As the flagship of the Jewish Culture Festival, the Shalom on Szeroka concert is the best documented of all the Festival events. When nobody could even dream of live streaming, the Shalom was broadcast live by the Polish television (TVP2) and then by TVP Kultura. Each concert – almost since the first one – has a very rich photographic documentation, and, for a long time already, we have been presenting online, and on our website, all that we could from the concert.
The only thing that we have been lacking is your own accounts of the Shalom on Szeroka. So if you have any photos or films in your private collections – please, send them to us, so that we could create an even greater archival documentation of this concert – a unique one in the world.
In the meantime – see what we got for you!
29 concerts, the Shalom on Szeroka (up till 2019) makes up together 203 hours of music, and 261 performances. It is really difficult to select the one which is the most significant or even 10 most important ones. But this is not about rankings – each of these concerts was the most meaningful for a different person. Each of you listened to such a concert in the most important time for you and, although this very concert might not have any great value for others – for you it was the most precious one.
That is why, we made one large playlist of the Shalom on Szeroka concerts and we will keep extending it – for sure already now you will find the one concert or a song which had the greatest value for you.
Kol Ha’Olam Kulo is the title of a song with the words of rabbi Nachman from Bracław. Life is a narrow path and what matters most is not to be scared – this is the essence of this piece which was played also during the Shalom on Szeroka street.
On the one hand – Nachman from Bracław is a invisible patron of the JCF. Many of the Festival events, ideas, topics are rooted in his philosophy of life. On the other hand – this song was performed on Szeroka by the cantor Benzion Miller together with the founding father of the JCF – Janusz Makuch.
This moment makes up the essence of the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.
If you asked us, which of the Shalom on Szeroka was especially meaningful for the history of the JCF, we would point to this one – Balkan Beat Box during the 19th Jewish Culture Festival in 2009.
Why? First of all, this was the first concert contracted especially for Szeroka. Before that, other artists performed in the Tempel synagogue and then on Szeroka. BBB were the first ones to become special guests at the Shalom, opening a new tradition for us.
Secondly – it was the first Festival “trip” into a new direction: not towards the traditional Jewish culture, but to the most modern one in Israel. We showed you that Jewish culture may also have a different face, not only revolving around the klezmer music, niguns, Yiddish songs, jazz and cantorial music. And a singer does not have to wear a yarmulke, a hat or even…. a shirt!
If we have so many films from the Szeroka concerts, you can imagine that we have even more photographs! Some of them, from many editions, are collected in one album. Have a look at them, perhaps you will find this only, unique and special moment in your lives. If not – send us your own photos from the Shalom on Szeroka, so that we could see what is the most important for you.
Below you will find the enormous album of the photograph from the concert on our Flickr profile – the authors: Bogdan Krężel, Edyta Dufaj, Michał Ramus, Paweł Mazur, Bartosz Dittmar, Grzegorz Kozakiewicz.
photo: Edyta Dufaj