Ira Khonen Temple

Ira Khonen Temple is a songwriter, accordionist and cultural organizer. A founder of the radical-traditional Yiddish music group Tsibele, Ira was also a longtime music director for the Aftselakhis Spectacle Committee Purimshpil and member of New York’s activist street band The Rude Mechanical Orchestra. Ira performs on and off Broadway, playing recently in Cabaret and Fiddler afn Dakh. Their first solo album “Strange Tongue - Mistame-Loshn” was released by Borscht Beat Records this October. The album is a collection of traditional Yiddish songs, reimagined and expanded in English - marrying queer, trans songwriting with the urgent, living breath of Yiddish culture as it is vibrantly practiced today in Brooklyn.