Turntables, cabaret and Middle Eastern jazz: nightlife with a Jewish twist

A drummer performs at Mizz Raqi. (Photo: Nira Workman)[Missing Credit]

“I really want it to feel like it’s just about music and meeting each other, separating us from all the tension that seems to be built into everything outside right now,” says Theodore, 33, who is half-Iraqi. “I wanted to create something that was social and cultural, and it could just be for anybody.”

The first Mizz Raqi event was in February 2023 and there have been five since. The most recent featured musical stylings by Theodore herself as DJ Mizz, playing everything from old Mizrahi classics to Middle Eastern pop, and live performances by traditional darbuka drummer Ronen Kozokaro and belly dancer Leilah Isaac.

“There’s so much Middle Eastern music that I love and want to share, and then there’s also so many amazing artists in Israel who are redefining this genre and singing in Arabic or Turkish or Farsi and giving new life to Mizrahi music, so I was also really excited to play those types of artists, like A-WA, like Riff Cohen,” Theodore says. “It’s really exciting for me to share that.”

Belly dancer Leilah Isaac performs at Mizz Raqi. (Photo: Nira Workman)[Missing Credit]

 

Emily Theodore, founder of Mizz Raqi, DJs at the event on 30 November. (Photo: Nira Workman)[Missing Credit]

She’s not the only one trying to bring the spirit of Middle Eastern Jewish culture to the London nightlife scene.

Gaby Maestro, co-founder of the independent cultural publication YYY zine with her friend Anna Mimran, noticed something was missing in London when she moved back to the capital after living in Tel Aviv for two years.

“In Israel we were in an environment where we were surrounded by people going through the same thing as us and who you didn’t have to explain anything to, and then we found ourselves in London and were suddenly quite desperate for this community,” she says.

During Maestro and Mimran’s sojourn in Israel, they spearheaded art exhibitions, food pop-ups, and live jams under the banner of YYY, soaking up the atmosphere of a predominantly Jewish social and cultural landscape. Returning to London in the months after October 7, the pair swiftly realised that the city lacked a space for young Jews to celebrate their culture in a way that didn’t rely on religious or political ties.

Speaking for herself and Mimran, Maestro says: “We never really had a need to feel connected to our Jewish community. We’re both Israeli and Jewish but we’d never really attended Jewish community stuff; that wasn’t really our thing, and then coming back to London we were like, wait, I need some way to connect with my community.

People celebrate at YYY's Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]

“But everything on offer was either a bit cringey or not really something we felt like we related to, and I think also having lived in Tel Aviv and basically being surrounded by beautiful, talented, really cool Jews, we were like, why is our only representation in London just, like, bagels and nothing exciting, nothing sexy?”.

So they created Seven Species, an event series celebrating Israeli culture in a way that is “non-political, secular and about having fun.”

Given the work they’d done with YYY, Maestro and Mimran knew plenty of Israeli musicians, DJs and artists living in London, many of whom “were getting pulled out of exhibitions and being told they couldn’t perform in certain spaces or deciding they didn’t want to perform in certain spaces because they felt like they couldn’t express themselves as who they were – there was an undertone of, okay, you’re Jewish, but you have to be a certain type of Jew.”

Party-goers dance at YYY's Tel Aviv-themed event Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]

Seven Species gave them a place to be unapologetically themselves.

The first event, in January this year, featured a live Middle Eastern jazz band headed by Israeli musician Nadav Schneerson while the second was “more party vibes”, with DJs Sachana and Kidnappa Koko mixing club-ready sets to get people on their feet. The third and most recent Seven Species event featured DJ Kobayashi and a second run for Kidnappa Koko, at Spiritland in King’s Cross.

According to Maestro, who works in creative production and marketing by day, every Seven Species event so far has sold out, proving there’s a real appetite for Tel Aviv culture in London’s nightlife scene, and Theodore has found the same to be true for Mizz Raqi.

“It is a small community here, but I seem to get messages from a lot of young Jews who don’t usually go to Jewish events or Jewish socials, and they do feel like they connect in some way to this,” Theodore says. “I’ve just honestly been really surprised – in a good way – at how people have found this.”

It’s clear through the success of events like Mizz Raqi and Seven Species that Maestro and Theodore haven’t been alone in their search for connection among a young and increasingly secular Jewish community in London, many of whom want to feel proud of their identity but don’t have a safe place to express that pride.

People have a boogie at YYY's Tel Aviv-themed event Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]

“Because I’m an Israeli, I felt like I was getting excluded from pole dancing and burlesque places based on politics, even though I have never spoken to any of the performers who excluded me about what I believe and what my politics are – it was strictly based on my being Israeli and Jewish,” says Yael, the creator of a pole dancing and burlesque performance series called Oy Vey Cabaret, which spotlights Jewish artists.

Yael, who does not wish to share her last name, created Oy Vey Cabaret last May, when she began finding it difficult to blend with other artists and dancers in the aftermath of October 7.

“I wanted to create a space where Jewish people or Israeli people could come and perform, and no one would really question them about it.”

Yael, founder of Oy Vey Cabaret. (Photo: Anastasia Photiou)[Missing Credit]Bunny LeStrange performs at Oy Vey Cabaret. (Photo: Anastasia Photiou)[Missing Credit]

The first Oy Vey Cabaret event, in September, at Water Rats in King’s Cross, sold out all 80 tickets. Yael created the type of event she wanted to be a part of but couldn’t find in London’s nightlife scene: a “sensual and seductive” performance space with glamorous and upbeat acts and, most importantly, Jewish artists being their full Jewish selves.

“I believe that every person deserves to shine and deserves a spot on stage if they like performing and being Jewish doesn’t stop you from doing that,” says Yael. “I just like giving Jewish people the opportunity to do that in a space that doesn’t feel like they have to hide the fact that they’re Jewish.”

Ben Isaac performs at Oy Vey Cabaret. (Photo: Anastasia Photiou)[Missing Credit]

Yael, Theodore and Maestro all took inspiration from Butt Mitzvah, an LGBTQ Jewish club night that has become something of a blueprint for Jewish nightlife events in London.

Designed to mimic the experience of a bar or bat mitzvah but with a queer and adult twist, Butt Mitzvah has popped up annually or semi-annually since 2016, becoming a highly anticipated, star-studded affair each year. It attracts more than 2,000 Jewish and non-Jewish partygoers alike thanks to its camp performances, theatrical costumes and warm, inclusive atmosphere – a rarity in most London nightlife spaces. Its latest event, at the Troxy in East London, was a “Chrismukkah”-themed spectacle, featuring drag performances, live klezmer, Brick Lane bagels, and radical acceptance of patrons from every demographic.

Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]

Indeed, one Butt Mitzvah organiser told the JC last year that he created the event for people who “feel too Jewish in non-Jewish spaces and not Jewish enough in Jewish spaces,” as well as to offer a point of entry for non-Jews to be able to engage with Judaism in a way that felt, above all, fun.

“Butt Mitzvah was the first nightlife event that was Jewish but wasn’t political or religious,” says Maestro. While the vibe of Seven Species is “completely different” from Butt Mitzvah, offering a more laidback option for Jewish partygoers, it echoes “the fact that Jewish nightlife doesn’t need to be political, it doesn’t need to be religious, and it should be fun.”

A DJ performs at YYY's Tel Aviv-themed event Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]A sax player performs at YYY's Seven Species. (Photo: Ethan Katzenburg and Ian Piczenik)[Missing Credit]

For each of the organisers, the main reason for creating distinctive Jewish-centred nightlife spaces seemed to be born of a desire to connect during a time of isolation for our community, and to do so in a way that felt celebratory rather than mournful.

“People seem to be really excited to meet each other and talk to each other and I’ve heard so many nice stories of people connecting,” says Theodore. “It’s just really nice to see alternative Jewish spaces bringing people together and celebrating Jewish talent. I think Jewish diversity is a growing theme now and in London, there’s a lot more interest in these initiatives.”

Yael adds: “I’ve got to meet a lot of other Jewish performers which is honestly what I’d been hoping for to begin with just because I’d been feeling quite alone in the industry. I wasn’t alone, I just didn’t know any other Jewish pole dancers or performers or dancers or anything like that. Now I do, which is great.

“I want to do more of the performances in the future, and hopefully if people keep buying tickets then I can continue with the performances, but my main thing is I opened Oy Vey Cabaret because I was looking for other people like me within the Jewish community, so it actually is more important for me to create connections rather than showcase our talents.”