Folk Icons I: Varda Bar-Kar on Janis Ian
Varda Bar-Kar is the director of the 2025 documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, about the singer who burst on the scene in 1966, at the age of fifteen, with her song "Society's Child," Since then Ian's career has, well, careered. from high points to low points and back again, more times than you might think possible.
Varda was born in England to a South African mother and aR omanian father and had lived on three continents by the time she was ten. Her documentary Big Voice (Netflix, 2015) takes a deep dive into the culture of artistic excellence fostered by Santa Monica High School choir director Jeffe Huls. And Fandango at the Wall (HBO/MAX, 2020) follows Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Maestro Arturo O’Farrill to the United States-Mexico Border for a bi-national fandango with the masters of a three-hundred-year-old folk music tradition called son jarocho, transforming "the wall" from an object that divides to one that unites.
Varda Bar-Kar's website.
Janis Ian's website.
Varda was born in England to a South African mother and aR omanian father and had lived on three continents by the time she was ten. Her documentary Big Voice (Netflix, 2015) takes a deep dive into the culture of artistic excellence fostered by Santa Monica High School choir director Jeffe Huls. And Fandango at the Wall (HBO/MAX, 2020) follows Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Maestro Arturo O’Farrill to the United States-Mexico Border for a bi-national fandango with the masters of a three-hundred-year-old folk music tradition called son jarocho, transforming "the wall" from an object that divides to one that unites.
Varda Bar-Kar's website.
Janis Ian's website.
