Jewish Spirit
	The performer Bente Kahan is regarded as the big voice and symbol of present day Yiddish song. Bente does not only sing the songs, she relives them on stage, ties them to history and with stories from the lives of her own family - which is synonymous with the suffering of the Jewish people. Bente Kahan has an incredible ability to transform and modulate her voice. Bente Kahan was born in Oslo in 1958. Her formal training in performing arts began at Tel-Aviv University and continued at the American Musical Academy (AMDA) in New York City. She worked on various stages, including "Habima", Israel's national theatre, and "Nationalteatret" in Norway. Bente Kahan's first appearance with a Yiddish program was in 1983, when participated in the Yiddish-Norwegian cabaret "Above the Town". In 1986 she jointly wrote the monodrama "Bessie - Bluesical" (also a TV production), with the Norwegian stage director Ellen Foyn Bruun. This collaboration was followed by "Letter Without a Stamp" (1988) and "Voices from Theresienstadt" (1995). In 1990 Bente Kahan established Teater Dybbuk - Oslo (TDO), a production company whose aim is to convey European Jewish history and culture through drama and music. Among the best known productions are: "Jiddishkeit" (a concert, TV production and CD, '90), "Farewell Cracow" (concert, TV program, and CD, '91), "Voices from Theresienstadt" (a monodrama and CD available in three languages - English, German and Norwegian, '95) and "HOME: Songs and Tales by a European Jew", Bergen European City of Culture 2000. Bente Kahan is frequent on tour with her diverse programs, performing on prestigious stages in cultural capitals such as Moscow, Berlin, Amsterdam, London and New York. Her performances have received unanimous critical praise. Apart from stage performances, Bente Kahan also gives workshops in Yiddish song and music. Her permanent musicians are Dariuz Swinoga on accordion and piano and Miroslaw Kuzniak on the violin. She also cooperates with European musicians and klezmer bands such as "Di Gojim" (Netherlands). In 2005, the Jewish Community of Wroclaw, Poland, appointed Bente Kahan to the office of Director, of the Wroclaw Center for Jewish Culture and Education which is situated in the White Stork Synagogue. "There was no one in the theatre that Bente Kahan's songs did not move deeply. Despair and merriment, tears and laughter, profound pain and uninhibited joy of life is the range found in Bente Kahan's concert 'HOME'". Westdeutsche Rundschau "The silence in the room was defeaning... she sang with a voice which is deep and moving, filling the hall with its resonance... It goes without saying that the theme, thte persecution of the Jews, could not be left out of this Berliner Festwoche's program. Nevertheless, Bente Kahan's forcefull and emotive way of presenting the material is not a self-evident matter for someone born after the war. So much divinity flowed (toward her audience on that evening)". Berlinger Zeitung, 19 September 1997 www.bentekahan.com Rabeino Tam Yas