From Odesa to Columbia: One Night Only

Appearing one night only in Columbia, Maryland: Kommuna Lux, originators of the “Odesa gangsta folk” style of Klezmer* music. The young, high-energy musical group is visiting Columbia as a part of their US tour to raise money for war-torn Ukraine.

If you’re wondering what “Odesa gangsta folk” might be, these words from their website may help:

“In Odesa, people find togetherness. In Odesa, all will laugh and sing." Ukraine’s Kommuna Lux validates these words from an old poem, performing their own style called "Odesa Gangsta Folk:" thrilling klezmer music and common gangster folk songs from their hometown, all with a dose of rocket fuel.

Kommuna Lux plays joyful songs and melodies from Odessa and all Eastern Europe in spiced up arrangements.

The following promotional video gives an energizing summation of what they do along how they have used moneys raised to support the war effort in Ukraine. (It’s about two and a half minutes long, so not a big time commitment.) The video juxtaposes music and footage from Kommuna Lux concerts in Europe with documentation of purchases made using their donated funds: clean drinking water, communications equipment, and automobiles, for example.

Kommuna Lux

The concert is on Monday, September 18th at 7 pm at Abiding Savior Lutheran Church, 10689 Owen Brown Road, Columbia, Maryland. Tickets (limited to eighty seats) are 20.00 and can be purchased here:

Kommuna Lux concert

If you are unable to attend but would like to make a donation to their cause, you may also do that through the link above.

You may recall that Abiding Savior has hosted out of town visitors in the past, presenting Stary Olsa from Belarus in 2016. Come on out and show Kommuna Lux, so far from home, a warm Columbia/HoCo welcome and soak up some musical “rocket fuel” to energize your week. Just for fun, here’s a little vignette promoting their American tour that I found on TikTok:

Kommuna Lux American Tour

*Klezmer is an instrumental music for celebrations which was once performed in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe at weddings or joyous religious celebrations, such as Purim, Simhat Torah, or for the inauguration of a new synagogue. Like most of musical Jewish traditions, klezmer is a music of exile. - - Oxford Languages on Google

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