Arts in Brief: January 31

Ilan Ramon documentary airs tonight; artists honor Bob Marley’s 66th; Gogol Bordello adds another show.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Ilan Ramon documentary airs tonight
An Article of Hope, a documentary that will be broadcast on Channel One on January 31 at 9:30 p.m., chronicles astronaut Ilan Ramon’s life and tells the story of an unusual artifact from the Holocaust.
Col. Ilan Ramon was an Israeli fighter pilot who became the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon was killed with the rest of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia at the end of its voyage, on February 1, 2003. While the film, directed by Daniel Cohen, details the tragedy of the Columbia and the death of Ramon, it focuses on a special aspect of the space mission.
It was Ramon’s decision to bring one particular item into space: A Torah scroll that had been used at a clandestine bar-mitzva celebration at the Bergen- Belsen concentration camp during World War II. Dr.
Joachim Joseph, known as Yoya, was a physicist and friend of Ramon’s. Joseph was an inmate at the concentration camp when he was nearing his 13th birthday, and a fellow inmate, Rabbi Simon Dasberg, the former chief rabbi of Holland, performed a bar-mitzva ceremony using a small Torah scroll smuggled into the camp. Ramon saw the scroll and decided to take it with him on the space shuttle. This film brings together the story of Ramon’s life, the space shuttle voyage and the Torah scroll.
• Hannah Brown
Artists honor Bob Marley’s 66th
The late reggae pioneer Bob Marley would have been 66 in February, and a dozen local artists, including Karolina and Mooky, will be gathering to honor him. The Bob Marley Festival will take place on February 17 at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv.
An eight-piece house band will provide the rock steady anchor to the guest artists, who will also feature Omri Glickman from Hatikva 6 and Alma Zohar.
• David Brinn
Gogol Bordello adds another show
Local fans of celebrated New York gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello aren’t letting them get away with only two shows. Following the buzz of the band’s triumphant 2009 concerts in Tel Aviv, demand for their upcoming February 28 and March 1 performances at the Barby Club has resulted in an unprecedented third show being added on March 2. Riding high on the success of their fifth album – the 2010 Rick Rubin-produced Trans-Continental Hustle – the band, led by the mischievous Eugene Hutz, offers a dazzling multi-ethnic musical mix, ranging from Hutz’s Ukrainian roots to band members from Ethiopia, Scotland and Ecuador, as well as Israeli guitarist Oren Kaplan.
Three local bands that also show a flair for the adventurous have been chosen to open a show apiece – the ska/reggae of Los Capros on February 28; the homegrown punk of Bo Lebar on March 1; and the Arabic rock of Halas on the final night.
•David Brinn