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Pete Rushefsky posts to the Jewish-music mailing list:
Some of you had the pleasure of meeting tsimbl player/maker Jozef Jankowski at KlezKamp. Just wanted to let you know that he's the coverboy of the latest issue of Dulcimer Player's News. Yes-- shameless self promotion-- I did write the article. Can see the cover and read an excerpt of the article at the following link: www.dpnews.com
For more on Jankowski tsimbls, see his page here on the KlezmerShack.
The yiddish literary journal the Zukunft is now in its 110th year. It is the oldest Yiddish periodical today. The current issue is a special issue with a focus on Jewish Music.
This issue of the Zukunft (vol. 107, no.1) is available from The Congress for Jewish Culture for $6.00. A subscription to the Zukunft, a quarterly is $30.00. Please make checks out to the Congress for Jewish Culture. Please subscribe and have your library subscribe too!
Zukunft, 25 E. 21st. NY NY 10010
212-505-8040
Kongres@earthlink.net
Lyudmilla Sholokhova "Di folklor-zamlung fun Moyshe Beregovski" [The Folklore Collection of Moyshe Beregovski]. Ms. Sholokhova was the cataloguer of the Beregovski-Anski collection in the Vernadsky Library in Kiev and editor of the 800 page catalogue to that collection.
Jeffrey Wollock, "Fun kleyn-shtetldikn klezmer biz kontsert-virtuoz" [From small town klezmer to concert virtuoso]. It seems to be common knowledge that the roots of the great Jewish violinists were in klezmer music, but no one talks about the specifics, how the change through the generations happened. Mr. Wollock shows in detail exactly how this transformation occured in several famous musical families.[part one only]
Itzik Gottsman "Der oyfleb fun klezmer-muzik: sakh-haklen nokh 25 yor" [The klezmer revival: conclusions after 25 years]. This essay is divided into: the beginnings of the revival; klezmer music in Germany - a thesis; the new literature about klezmer music and the revival; what does the klezmer-revival lack?
David Chevan writes to the Jewish-Music list last month:
I've been meaning to share this with the list. For the past five years I've been giving a Family Concert at my synagogue, Mishkan Israel in Hamden, CT. Unlike my other performances this rarely involves more than one or two other professional musicians. The group consists pretty much of amateur musicians--computer programmers, dentists, etc. who come together for three or four rehearsals and then we give the concert. While we always have a good time it is challenging to obtain the quality performance I seek. So I am happy to report the wonderful results that I obtained using the Maxwell St. Band's Joy of Klez book. It is really a terrific introduction to Klezmer for musicians who are not familiar with the idiom. The charts are not overly challenging for these part-time musicians and I was surprised how quickly everyone was able to feel the music. It was so much easier to get my trombonist and clarinetist to get the right sound and figures than ever before. I highly recommend this set of charts to anyone--especially the type of ensemble I worked with.
My only complaint is that there are only ten charts in the collection. I hope there will be a volume two as I will probably be giving these concerts for years to come!!
For more on "Joy of Klez," see our original announcement:
www.klezmershack.com/articles/davidow/2001_0930.musicbooks.html#maxwellst
One of my favorite of the new post-revival, "traditional" suburban American klezmer bands is the Alexandria Kleztet. Their second CD, "Delusions of Klezmer" only increases my affection. This is wonderfully-well-performed klezmer with everything American music influencing something traditional, yet new.
Read the review at www.klezmershack.com/bands/alexandria/delusions/alexandria.delusions.html">
This is a few months old, from the WELL, but I just got a chance to confirm permission for posting it here. The author is David Julian Gray, once of the Klezmorim, now of Washington DC's Klezcentricity.
Topic 1675 [music]: And even yet, another Concert I Just Attended #1577 of 1580: David Julian Gray (djg) Mon Oct 14 '02 (19:51)
...
I got to see an act <ari>'s been lauding for a few years: The Lerner/Moguilevsky Duo - These guys put on the most stunning display of virutosity I have seen in many year - but it was not virtuosity for virtuosities sake - it was nothing but passionate, thoughtful and rocking music. I do not have any words to describe just how incredible these guys were!
They are billed as "klezmer", but that doesn't quite explain what they do.
They are light years ahead of anyone else in the world doing klezmer in
every way - that is everyway but doing "traditional Eastern European dance
music"... that is the core of their repertoire, but they use that as a
spring board for free improvisation. It is free improv as modern as
anything - yet far more accessible than 95% of free improv without
sacrificing modernity and the highest levels of intellection!
Their harmonic vocabulary is vast - in what is traditionally a modal music
-
but they either ferret out wild harmonies within the context of the mode -
or use "Western" (French impressionism mostly) harmonies as either a foil
or
a well placed joke.
One plays keyboards - usually a sampled piano but also accordion - the other plays clarinet and recorder. The keyboardist is fine, fine, fine - but the clarinetist is astonishing - the best playing I've ever heard in my life - his recorder playing is lightening fast and accurate - no less his clarinet and on that instrument he also commands a tonal palette as wide as had yet been discovered for that instrument - all at his whim and command.
....
When I was in the former Leningrad years ago, I remember browsing the street stands for cassettes of incredible local bands. Good street music is always found in lousy, crowded marketplaces, and it comes on poorly recording cassettes.
The subject of Mizrahi (of Jews from the former Ottoman Empire) music came up on the Jewish music mailing list a while back. Longing and nostalgia were expressed for those cassettes available at the bus station or in the open air food markets. As was to be expected, Dr. Judith Cohen, wandering ethnomusicologist and author of our Short Bibliography of Sephardic Music (and many articles and publications) had been there and written about it. We are delighted to make her 1993 article on "Israeli Bus Station Music" available online,
www.klezmershack.com/articles/2002_neskaya
Back in October, 2002, on Columbus Day weekend, several of us made our ways to Franconia, NH, where we learned (or in my case, tried to learn) traditional Jewish Dance taught by Zev Feldman.
It has taken a while to find the time to put some stories and pictures together, but it was a special weekend, and I am glad that this is finally up.
Thanks to Judith Pinnolis, Dena Ressler, Helen Winkler, and Jacob Bloom who took the pictures and wrote the words, along with me.
www.klezmershack.com/articles/2002_neskaya
Helen Winkler sent this notice in to the Jewish-music list last Fall:
There's a new website, yiddishsong.org of the Yiddish American Digital Archive. Some Real Audio versions of 78's available for listening.
I went and looked, and there is some very neat material. There is also an incredibly long flash piece at the website entrance. If you stay and watch long enough, you see old Yiddish sheet music covers. But I dunno that it's worth the wait. Ari
A few months ago, Mark David posted this to the Jewish-music mailing list. Apologies for the delay in getting the information online:
www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=200210140104Summary for Yiddish Radio afficionados: archive of Eddie Gillman (Boston's Di Yidishe Shtunde) goes online.
Enjoy!
-- Mark David, Host/Producer, The Yiddish Voice,
www.yiddishvoice.com
Monday, October 14, 2002
Jewish sound archive to go online this term
by Elizabeth Wise
.... On this website, Dartmouth students will have access to a wide variety of programming including Yiddish radio jingles predating World War II, a radio broadcast of the United Nations' vote for the creation of the state of Israel and contemporary Israeli folk music....Hartov developed the archive in 1992 after stumbling upon old records belonging to Eddie Gilman, his wife's uncle.... Gilman had used the records while hosting a Yiddish radio show in Boston called "The Yiddish Hour," and Hartov later inherited Gilman's collection of recordings and transcripts....
Full article: www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=200210140104Judith Pinnolis, a reference librarian who hosts the Jewish Music Web Center writes to the Jewish-music mailing list:
Many of you will be thrilled to learn that UC Davis, as part of the Digital Libraries Initiative, has mounted much of the archive online from the collections of Samuel Armistead, Joseph Silvanman and Israel Katz. Armistead, of course, did one of the largest bibliographies and collection of Sephardic materials, starting nearly 50 years ago. This is an online bibliography, but also a searchable database of recorded music, field recordings, oral history and oral literature. It is truly remarkable. There are transcripts to follow while you listen to the field recording excerpts! It's keyword searchable in Spanish. There are also extensive histories online and other explanatory notes and articles full text. Try it, it's incredible. This is for everyone interested in the Sephardic heritage.
Here's the URL. flsj.ucdavis.edu/home/
Judy-aren't-libraries-wonderful-Pinnolis
In what I hope will be the beginning of a plethora of new reviews, as I catch up with the pile of CDs that has accumulated since before my wedding, I have the first five up. All of these are great albums, but I caution folks that this is still the tip of the iceberg. In any event:
Pharaoh's Daughter / Exile, 2002 -- this will blow your mind. Basya Schechter has gotten superlative reviews for previous albums, but this new album is even better.
The Red-Hot Chachkas / Family Album, 2002 -- I have been following Julie Egger since she formed her first band, post KlezKamp, in 1998. This album shows how good she, and the band are. It is a very exciting traditional klezmer album with a couple of excellent new tunes.
Vocolot / Heart Beat, 2002 -- my earliest memory of Linda Hirschhorn is her talking with a friend of mine, even before I moved to Berkeley (which is a major relocation ago) about her music. Here, she and her primarily a capella band, the Vocolot (how aptly named! "vocolot" is Hebrew for "voices") range all over the world for songs of spirit and beauty, as well as featuring some of Linda's newest compositions.
Adrianne Greenbaum / FleytMuzik, 2002 -- I am awestruck, and am not going to waste further verbiage trying to describe what an amazing, beautiful, virtuosic album this is. If you like klezmer, or you like flute, or if you didn't know that you liked either, this will still be your favorite album for a long time.
Paul Shapiro / Midnight Minyan, 2003 -- this just arrived. I popped it on to the changer to check it out, and have had a hard time not leaving it on constant replay ever since. Shapiro works primarily with the familiar Conservative synagogue song that all bar mitzvahs of a certain age (and perhaps bar and bat mitzvahs to this day) will recall. But what he does with this music, and with other Jewish sources, is to take davening to a new level. This is spiritual music and jazz of the highest order. (Bet you never davened to a rhumba before!)
The subject of "Kol Isha" (literally, "a woman's voice", referring to a prohibition in Jewish Law against a male person hearing a woman singing) has come up again on the Jewish-music mailing list. It is one of the places where the push by some practitioners of holier-than-thou, put a fence around the fence around the fence around the Torah directly affect the income and livelihood of Jewish performers, and I am less sympathetic than I might be.
I also welcome that the subject comes up periodically, and I welcome those few minutes before everyone settles into their usual polarized place in the sport of bashing religious feeling of one extreme or another, those few minutes when some folks can take the time to think about the subject and consider whether the words they are about to state reflect actual examined feelings, or are just an instinctive response to the usual button-pushing.
The other reason I welcome that the subject comes up periodically is that I think it important that those members of the Orthodox community who follow this particularly silly (in my never humble opinion) bit of misogyny think its implications through, again. I accept that within the confines of some Jewish communities, kol isha may or may not work as an expression of someone's Jewish spirituality. But, as I said, kol isha directly affects women who work as singers, and often, the Jewish community at large. I have major problems when religion feels like a cloak for general (in this case, sexist) stupidity.
In the instance that sparked this particular outbreak of the discussion, a woman was hired to sing at a Workmen's Circle event. (Here's an irony--kol issha--fear by some religious men of the eroticism inherent in a woman's voice--being a criterion for who might appear at a Jewish socialist event. Perhaps a reminder than not all socialists, or former socialists, made particularly notable changes in how they looked at all relationships, as opposed to simply demonizing a different brand of oppression.) At some point, the Workmen's Circle folks wanted to reach out to the Orthodox community, and kol isha was invoked.
Here's the thing. From my perspective, it is absolutely reasonable for those Orthodox Jews for whom this matters to refrain from attending such an event. Or, in a pinch, they can donate to the cause (in this case, a pro-Israel rally) and leave the hall when a woman sings, if that is offensive. But it is absolutely wrong-headed for anyone to claim that this supports "klal yisrael" (the unity of Israel). Catering to extremists while depriving others of income, and depriving the rest of the community of reasonable community celebration is not "klal yisrael", it is a caricature. For those people that far out of the Jewish mainstream as to feel constrained from listening to a woman's voice in song, their duty is to accomodate the community in whatever way works for each individual so affected, not to demand that the community accomodate them. And for the Workmen's Circle to cater to this silliness is beyond caricature.
There is a myth in Jewish community that by accomodating all Orthodox needs, we maintain the ability to think of ourselves as an inclusive community. In many cases--insisting on kosher or vegetarian food at Jewish events (and yes, I know that there is more to kashrut than kosher-prepared food)--such accomodation hurts no one and keeps the tent spread over all. But when the community is, in effect, choosing to exclude some people to include others, that is not inclusion. It is kowtowing to (in this case) something that feels to those of us outside the Orthodox community as simple sexism. If the Jewish community has to choose, how much more honorable, and how much more representative of the general Jewish community at large (I like to think), to choose not to succor sexism.
I was a Bob Wills fan already when I was in high school in Dallas, Texas. Mark Rubin's klezmer recording, "Rubinchik's Orkestyr" manages to fuse Texas swing with klezmer in ways that will tickle your ears and remind you that klezmer, like swing, is for dancing.
A recent missive from Mr. Rubin notes that the album is now back in print. These pages encourage those who do not yet have a personal copy of this marvellous disk to remedy the situation while the getting is good.
Richard Sharma has posted several reviews of wonderful klezmer albums to the Jewish-music list. The author has given us permission to post this one to the KlezmerShack, and we thank him profusely. Our own delay in getting this reviewed is only partially mitigated by Mr. Sharma's well-written, and suitably enthusiastic words: www.klezmershack.com/articles/sharma/sharma.maxwellst.html
Enjoy!
Elliott Simon has written two new articles.
The first, about Tzadik Records, includes an interview with John Zorn, the label's founder: www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/arti1202_06.htm
The second, "Terry Gibbs Plays Jewish Melodies in Jazztime" is about the CD release of the groundbreaking 1963 album by jazz vibraphonist Terry Gibbs: www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r1202_103.htm
Every year, George Robinson pegs the best of the albums that he has reviewed. The Klezmershack is months behind, so I'm just getting this up now. Still, the choices are excellent, so any time is the right time to read them:
Eva Broman found this article by Israeli scholar Edwin Seroussi about ""Mediterraneanism" in Israeli music: an idea and its permutations" from Music & Anthropology, Journal of Musical Anthropology of the Mediterranean, Number 7
www.muspe.unibo.it/period/ma/index/number7/seroussi/ser_00.htm
Fascinating!Alan Bern, of Brave Old World, writes:
I'd like to announce the Weimar Klezmer Weeks Workshops 2003, expanded to two whole weeks, from July 27 to August 10, in Weimar, Germany. There will be a special 3-day workshop concentrating on Yiddish song repertoire and style, conducted by Michael Alpert, Adrienne Cooper, Alan Bern and Marilyn Lerner, and special 3-day Yiddish danceworkshop, conducted by Zev Feldman, Michael Alpert, Brave Old World + Christian Dawid and Sanne Möricke, and finally, a week-long workshop for advanced klezmer musicians, instrumentalists only, conducted by Brave Old World, Frank London and Sophie Solomon (Oi Va Voi). Weimar is a wonderful city and the facilities for the workshop are incredible. Please check out the website for further information about this unique event. Web: www.klezmer-wochen-weimar.de
George Robinson passed this along to the Jewish-Music mailing list:
-------------------------------------
From: Alan D Corre
Subject: NEW WEBSITE: Lingua Franca
I am pleased to announce the fourth edition of the Lingua Franca website.
Lingua Franca was a trade language which existed around the mediterranean
for centuries, and disappeared around 1900. Significant items were
extracted from Tunisian Judeo-Arabic sources, and the language was widely
used by Jews.
The fourth edition includes various corrections and new items:
* Transcript of a lecture by Prof. Roberto Rossetti on LF with valuable
bibliographical appendices.
* An acrobat version of the main glossary which produces an excellent
printable text.
* A set of discussions on LF with participants all over the world.
The URL is
www.uwm.edu/~corre/franca/go.html
Yiddishe Cup bandleader Bert Stratton turned the Jewish-music list on to this article about his band and it's music.
Lori Lippitz passed along this URL about Sephardic music to the Jewish-music list. Thought it might be of interest to KlezmerShack readers:
www.jchron.co.uk/news.asp?Page=53&Type=4&Record=19912
7-Feb-2003 Arts & Ents > Reviews
Klezmer it ain't
Jenni Frazer
There's far more to Jewish music than the sounds of the Eastern European shtetl. Jenni Frazer heads east.
Turn to the east and listen to the sounds of the Sephardim. This year's Jewish Arts Festival has some particularly choice examples of Sephardi music, including songs of passion and tragedy as celebrated by the Spanish-Jewish group, Los Desterrados.
Sylvia Schildt writes the Jewish-Music list with an update about this upcoming conference: "For ongoing monthly updates and revelations, reg. forms and teacher tribute forms, you can visit fishl kutner's site www.derbay.org, or write: creativa@charm.net.
To sum it all up, the theme is YIDDISH TEACHERS: HEROES THEN & NOW
The dates: Sept. 4,5,6,7 The Place: Hilton Pikesville in Baltimore
We are working on a Proclamation to declare that week Yiddish Week in Baltimore.
Yiddish teachers, scholars, activists will conduct 28 workshops and 3 plenary sessions.
We'll be showing two films: "Uncle Chatzkel" and Yale Strom's "L'Chaim, Comrade Stalin"
The music menu will include Klezmer, Chasidus, Yiddish Tango, Shule songs, folk and theatre songs with an emphasis on vocals. There will be concerts Thursday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning.
A tour of Jewish Baltimore follows a concluding kosher box lunch.
Full conference registration is $291, a little more for the kosher option.
Commuter fee (all events but meals on your own) $130
We have reserved a $95 rate at the Hilton (plus 13% tax). You must reserve with them directly.
All of these details on the website. Or call me at 410 298 4765
Canadians and other international visitors, ask us about currency exchange accomodations.
Metropolitan Klezmer, is one of the best urban klezmer dance bands around. The only thing better than listening to a Metropolitan Klezmer album is seeing them live. Given that, a "preview" of their new album, which includes even a few live tracks, is a treasure. Anchored by Sicular's precise, fluid drumming, and wonderful, brassy horns, Deborah Karpel's voice and a variety of lead instruments (depending on whether a given cut is Metropolitan Klezmer, or the all-woman, "Isle of Klezbos"), make this preview a tasty souvenir; a bisl something good to whet one's appetite. What I wanna know, though, is why not more live tracks?
Psyched? This is what bandleader (bandsleader?) Eve Sicular writes about acquiring this delectable dish:
"The preview contains "over a dozen studio cuts from our upcoming spring '03 release plus great live bonus tracks — fullly mastered no-frills limited edition: Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos traditionals and originals! 48-minute sneak preview CDs are available by mail & at all shows direct from the bands only; details below.
"To order by mail, just send $12 for one CD (+$10/each per additional copy) Checks payable to "Metropolitan Klezmer". Send to: 151 First Avenue #145, NYC 10003 USA. (price includes tax and domestic US first class postage/handling... please email or call re: rush or int'l orders via Priority, Express Mail or Fedex)
** Be sure to include your phone number, email, and full mailing address for sending. **"
Mikveh is an all-woman Jewish supergroup comprising folks who have been involved with the klezmer revival, Yiddish folk and theatre music, new Jewish music, balkan music, and much that has been amazing about Jewish music for the last few decades (one bandmember, Susan Watts Hoffman, is a 4th generation klezmer).
This wouldn't matter so much except that in concert they bring out an intensity and virtuosity in each other that dwarfs their former achievements. This is the group's first appearance in Boston, and it's a must-see if you are in the area:
The concerts are Saturday, Feb 8, 8pm and Sunday, Feb 9, 2pm, at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, 333 Nahanton St., Newton, MA.
The box office can be reached at 617 965 5226. Web: www.lsjcc.org. E-mail: pgoldman@jccgb.org.
There will be a post-show curtain tail with best-selling author Anita Diamant, and a reception sponsored by Mayyim Hayyim: Liver Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center.
Tickets are: $26, general; $24 JCC member; $12/$10 youth tix.
Best greetings from Poland!
I am writing to you because I would like to inform you that we just released the CD called "Nedudai" by SHANI BEN-CANA. This is wonderful record of young talented musician who lives in Safed, Israel.
As for many Jewish families, the life of his own family has been a long journey which is instantly reflected in his music, taking in traditional Jewish music from all corners of the world. Klezmer and Hassidic music interweave together with sounds of the Orient. The beautiful sounds of traditional string instruments (saz, oud) and accordion, violin, clarinet and percussion mingle with joyful singing and cantor's sad wailing.
Nedudai (Wandering) is a journey through time, and it reveals the rich diversity of Jewish music from Poland, through the Balkans, Levant and to Central Asia.
You can find more information and also you can listen to this music at: < www.orangeworld.pl/records/e-index.htm.
If you are interested in license, distribution, concerts, promotion or buying of this wonderful record, do not hesitate to contact us. We are open for all kind of co-operation.
With best wishes,
Piotr Pucylo (producer & musician)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ORANGE WORLD Records
ul.Swietojanska 5/7 m.5,
81-368 Gdynia, Poland,
tel. / fax: (+48 +58) 620-59-40
e-mail: info@orangeworld.pl
www.jmwc.org/petition/petition.html.
These pages almost never get overtly into politics. I do have strong political views, and over the years have seldom not been active and seldom not pushed my own, often radical politics. These pages happen to be a place where the only "politics" focus on sharing music and culture. It's a place where I try to create, and to draw attention to people creating good music and good community.
The point is that by building bridges with each other, and by finding common ground, peace and social justice become possible. The more we find ways to demonize each other, and the more comfortable we find ourselves with that demonization, the easier it is to do stupid things like killing each other, and the more people who are killed, the more the original impetus becomes just a symbol of hating the people who killed, and waiting for the wheel to turn to kill in turn.
Phooey.
The British Musicians Union recently defeated a measure to boycott Israeli musicians. The motion will return, and has come up in other places as well. While it is easy to manufacture pious-sounding rationalizations for such a boycott, such boycotts are evil. They are evil because they demonize the other side. They are evil because they keep us from meeting each other on any level. They are evil because the people who pass such a boycott feel as though they have done good, when they have in fact pushed peace farther away and increased the stupidity in the world.
There are times when a body should be boycotted. The Montgomery bus boycott of the early Sixties comes to mind. Mostly, and especially when the boycott makes it easy to forget that ultimately, learning to find the human in each other is what most matters, boycotts reinforce what is evil on all sides.
In that spirit, and not because I agree with every bit of the wording (I don't.), I have signed a petition applauding the actions of the British Musicians Union in rejecting the boycott. Mostly, I am glad that musicians voted to keep sharing music and to keep looking for common ground. I encourage readers of the KlezmerShack to do likewise, at:
Here we go: KlezFest London and Ot Azoy! are now open: You can find a
registration form on Website www.jmi.org.uk.
3rd JMI International Summer School in Klezmer music and Yiddish culture
SOAS, University of London, Russell Square, London WC1
Two weeks 29 June - 10 July 2003
Week 1: Yiddish language
Ot Azoy!
Sunday 29 June - Friday 4 July 2003
This is the way to speak, read and write Yiddish in a week!
A Brilliant Crash Course in Yiddish language and culture
This is the second year we are running the course. Last year it was so
popular every minute was relished by all. Book early as this is limited to
50 students. It is designed for various levels: from people who want to
start from scratch who may not know the Hebrew alphabet to those who are at
intermediate level - and even above. The outstanding faculty are a privilege
to work with. The course is led by
Chayele Beer, of University College London and with the one and only
Pesakh Fiszman of Columbia NY and
Sonia Dratwa-Pinkusowitz of the Martin Buber Institute Brussels
They make a fantastic team.
Full Rate £295 Student Rate £195 Early booking: deduct £15 if booked and
paid by May 1
book online at www.jmi.org.uk or e-mail jewishmusic@jmi.org.uk for a
registration form
Week 2 Klezmer music, song and dance
KlezFest London 2003
Sunday 6 July 11.00 am - Thursday 10 July 11.30pm
This is our third annual KlezFest in London and it will be more than ever
designed to meet the needs of instrumentalists, singers and dancers.
The most outstanding faculty members have been invited to guide and inspire
and impart their vast knowledge of Eastern European Jewish music and Yiddish
song. Expect to see
Michael Alpert for dance and song
Frank London for nigunim and brass
Deborah Strauss for violin and dance
Jeff Warschauer plucked strings
Stuart Brotman for the base line instruments
Christian Dawid for clarinet
Alan Bern (piano and accordion) will be the music co-ordinator and he has
prepared a vigorous curriculum with clear emphasis on the elements of
Klezmer, the style, ornamentation, rhythms and how to set up a band.
There will be masterclasses for serious Yiddish singers as well as the
fabulous Yiddish chorus, led by the incomparable Zalmen Mlotek.
We will even have Josh Dolgin the master of HIP HOP Klez so anything can
happen. Bands attending as a group get to perform to each other and the
public in the Klezmer the new Generation concert and even in the park. Our
own Sophie Solomon of Oi-Va-Voi and others will be on board, so do book up
now for an exhilarating week. (Oi-Va-Voi are among the last 4 bands short
listed for the BBC World Music audience award!!)
Any musician or singer interested in any aspect of Jewish music will
benefit - whether you are a composer, a soloist, a member of an orchestra, a
student at a conservatoire, a band leader or member, a jazz player, a
chorister or a cantor - or if you play, sing or dance just for fun, there is
so much for you to enjoy and imbibe at the JMI KlezFest in London.
There will be gala concert (Klezmer Klimax II) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Sunday 6 July 8.00pm hosted by the renowned group from Germany via New
York - Brave Old World. We might even get to hear the British Premiere of
the Hip Hop Khasene. For concert tickets the public can telephone 020 7960
4242 after May 1 or book at www.sbc.org.uk (for participants at KlezFest
this is free)
KlezFest Full Rate £295 Student Rate £195 Early booking: deduct £15 if
booked and paid by May 1
In fact there is good reason to come for both weeks. Ot Azoy! and KlezFest
are closely connected and those learning Yiddish will be able to continue
their Yiddish studies as well as imbibe singing dancing drama and music.
For instrumentalists your clarinet (or fiddle) will sound better when you
have learned the Yiddish language. For singers what can I say, both these
weeks are indispensable and here on your doorstep, in the UK the gateway to
Europe. Those who did both weeks last year found they complemented each
other so well. (Imagine the withdrawal symptoms when the fortnight
eventually came to an end).
There is a reduction of £45 if you come for both weeks.
(scholarships are available for those unable to afford the full fee - please
don't hesitate to ask about these)
Hotel (£65 per night) or University accommodation (£25 per night) can be
booked for you (see registration form for details) Those needing
accommodation please book this as soon as possible, by 1 April if you can,
or we cant guarantee rooms. Please indicate your needs as soon as possible.
Register now: e-mail jewishmusic@jmi.org.uk for a registration form:
If you have any queries please email us at e-mail jewishmusic@jmi.org.uk
Watch the website www.jmi.org.uk for further details of faculty and
programme.
As part of the Summer School, JMI is also running a Jewish Choral Festival
for ten days from 16 - 26 June. This includes a full day workshop at SOAS
on Sunday 22 June with visiting Choral Director Stephen Glass from Montreal,
an opportunity for visitors to work with London choirs towards a massed
choir concert at St John's, Smith Square on 26 June. For more details see
the Website www.jmi.org.uk or e-mail jewishmusic@jmi.org.uk
Ot Azoy! and KlezFest are organised and presented by the Jewish Music
Institute SOAS, University of London
in association with the Department of Music SOAS
SOAS Language Centre
London Jewish Cultural Centre and YaD. It is Supported by the Jewish
Chronicle.
Judith Cohen has updated her Sephardic Music Bibliography. Having promised to get it online if she sent it to me, I was finally forced to do something about this main page and get this weblog thing going. But, forget that. This item is about the updated bibliography, which is great! Enjoy, and many thanks to Dr. Cohen.
Welcome to the new KlezmerShack home page. I am still figuring everything out, but the main page is becoming a weblog, powered by "Movable type." Over the next few weeks, I'll be extending how I use the weblog, possibly even to how I run the calendar. There are a host of long-delayed changes coming to the KlezmerShack, and most important, CD reviews are coming back very, very soon.
One of the reasons I am moving to the weblog format is that readers can comment each entry.