International vocal artist Victoria Hanna comes to Blacksburg for a free performance on Monday, March 2, at 8 p.m.
The performance will be held in the Recital Salon, located within the Squires Student Center at 290 College Ave.
Public Radio International has called Hanna the “freshest, edgiest, weirdest artist on the Israeli airwaves today.” She describes her music as combining “Jewish mysticism, Dada, surrealism, and spiky feminism.”
A rabbi’s daughter, Hanna grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Jerusalem. As a child, she stuttered, but turned the stutter to her advantage by harnessing it as part of her expression. Language became her tool for creation, using the tones of the Hebrew and Aramaic languages in her songs.
Hanna draws inspiration from the ancient Hebrew tradition, which relates to the voice, mouth, and letters of the Hebrew alphabet as tools of creation. According to the Kabbalah, the world was created through these 22 letters, with each one symbolic of, and relating to, a specific element in the universe and in the human body.
Hanna’s work also includes exploring ways to give physical presence to vocal sound vibrations.
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Gershon Waiserfirer, a native of Tajikistan, joins Hanna in the performance. He is embedded in the Israeli music scene in almost every genre, from traditional Jewish music to free improvised music, and regularly composes for movies and theater.
On Tuesday, March 3, at 2 p.m., Hanna will conduct a free workshop, using vocal methods as a means of “physical and emotional healing, strength, and empowerment,” as she explores the relationship between language and sound. The workshop will be held in the Graduate Life Center, Room F, located at 155 Otey St., on the main Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg.
The events are sponsored by The Malcolm and Diane Rosenberg Program in Judaic Studies in the Department of Religion and Culture, the Women and Minority Artists and Scholars Program, the School of Performing Arts, and the Center for the Humanities.
