Midrash Mish Mosh

Aaron Alexander's Midrash Mish Mosh
Performance at Satalla, Feb. 9, 2005
Aaron Alexander's Midrash Mish Mosh will perform at the popular world music club Satalla on Wednesday, Feb. 9., at 10:00 PM.
Satalla is located at 37 West 26th St. in New York City.
Tickets will be $12 at the door.
Phone 212 576 1155.

Midrash Mish Mosh recently released their debut CD on John Zorn‚s Tzadik label to rave reviews. The all-original music, written by Alexander, is rooted in the klezmer tradition, yet reaches out to embrace and include Jazz, thrash punk, middle-eastern and israeli music, and balkan and african rhythms. The band features an mix of downtown jazz/jewish music all-stars and great young players in the klezmer scene. The band at Satalla will be:
Frank London ˆtrumpet,
Susan Watts ˆ trumpet,
Alex Kontorovich ˆ clarinet,
Greg Wall- saxophone & clarinet
Curtis Hasselbring ˆ trombone,
Brad Shepik ˆ guitar,
Fima Ephron - bass,
Mike Sarin ˆ drums,
Aaron Alexander ˆ drums

Drummer and Composer Aaron Alexander is considered by many to be a fantastic klezmer and jazz drummer and composer. His new CD "Midrash Mish Mosh" has been acclaimed by critics, musicians and listeners alike. Over the past decade and a half his performances and recordings with Hasidic New Wave, Babkas, The Klezmatics, Greg Wall's Later Prophets, Alicia Svigals, Satoko Fujii Orchestra, Tronzo Trio, Jay Clayton, Margot Leverett, The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Boban Markovich Orchestra and Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars have brought his music to the attention of listeners all over the world. Alexander conceived and co-produced Hasidic New Wave‚s 2002 collaboration with Senegalese Sabar drum ensemble Yakar Rhythms, which was widely acclaimed by critics and public alike: It was an "inspired collaboration‰ and a "brilliant Afro-Semitic fusion" wrote Jazz Times writer Bill Milkowski.

Havdalah

Havdalah plays this Sunday eve, and every Sunday thereafter @11PM
Artland Bar
609 Grand Street
Between Lorimer and Leonard
L train to Lorimer is best.
Brooklyn, NY(NYC).

Old Country

Steve Newman sent in his CD labeled 'Old Country'. He's a British Jewish guy, but living in Manhattan and writing songs for pubs in the Big Apple. Hmm, A bit odd and quirky but some good tunes too. Available on CD Baby.

Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band

"I can't imagine what they [Yiddishe Cup] are like on stage, but I'm sure the American Psychiatric Association is watching." -- George Robinson, New York Jewish Week
Yiddishe Cup Schedule of events:
Feb. 12, Wilbert's Food & Music, Cleveland 9:30 p.m. www.wilbertsmusic.com
March 24, Park Synagogue, Cleveland Hts., Ohio 7:15 p.m. Purim. www.parksyn.org
April 2, Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio 4:30 p.m. 330-744-7902.
June 26, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, Ohio 6 p.m. www.maltzjewishmuseum.org
July 10, Chamizal National Memorial, El Paso, Texas 7:30 p.m. 915-541-4481.

Nikitov

Nikitov is a Netherlands/New York City based group that plays Yiddish songs and klezmer music influenced by Eastern European and gypsy music. The group is led by Niki Jacobs on vocals backed by violin, guitar and bass. We perform concerts in Europe and North America.For more information about Nikitov and to read a recent reviewof our CD “Amulet” from Klezmershack.com, visit our website: www.nikitov.com

David Glukh Klezmer Ensemble

David Glukh Klezmer Ensemble is excited to invite you to our upcoming performance on February 2, 2005 in Satalla (Temple of World Music) in New York City. Time: 7:30PM Address: 37 West 26 Str. (between 6th and Broadway)
Contact INFO:
David Glukh Klezmer Ensemble
http://www.glukh.com
Tel. 646-765-4699

Shabbat Shira 10th Anniversary Concert

Congregation Beth Simchat Torah presents
Broadway Sings The Jews
special guest appearance by Tony Award winning actress Betty Buckley
Tickets: $36.00 - can be purchased @ www.cbst.org or 212-929-9498
February 13th @5:00 PM
Congregation Rodeph Sholom
7 West 83rd Street
A wine and cheese reception will follow the concert. Festive Attire.
Wheelchair accessible.

PRIPETSHIK SINGERS FILM

an ENTERTAINING FILM in Yiddish (with English subtitles) and English;
a film for YIDDISH EXPERTS as well as THE YIDDISH-CHALLENGED;
a film for THOSE WHO LOVE YIDDISH MUSIC;
a film FOR ALL AGES; a film available in DVD and VHS;
a film FOR EVERYBODY!

PRIPETSHIK SINGS YIDDISH!
Academy Award®-nominated director Joshua Waletzky,
best known for IMAGE BEFORE MY EYES and PARTISANS OF VILNA, brings us an entertaining new film that celebrates Yiddish culture through song, performed exclusively by Yiddish-speaking children & teens. Executive Producer/Musical Director Binyumen Schaechter provides us with the fascinating history and background of the group, as well as informative introductions to each of the songs.
For additional info: http://www.yugntruf.org/PRIPETSHIK_SINGERS/IntroE.htm To order:
http://www.ergomedia.com/ or http://yiddishstore.com/prip.html

Stuart Brotman and Josh Horowitz

Klezmer Music: Is Everything Old New Again?
A free program with Stuart Brotman and Josh Horowitz
Co-sponsored by KlezCalifornia
Thursday, February 10, 7:30 p.m.
Bureau of Jewish Education Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco
(415) 567-3327 library@bjesf.org
Accessible to people with disabilities.
Free, secure parking: enter enclosed structure on Pierce between Ellis and Eddy.
Join two of the central figures of the Klezmer Revival for an exploration of klezmer music’s vibrant musical and cultural itinerary. From its beginnings in Eastern Europe, Jewish instrumental music has moved back and forth across the Atlantic, undergoing forces as varied as the birth of the recording industry, the destruction of European Jewry, assimilation and decay, and a now thirty-year-old revival. The question arises: Where do the Old and New Worlds really reside and how do they meet? Josh and Stu answer this question and others as they play musical examples and rare recordings, recollect their field work, share amusing anecdotes, and lead a lively discussion.

Charles Davidson music released from Milken

Including a Jazz and Blues Sabbath Service
[8.559436] This new Milken Archive CD of music by Charles Davidson-one of the most frequently commissioned composers by synagogues, cantors and Jewish institutions, as well as by secular choruses across the country-illustrates the influence and vitality of three enduring aspects of the Jewish experience: the timeless Sabbath liturgy, the literary legacy of the "Golden Age" of Spanish Jewry, and the vibrant folklore tradition of Eastern European Yiddish culture.

The disc, released by Naxos American Classics, also demonstrates how Jewish composers have embraced indigenous American idioms, expanding the expressive boundaries of traditional synagogue music by infusing the ancient texts with contemporary musical language.
In A Singing of Angels, Davidson vibrantly evokes the lost world of eastern European Jewry in English-language settings of Yiddish folksongs for children's choir that are both charming and sophisticated. Baroque Suite, also scored for children's voices, celebrates the works of Yehuda Halevi, the best-known medieval Spanish-Hebrew poet, with musical settings inspired by 17th-century stylized dance forms. Also included is Cantor Davidson's trailblazing 1966 choral work, ...And David Danced Before the Lord, a Sabbath evening service sung in English and Hebrew-the first artistically unified, full-length Jewish service to be composed in the jazz idiom. Davidson is is perhaps best known for his celebrated composition, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a setting of children's poetry from the Terezin concentration camp in Czechoslovakia that has been performed throughout the world more than 2,500 times, has frequently been recorded, and was the subject of two award-winning PBS documentaries. Participating artists on this disc include Amy Goldstein, soprano; Douglas Webster, baritone; the Ramon Ricker Quintet; the Finchley Children's Music Group; the Jewish Heritage Youth Chorus (London); the Buffalo Vocal Ensemble; and conductors Nicholas Wilks and Brad Lubman. For details about this CD, go to http://www.milkenarchive.org/cds/cds.taf?cdid=31 To read an article about ...And David Danced Before the Lord, go to http://www.milkenarchive.org/articles/articles.taf?function=detail&ID=83

THE SONS OF SEPHARAD CONCERT

Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005 4:00 PM
One of the most amazing performing groups in Jewish music will be at Temple Emanuel on January 30 for a fund raising concert in support of the Cantors Assembly. The concert is being jointly presented by Temple Emanuel and the New England Region of the Cantors Assembly.

The Sons of Sepharad features leading musicians who started their lives in countries surrounding the Mediterranean, including Turkey, Morocco, Greece, France and Israel. The group was founded by Gerard Edery, who has published a book of Sephardic songs, and recorded 10 CDs of Sephardic music. He is joined by two prominent members of the Cantors Assembly, Alberto Mizrahi and Aaron Bensoussan, who serve congregations in Chicago and Toronto, respectively. The instrumentalists are Rex Benincasa (percussion) who has a career spanning professional orchestral appearances and performing in Broadway pit bands; George Mgrdichian, the leading performer on oud in the US; and Emmanuel Mann (bass) founder of several Israeli performing groups. All six have performed to great acclaim across the globe.

For this concert, The Sons of Sepharad will be joined by members of the New England Region of the Cantors Assembly for a number or two. All of you who love to sing the haunting and romantic melodies from the Sephardic tradition are invited to participate in the fun. To order tickets:

Note: Tickets will not be mailed in advance, there will be 'will call' and sales at the door. Make checks payable to Temple Emanuel Mail to: Sons of Sepharad Concert, Temple Emanuel, 385 Ward St., Newton, MA 02459

AFRO-SEMITIC EXPERIENCE

Sunday, February 6, the AFRO-SEMITIC EXPERIENCE, 2:00 p.m. at Thornton Wilder Auditorium in the Miller Cultural Complex, Arts, 2901 Dixwell Avenue, Hamden, Connecticut, 203-287-2546.

Nigun Anthology Vol 1

New Book released by Transcon... Nigun Anthology.
*Unique, diverse compilation of wordless Jewish melodies (nigunim) and liturgical settings
*Features nigunim from folk tradition and contemporary composers/songwriters
*Includes Notational index by melody line & foreword by ethnomusicologist Judah Cohen

*Transcending history, language, and society, the nigun - or wordless Jewish melody - helps unify us in worship or around the Shabbat table. Nigunim have long served to spark the spirit: 18th century Chasidim sang nigunim to create a mood of holiness; in today's liberal Jewish worship service, the nigun helps shift focus to prayer from the concerns of the outside world. Now, Transcontinental Music introduces the first comprehensive anthology of inspiring nigun melodies, available in a songbook with CD and on CD alone. Purchase Songbook with CD
ITEM=993265
Purchase CD only:
ITEM=950114

ENSEMBLE MARC AMOUYAL

romansas et kantigas judéo-espagnoles
M a r c A M O U Y A L : chant, oud, guitare
F a b r i c e B O N : saxophone, clarinette, violon
J e a n - P i e r r e C O M P A R A T O : contrebasse
M a r i o G O M E Z : percussions
dimanche 30 janvier 2005 à 17h
SALLE DE LA CITÉ BLEUE
46 av. Miremont, 1206 Genève
Réservations et informations: 022 734 71 93 amj@amj.ch

'The Whitechapel Windmill' and A Seminar on Jewish Boxers of London's East End

Tuesday 29 March 2005
A Seminar on Jewish Boxers of London's East End
And excerpts from a brand new opera
'The Whitechapel Windmill'
by Howard Frederics
The opera deals with the life of the famous Jewish boxer from the East End Jack 'Kid' Berg (born Judah Bergman) covering aspects of his fascinating life. and 2 lectures on the history of Jewish boxing in Britain.
7.30pm Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon Square, London WC1
e-mail blooms.theatre@ucl.ac.uk 020 7388 8822
details from Clive Bettington 07941 367 882 c.bettington@jeecs.org.uk
supported by the Kessler Foundation. The Jewish Institute (University College London), Kingston University and is part of the International Forum for Yiddish Culture project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Jewish Music in London

January 2005 LONDON
Holocaust related events:
January is Holocaust Memorial month in the UK and we have several exquisite musical events that throw a special light and poignancy on those times. See listing sheet and flyers for events at the Barbican, Wigmore Hall and in the Jewish East End. Please book your tickets directly with the venues.

Wednesday 12 January 2005 6.15 – 8.00pm (Holocaust Commemoration)
Thwarted Voices: Music Suppressed by the Third Reich
Soloists and Chamber Groups from the Yehudi Menuhin School, Director of Music: Malcolm Singer, perform music by composers who were banned, exiled or murdered by the Nazi regime. Programme includes: Franz Schreker: Intermezzo; Vilém Tausky: Coventry (string quartet) written on entering the bombed Coventry Cathedral; and ‘The Twin Towers’ (string quartet) written by young pupil Oscar Perks when he was twelve years old, at the time of the atrocity.
Barbican Art Gallery, Silk Street, London EC2
Concert free to same-day ticket holders for the exhibition
Open daily 11am -8.00pm (except Tuesday and Thursday closes 6.00pm)
Exhibition: £8 Concessions £6 0845 121 6826
JMI in association with the Barbican Art Gallery


More concerts:
Sunday January 16 "Homage to Szymon Laks"
Sunday January 23 "We want the light"
Sunday January 23 "Songs of Praise"
Wednesday January 26 "Entartete Musik"
Thursday January 27 "Holocaust National Broadcast" Sunday January 30 "Sephardi Celebration by Candlelight"

Sunday 16 January
Homage to Szymon Laks (1901 – 1983)
Jacqueline Cole piano
Szymon Laks studied in Warsaw and Paris and after deportation, survived though his music – becoming violinist and conductor of the Auschwitz II Men’s Orchestra. This concert will present two UK Premiere’s of Laks works for solo piano written almost immediately after his liberation and return to ‘political exile’ in Paris 1945 and also works by Haas, Chopin, Ullmann, Schul, Messiaen 5pm, Wigmore Hall
36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP, 020 7935 2141
Victor Ullmann Foundation in association with JMI
Sponsors: Clive M Marks FCA and the Polish Cultural Institute, London UK

Sunday 23rd January
We Want the Light A special screening of a film about how music was affected by the Holocaust with an interview with 100 year old Terezin inmate the concert pianist, Alice Herts Sommer. Introduced by film-maker Christopher Nupen. 12:45 - 14:15 Mile End Genesis Cinema, Mile End Road, E1 (nr tube Stepney Green)
Tickets are free but must be reserved. To book: 08700 606 061 or go to www.genesis-cinema.co.uk.

Sunday 23 January BBC1 early evening
Songs of Praise, Watch the Holocaust special edition on BBC 1, featuring The Zemel Choir

Thurs 27 January BBC4
Holocaust National Broadcast, on 27 January from the national event in the presence of The Queen, will include the choir of Great Portland Street Synagogue with Cantor Steven Leas.

Wednesday 26 January
‘Entartete Musik ‘
An evening of dark and subversive cabaret and song, celebrating the lyrics and music of artists who struggled under the shadow of the Third Reich: Spoliansky, Eisler, Tucholsky, Brecht, Hollaender. Written and directed by Jude Alderson, Musical direction Julian Dawes, with Micaela Leon, Jenni Lush, Sarah Niles and Kieran Buckeridge of the Amazonia Music Theatre Company. Last seen at the Drill Hall where it played to capacity houses.
7.00pm Stepney Community Centre, Beaumont Grove, Stepney Green E1 Free tickets 020 7364 7907 or artsevents.lbth@dial.pipex.com


30 January
Sephardi Celebration by Candlelight
Norman Lebrecht, Compère Adam Musikant Chazan and Choir of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation conducted by Maurice Martin, and also featuring Gemma Rosefield, cello with Yvonne Behar Piano. A repeat of the sell-out concert in December, £20, £15, £7.50 7.30pm Bevis Marks Synagogue 0870 420 3065

Klezmer Concert Series in Astoria: "Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar"

Everyone is welcome! Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar is a quartet consisting of accordion, violin, mandolin and bass that highlights both well-known and more obscure Klezmer tunes, as well as Bailey's own original compositions.
When: Tuesday, January 11th, 7:30 - 9:30pm and Tuesday, February 8th, 7:30 - 9:30pm
Cost: $5. Delicious desserts and coffee will also be available.
Location: Astoria Center of Israel synagogue's "Café ACI", 27-35 Crescent Street, Long Island City (Astoria), Queens.
For more information: Call 718-278-2680 or visit http://www.astoriacenter.org

The repertoire is a mix of early 20th century Jewish fiddle pieces, original compositions, improvisation, and features material originally recorded by Romanian-born cymbalom master and Lower East Side restauranteur, Joseph Moskowitz. Reminiscent of an earlier time in the history of recorded Jewish music, the result is fresh, unique, and thoroughly engaging.

The synagogue's foyer is transformed into a "café-style" setting, complete with intimate tables and delicious desserts. The concerts are held once or twice a month at "Café ACI", the Astoria Center of Israel synagogue's new cultural events space. ACI is an egalitarian synagogue built around a warm, wonderful group of people that embraces a wide variety of perspectives on Judaism in a joyful and inclusive community.

New Jewish Music Forum

The Jewish Music Forum, a new initiative of the American Society for Jewish Music, an affiliate of the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History, is pleased to announce its inaugural academic seminar series. This ongoing seminar will feature leading scholars presenting new research findings and theoretical contributions to the academic study of Jewish music. All events are free and open to the public.

Jewish Music Forum
Spring 2005 Academic Seminar
"The Study of Music in Jewish Life"

January 28
Professor Kay Kaufman Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music at Harvard University, Inaugural Lecture, "Memory and History in Jewish Music"

February 11
Professor Edwin Seroussi, Emanuel Alexandre Professor of Musicology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, "Studying Jewish Music in Israel: Achievements, Failures and Challenges for the Future" Guest chair and respondent: Professor Stephen Blum, City University of New York

March 11
Professor Judah M. Cohen, New York University, "Who Will Reclaim the Golden Sounds?: Judaism, Tradition, and Music Scholarship in an American Context" Guest chair and respondent: Professor Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University

April 8
Professor Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, "Beyond Yiddishland: New Studies from the Jewish Musical Mediterranean" Guest chair and respondent: Professor Uri Sharvit, Bar-Ilan University

May 13
James Loeffler, Columbia University, "Between Wissenschaft and Etnografiia: The Search for a Jewish Musical Science in Eurasia, Past and Present" Guest chair and respondent: Dr. Ludmila Sholokhova, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

All session will take place on Friday mornings, beginning at 10:00 AM at the Center for Jewish History. Please RSVP to the American Society for Jewish Music at asjm@cjh.orgor
212-294-8328.
Introducing the Jewish Music Forum The American Society for Jewish Music (ASJM) is pleased to announce the formation of a major new project, the Jewish Music Forum (JMF). Taking its name and inspiration from an earlier chapter of ASJM's history, the new Jewish Music Forum will serve both as a regular meeting place and an international network for scholars and researchers who are actively studying Jewish music, as well as a key cultural resource for artists and educators creating new Jewish music today. The Jewish Music Forum (JMF) will concentrate on three main areas of activity. First, JMF will host an annual series of regular academic seminars at the Center for Jewish History, where AJHS is a partner and ASJM an affiliate organization. There, participants will come together to present new research findings, theories and works-in-progress for an audience of scholars, graduate students and other interested Jewish music specialists. The aim will be to build up a core group of New York-based participants representing interdisciplinary interests who will be joined by visiting researchers. New media technology will allow these sessions to be recorded and archived on DVDs for interested individuals and academic institutions well beyond New York. Beyond this series of academic seminars, JMF will work together with performers, educators and composers to complement the fruits of academic labor and create artistic programs for the general public. The academic seminars will be coordinated with concerts and workshops held at the Center for Jewish History and elsewhere, providing the public an opportunity to experience both the rich diversity of Jewish music and the important, revealing efforts of Jewish music scholarship. The JMF will aim to support and amplify the efforts of the journal Musica Judaica to bring original academic research to a wide audience. Finally, in the interest of promoting the study of Jewish music in larger American and international academic circles, JMF will also join in sponsoring events and forums at academic conferences, such as annual meetings of the Association for Jewish Studies, the American Musicological Society and the Society for Ethnomusicology. JMF will also serve as the American affiliate of the Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. These efforts will serve to promote awareness of the important research going on in the field of Jewish music today. By linking up scholars of Jewish music from disciplines ranging from musicology to anthropology to history and beyond, JMF intends to develop a professional network of specialists in Jewish music, who can serve as resources to each other and the different communities where they live, work and teach. To lead the project, the American Society for Jewish Music has named James Loeffler of Columbia University as Executive Director of the Jewish Music Forum, ASJM Board Member Mark Kligman of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as Academic Chair, and Judah M. Cohen of New York University as Vice-Academic Chair. They are joined as well by a steering committee comprised of leading scholars from the United States and Israel. Together this team has assembled the schedule for the first semester of academic programs centered on the series of academic seminars to be held at the Center for Jewish History beginning in January 2005. For further information about the activities of the Jewish Music Forum, please contact the American Society for Jewish Music by email at asjm@cjh.org or telephone at 212-294-8328. "The Study of Music in Jewish Life" Seminar Jan. - May 2005 The study of Jewish music has its roots in the nineteenth century European Wissenschaft tradition. The first studies of Jewish music initially centered on the European Jewish liturgical music, with the prime focus on the Ashkenazic tradition and only occasional forays into Western Sephardic traditions. At the turn of the twentieth century the field grew significantly through major individual and collective efforts in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Palestine. Studies of artistic and folk traditions came to form part of the burgeoning academic fields of European musicology and ethnomusicology. The first attempts at global views of Jewish music also began to appear in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Idelsohn's Jewish Music in Its Historical Development (1929) is one early prime example. During the course of the twentieth century studies of Jewish music have become more specifically delineated with attempts to uncover specific aspects of a regional or single tradition rather than a comprehensive global view. Contemporary studies of Jewish music cover a wide geographic area documenting various traditions around the world and are situated within one or more disciplines, including musicology, ethnomusicology, Judaic studies, linguistics, anthropology and history. In addition, the emphasis in recent decades on interdisciplinary studies has opened new opportunities and new challenges for scholars. This first seminar series will thus focus on questions of the historical development of methodology and discipline in the study of Jewish music.