‘Seed to Harvest’ Sukkot meal and live performance I organised in Dublin last Sunday is a side story from the trip to Ukraine. The Quartet (Olesya Zdorovetska – voice, Nick Roth – saxophones, Olie Brice – double bass, Matthew Jacobson – percussion) performed Seeds II, a study of plant genetics composed by Nick Roth, followed by a free improvisation. The visuals for the performance were created from the material collected in Lviv and the Carpathians.
The origins of Sukkot are both historical and agricultural. Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkot celebrates the gathering of the harvest.
Sukkot foods are all about the autumn harvest – apples, pears, sweet potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables that are readily available this time of year. On each day of the holiday it is mandatory to perform a waving ceremony with the Four Species: fronds from the myrtle, date, willow trees, along with a yellow etrog (the citron fruit).
Happiness doubles when you share it. Joined by people from Australia, England, Finland, Iran, Ireland, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine we had a memorable evening full of music, visuals, food, conversations and singing. This event was made possible through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s #MakeItHappen initiative.
We have been discussing the research process with those involved or simply interested in the project from our first day in Lviv. What is the story we are trying to tell? Is it about Debora Vogel as an intellectual, a writer, a feminist, a Gertrude Stein of the inter-war Lviv? Is it about that fascinating era of the avant-garde thought and art?
With the time the narrative started to build up – it’s like Debora Vogel herself took us on a journey around the places she lived, walked, wrote about and introduced us to people who survived the war and went on living to tell their stories, or were born long after and found an interest in languages and cultures of their ancestors, the past and present of this area. And not only in Lviv and Burshtyn where Vogel was born, but also in Olesya’s Kiev and my hometown of Moscow.
I start the story by posting this video abstract from our chat with Jason Francisco. We met in the Centre for Urban History of East Central Europe to talk about film, photography and Vogel.
We have been discussing the experience and the process with people we met on our journey. What is the story we are trying to tell? Is it about Debora Vogel as an intellectual, a writer, a feminist, a Gertrude Stein of the inter-war Lviv? Is it about that fascinating era of the avant-garde thought and art? And so the narrative started to build up – it’s like Debora Vogel herself took us on a journey around the places she lived, walked, wrote about and introduced us to people who survived the war and went on living to tell their stories, or were born long after and found an interest in languages and cultures of their ancestors, the past and present of this area. And not only in Lviv and Burshtyn, but also in Kiev and Moscow.
