It is not often people get to see a silent movie the way it was originally intended to be seen, but the klezmer band Yid Vicious will allow students and community members to experience this rare performance
Based out of Madison, Yid Vicious is a band that primarily plays klezmer music or Jewish folk music.
Associate Professor Matthew Sintchak, a member of Yid Vicious, said the music is just folk music and not religious in any respect.
“It’s just music of Eastern Europe,” Sintchak said.
When the group performs at UW-Whitewater later this week, they are adding something unique to their performance.
Silent movies were popular in the 1920s. At that time the technology did not exist to add sound to motion pictures. Silent movies were then played with a soundtrack in the background, but the movies were really meant to have a live orchestra playing in unison.
That is how Yid Vicious is performing the 1920s silent film “The Golem.”
The film is based off the Jewish legend of a creature created to protect the Jews in Prague. Sintchak said the movie is the “Jewish version of Frankenstein.”
A rabbi created a creature from clay then through incantations brings the creature to life.
The creature was meant to bring peace and harmony to the ghetto in which the Jews lived. However, things go wrong and he becomes a monster.
The hour and a half long movie will be played simultaneously with the performance of Yid Vicious.
Sintchak said folk music is not the only type of music audience members will hear.
“You’re going to hear folk music and things that are jazz-related,” Sintchak said. “There is also a good amount of improvisation and hip-hop rap beats at certain parts. There’s really a wide-range of musical styles the group is playing.”
Saxophone player and UW-Whitewater Lecturer Melissa Reiser said this is a rare event that most people have never experienced.
“It gives it an energy that a movie normally wouldn’t have,” Reiser said. “This is not a movie that you would see often.”
Before the concert there will be a pre-concert talk beginning at 7 p.m. Members of Yid Vicious will be available to answer questions about the performance.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 30 in the Light Recital Hall in the Center of the Arts. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for community members.
