The Wandering Muse

Using instruments as passports for millennia, wandering Jewish musicians are still among us. From ram’s horn to beatbox, The Wandering Muse explores the kaleidoscope of Jewish identities through the ever-changing music of the diaspora. In constant motion, the film is a series of encounters with Jewish musicians from around the world. In the warm twilight of an Argentinean courtyard, a group plays a style of klezmer that combines tango and local folk songs. On stage in New York, an ultra-orthodox performer raps his faith in the Messiah still to come. Ugandan villagers chant Hebrew prayers in East African harmonies. And at a loft-party in Montreal, an artist mixes hip-hop and jazz with cantorial singing in a multilingual tour de force. Each scene brings viewers closer to discovering a borderless world of harmonies where stereotypes are shattered, expectations are up-ended, and both the traditional roots and the dynamic birth of new Jewish music are celebrated.