Yiddish favourites at In One Voice
Singer Natalie Gamsu is excited to be performing several Yiddish songs at the In One Voice festival which will be held in Elsternwick from 11am to 5pm on March 20.
SINGER Natalie Gamsu is excited to be performing several Yiddish songs at the In One Voice festival in Elsternwick on March 20.
“It will be a great pleasure for me, as I grew up with Yiddish from my father and my great-grandmother,” she says. “The songs are old favourites of mine – I still remember the Yiddish from my childhood.”
Gamsu will be performing three songs during the afternoon at the concert – which features a host of leading performers including The Bashevis Singers and Shannyn Gelbart – at the street festival, which enjoyed success when it returned last year after a 10-year hiatus.
Gamsu has enjoyed a long career on the stage in many countries. She grew up in South Africa, studying drama at the University of Cape Town before going on to establish a cult following on the South African cabaret circuit.
In 1992, Gamsu moved to New York to focus on her cabaret career and worked there for 11 years before settling in Sydney.
In 2001, Gamsu released her first CD, Weave, and a decade later released her second album, Misfit.
She joined the cast of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical, which played for seven months in Sydney in 2014, then nine months in Melbourne from January 2015, followed by a Brisbane season.
“The experience of working with the cast and with Baz was brilliant,” she says.
Gamsu earned a lot of praise for her role as Spanish grandmother Abuela, which featured some lively singing and dancing.
Gamsu had earlier performed in the big-budget musicals Mary Poppins and Dr Zhivago, but admits that when auditions were announced in 2012 for Strictly Ballroom The Musical, she was not sure if there would be a role for her.
“I am not a dancer, but then I remembered there was a Spanish grandmother and thought that role was for me,” she says.
“I prepared in Spanish and it was one of those golden audition experiences. I was so thrilled when I got the role. Baz has the gift of making every person feel valued.”
After completing work on Strictly Ballroom The Musical, she returned to Sydney before taking up a role in a new feature film, the romantic comedy Ali’s Wedding, that was filmed in Melbourne.
She played the role of Fatima in the Matchbox Films production which will be released later this year.
“Fatima is the mother of a girl who has an arranged marriage that lasts for only an hour,” she explains. “It is a heartwarming and funny story starring Australian actor Don Hany, who plays a Muslim cleric who has migrated from Iraq to Australia.
“I have had roles in Neighbours, which is great as I used to watch the TV series in London in 1986, and I would like to do more TV and films.”
Gamsu is working on a new solo show with a friend in New York.
“It started out as a cabaret show, but it has become a work for theatre with a script and a story, and we hope it gets off the ground.” she says.
“I have done cabaret for about 30 years and want to do something different. It’s important to come up with your own work while waiting for something miraculous to occur like a big-budget musical.”
Although Gamsu was living in Sydney, she is now spending more time in Melbourne as work commitments increase, including teaching students in singing and performance, and she is doing more interstate commuting.
“I’m living between two cities,” she says. “I have always loved Melbourne, but my husband is a Sydney person. I first came here in 2008 to perform in Women of Troy in the Sydney Theatre Company production directed by Barrie Kosky.
“It seems that every 10 years I make a move because of my work. It’s stressful, but keeps you on your toes.”
However, her sights are now focused on singing in her first In One Voice concert.
The In One Voice festival is on March 20 in Sinclair and Selwyn streets, Elsternwick from 11am to 5pm. Enquiries: www.inonevoice.org.au.
REPORT by Danny Gocs
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