead singer of the "post-Biblical pop rock" band "Girls in Trouble" is back on Shtetl. We'll talk about her music, why the Bible?, Occupy Wall Street, and, Rabins' experimental hybrid opera "A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff".

This week on Shtetl, beloved Montreal rabbi Ronnie Cahana, the preachings of Dr. Bronner and his Magic Soap, and a live rendition of the Kol Nidre by Shtetl's favourite indie-pop cantor Daniela Gesundheit of Snowblink.

Meet musician Little Birdie, aka Orit Shimoni. Her latest album, Sadder Music, was recorded in Berlin. Hear what she has to say about Germany, walls, old synagogues, and catch her tunes before she plays live at l'Escogriffe on September 29 in Montreal.

What happens when two Jewish worlds - Hasidic and secular - live side by side in a trendy, mutli-cultural neighbourhood of Montreal? Shtetl's guest: Mark Slutsky, Mile Ender and director of the comedic short film: Sorry, Rabbi.

Last days of summer camp and Shtetl is hanging out at the canteen with legendary klezmer musician Frank London, this year’s artistic director of KlezKanada, Quebec's definitive festival of Jewish music, arts and culture.

Ari Cohen talks about the Uluit, an all-women Inuit hockey team in Ujuak, Quebec...do they win the Great Whale Cup in the end? Also on the show, Navot Papushado and Aharon Keshales, directors of the first-ever Israeli slasher film "Rabies". It's Hockey and Horror on Shtetl this week.

Le Mood...Mais, qu-est ce que c'est? Shtetl gets the scoop by talking to festival participants and organizers Zev Moses, Stuart Myiow Jr. of the Mohawk Traditional Council, Emily Litvack and Felber, the bassist from uRockaoke.

This week the sultry Corinna Rose band performs live on Shtetl. Also on the show is Avia Moore, director of "The Dybbuk" at Sala Rossa this month, and, we'll chat with Stephen about... what it's like to be a Bronfman.

French-Israeli pop star Yael Naim LIVE on Shtetl on the Shortwave this Friday at 11AM. Best known for her song New Soul, Yael Naim sings in Hebrew, French and English and does an amazing cover of Toxic by Brittany Spears. Shtetl is in love! Yael is in Montreal at L'Astral this Saturday.

Egyptian Montrealer, Ehab Lotayef speaks about the uprising in Egypt today and the paralells with the ancient Passover story. And, Avi Grenadier, host of Radio 613, talks about Jewish radio in Kingston, anarchism and the contradiction between freedom and the Passover seder.

Artist Melissa Shiff gives an audio tour of the Medium is the Matzo, an installation she's putting up in Montreal made of 5000+ pieces of matzo. And, legendary Passover activist pioneer, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, talks about the Freedom Seder of 1969 on the one year anniversary of the assassination of MLK Jr.

Karen Sherman, (choreographer of Slippery: a dance performance piece on ice), talks roller derby vs hockey.  Daniel Seligman, Creative Director of POP Montreal, talks smoked meat, poutine and indie music.  Plus, Zak Rosentzveig of “Hamantashen for Haiti” talks…hamantashen.

Montreal comedian Robby Hoffman is 7th in a family of 10 children. Rabbi David Ingber, is the spiritual leader of Romemu, one of the most popular synagogues in America. Meet them both on S.O.S.

What happens when the world of Jewish music and arts encounters the religious Jewish world? Most often beautiful music is made and sometimes controversy is born.