the KlezmerShack

This happened last week. There was a wonderful NPR story about a new release by Jeremiah Lockwood's The Sway Machinery (I have always considered the name to be a sly reference to both Hasidic-style nign and William Burrough's name for the human body, "The Soft Machine."). The interview covers a new release with Mali singer Khaira Arby:

The Brooklyn band the Sway Machinery formed five years ago around a particular notion: Take traditional Jewish music and make it funky enough for a nightclub. About a year ago, the Sway Machinery received an invitation to play for an audience its members probably never imagined at the Festival of the Desert in Timbuktu, Mali....

The Sway Machinery: Finding Inspiration in the Desert

Posted by Ari Davidow at 8:56 PM | Permalink

This looks really cool - song titles, cross-referenced with both recordings and music sources!. The author is from the Cornell Klezmer Band, as well a member of the new upstate NY band, Mitzfits.

I just posted the fruits of many hours of labor to KlezmerGuide.com, a comprehensive cross-reference to klezmer recordings and sheet music sources.

For questions (the author asks that you not email him with questions about where to purchase or find things—he either knows, and the info is online, or he doesn't know) about the website, contact Allen Lutins

Posted by Ari Davidow at 7:58 AM | Permalink

If this month features the Alberqueque "KlezmerquerQue", then next month we get to the letter "B" and both Berkeley and Boston have their festivals. This year's Boston Festival has a diverse, dynamite lineup, and it's local, so I got to go have lunch this week and hear Jim Ball and Joey Baron tell us about it. I'm psyched.

What I find most interesting is how much the Boston Festival is tied into the area's synagogues. In most communities, most of the outreach of an event like this is to unaffiiliated Jews. Here, I would guess that it's the opposite. Both support and publicity seem to focus on each synagogue and minyan in the area. One place where that attitude is exemplified is the tie-ins to the Frank London-led event, "Divine Sparks," at Berklee performance center on Mar 12. This is an exciting, avant-garde approach to hazonos as exemplified by Frank's work with Cantor Jack Mendelson and others on his CDs, Hazónos (2005) and Invocations (2000). But this festival doesn't stop there. The Friday night prior to the event, at services in four Boston-area shuls, you can listen to the visitoring cantor who will star in that event, of your choice. Not bad.

Check out the Festival calendar, now online, and start picking up tix asap. No telling what's going to sell out how quickly, but from Cantorial to Klezmer to Sephardic music to hip hop or a capella music, there's a lot going on. Check it out at bostonjewishmusicfestival.org. See you there.

Posted by Ari Davidow at 7:05 PM | Permalink

Even if I wasn't already a fan of the event, I gotta say that any event that features Yosl Kurland, Christina Crowder, and Margot Leverett is a treat.

February 18-20 (FRI-SUN over Presidents Day weekend): The 9th Annual KlezmerQuerque is Albuquerque New Mexico's 3-day festival of concerts, services, workshops and dance parties featuring ‘Klezmer’—the exciting traditional dance & music of the Eastern European Jewish people. The festival, which is produced by Congregation Nahalat Shalom, its 25-piece intergenerational Community Klezmer Band & Rikud Yiddish dance troupe, presents a wide variety of events for everyone with prices ranging from FREE to $20 per event and an ALL-EVENT early registration discount of $85-general / $70-senior, students or fixed income.

KlezmerQuerque 2011 welcomes three renowned klezmer artists & scholars who hail from New York City and New England: Joe “Yosl” Kurland (Yiddish language, song, dance & fidl - PLUS Shabbes nusach in loshn koydesh), Christina Crowder (accordion & Fulbright scholar specializing in Romanian-Jewish ethno-studies), AND the return of our dear friend the klezmer clarinet virtuoso Margot Leverett. Events include Der Freylekher Shabbes on Friday, Saturday morning learner's Shabbos service, Beginning Yiddish, SAT nite Concert & Dance, 3 music/dance sessions from 10am-5pm on Sunday, and a Lunch 'n Learn. Visit Nahalat Shalom's web site www.nahalatshalom.org for full schedule & event details, performer bios/photos, registration form, flyer and more!!

For further info, call 505-243-6276 or email Beth Cohen.

Posted by Ari Davidow at 7:56 AM | Permalink