History: Bukharian musical in Israel
Hundreds of Bukharian actors and singers came to audition over a few long weeks, and they all had a dream - to establish the first Bukharian Theater
The groom is Ashkenazi! (Photo: Yisrael Berdugo)
The playwright, director and actor, Chai Davidov (of Bukharian origin) was called to duty to write the musical that is based on the lives and experiences of the Bukharian immigrants to Israel.
The musical tells the story of ‘Mula Chai-Abu Albanat’, who emigrated with his family from Bukhara to Israel, and struggles with the hardships of absorption, cultural differences, language issues, and the social and financial struggles that his family experiences. His family is composed of seven people - Chai, his wife Mazal and their five daughters.
Chai, a downtrodden man, and a great believer, makes a living by selling ‘lepeshka’ (Bukharian bread) that his wife, Mazal bakes. He deals with the establishment - the men from the collection agency that have become permanent guests in his home, and with his family situation where he assumes the heavy and important responsibility - like every authentic Bukharian Jew- of finding a suitable match for each of his five daughters.
The groom is Ashkenazi???!
The young girls, who are exposed to the Israeli mentality and to the temptations offered on the Israeli street, cause their parents much chagrin, especially when the time for matchmaking arrives and the girls “choose” their matches on their own - something which is not done in the Bukharian community.
All's well that ends well (Photo: Yisrael Berdugo)
But all’s well that ends well. Chai’s friends are enlisted to help him pay his mortgage, and his Israeli sons-in-law, one of whom is a pure Ashkenazi (Chundul in Bukharian slang, “how terrible…”), finally extricate him from his troubles.
“The Bukharian Jewish Congress asked me to produce a Bukharian-Israeli production for the annual conference and I saw in it a challenge and also a great honor. The Bukharians are mostly a community that does not go out to plays due to the difficulties with language and mentality. Here we are producing a musical that speaks their language and touches everyone sitting in the audience,” notes Chai Davidov.
According to him, in order to produce this play and keep to schedule, they advertised that they were holding auditions for actors, singers, dancers, and others from the community who spoke both Hebrew and Bukharian.
“To my surprise, the response was tremendous, hundreds of applicants from all over the country arrived at the auditions that were held in Or Yehuda, Ramle, and Tel Aviv. The applicants were all very talented and all shared the same strong desire to establish the first Bukharian Theater, a kind of Bukharian Yiddishpeil”.
