A JOURNEY OF SPIRIT comes to Massachusetts

Even while you and the family enjoy the sun and surf of Cape Cod, you can learn something about Jewish music. Next month on August 12, 2006, Ann Coppel, producer of "A Journey of Spirit," a documentary about Debbie Friedman, will show the documentary in Hyannis, MA at Cape Cod Synagogue. Check the synagogue website for more info: www.ccsynagogue.org

A JOURNEY OF SPIRIT has been traveling the country, coast to coast, the past couple of months including screenings in Minneapolis at Shir Tikvah, the Manhattan JCC (which Debbie attended to lead the post-film discussion), Falmouth Jewish Congregation in Massachusetts and Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California. Now it's returning to Cape Cod and you can see it there August 12. http://www.ccsynagogue.org/aboutus/directions/ Call for time and more information. The Cape Cod Synagogue,145 Winter Street, Hyannis, MA 02601, Phone: 508-775-2988

The Young Composers Award Competition

The Guild of Temple Musicians Announces
The Young Composers Award

The requested 2007 work is a set of 3 pieces performable as separate pieces OR as a unit, with or without narrator. The work should be 10-12 performing minutes for cantor, SATB volunteer choir, piano and a single instrument obligato (i.e., flute, violin, violoncello or other instrument approved by chair before submission). The work should be in Hebrew, using texts from Jewish liturgy, Bible, Jewish poetry or prose, or a combination of the foregoing.

Deadline: Friday, January 5, 2007 (postmarked).
Eligibility: Jewish composers from any country born on or after January 1, 1972.
Scores submitted to: Chairman Ben Steinberg, Composer-in-Residence, Temple Sinai Congregation 210 Wilson Avenue, Toronto, ONTARIO M5M 3B1 CANADA. TEL.: (416) 487-4161. FAX: (416) 487-5499.

All musical questions should be directed to Dr. Steinberg at the number above. Additional information may be obtained from GTM Vice-President for Publicity: Jayson Rodovsky at: JRodovsky@urj.org

Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Express, live in Somerville!!

Alicia Svigals, violin
With Mimi Rabson, violin
Jim Guttman, bass
Pete Rushefsky, tsimbl

Thursday Aug 3, 9 p.m.
Johnny D's
17 Holland St, Davis Square, Somerville, MA 02144, (617) 776-2004
http://www.johnnyds.com/calendar.htm

Before the big klezmer bands of the new world arose with their brass and drums, there were the archetypical Jewish orchestras of the old world, led by the fiddle and bourne aloft by the otherworldy sounds of the harp-like 'tsimbl', or Jewish hammered dulcimer. Renowned violinist Alicia Svigals, a founder of the Klezmatics and one of the world's foremost klezmer fiddlers, presents a program of those ancient and ecstatic Jewish melodies, accompanied by the scene's top players on fiddle, tsimbl and string bass: Mimi Rabson, Pete Rushefsky and Jim Guttman. Alicia Svigals has played with and written for violinist Itzhak Perlman, the Kronos Quartet, playwrights Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, the late poet Allen Ginsburg, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, singer/songwriter Debbie Friedman, Hasidic superstars Avraham Fried and Lipa Shmelzer, and many others. She has appeared on David Letterman, MTV, Good Morning America, PBS' Great Performances, on NPR's Prairie Home Companion, Weekend Edition and New Sounds, and on the soundtrack for the L-Word. Her wedding and bat/bar mitzvah band, Klezmer by Alicia Svigals, LLC plays klezmer, jazz, rock etc. at parties from Boston to D.C. She can be reached at her website, www.aliciasvigals.com

Alei Assor announces new CD

Rachel Ferency, of the Alei Assor women's group, announces the new CD, Ezkera Neginati Balaila - "Recall My Song at Night" They play Jewish spiritual music for women. For information, visit: http://www.geocities.com/shiru_lo/start.html

Kol HaRuach Klezmer band

A simcha band, Kol HaRuach Klezmer band, also known as Just Jazz band, announces their website at: http://www.kolharuach.com/.

Telophaza by Bat Sheva Company at Lincoln Center Festival

Thursday July 20; Friday, July 21; and Saturday July 22, 2006
8:00pm at New York State Theater
"Telophaza" was choreographed by Batsheva's artistic director, Ohad Naharin.
Israel's Emanuel Gat Dance Company will be performing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring as part of the Festival as well Saturday July 15, 2006
9:00pm at LaGuardia Concert Hall.< br/> Check the Lincoln Center website for more information: http://www.lincolncenter.org/programs/festival_home.asp?session=198F6B76-A4FF-4053-987C-2B1C6B78246D&version=&ws=&bc=3

Nine Luminaries of Jewish Liturgical Song published by Klezmershack

Cantor Sam Weiss has published a series of articles called "Nine Luminaries of Jewish Liturgical Song" on the Klezmershack. This articles outline biographical sketches of some famous cantors along with song leaders --all together "the biographies tell the story of how the role of cantor in American public life has changed over the century, and of the new musical influences on the Shaliach Tsibur leading traditional prayers." http://www.klezmershack.com/articles/weiss_s/luminaries/

Third KlezMore Festival in Vienna

There's still plenty of time to catch Budowitz this Tuesday July 11 at the KlezMore Festival in Vienna, among other delights. This festival, running the better part of two weeks, still has a week more of festivities. There's a calendar of events at http://www.klezmore-vienna.at/d/fkuenstler.html,

Strauss-Warschauer Duo in Tel Aviv

July 28-29, 2006 Tel Aviv, Israel
Leyvik House
Friday, July 28, morning: hands-on klezmer workshop
Saturday night July 29: Duo concert
www.leyvik.org.il The Leyvik House is the Israeli Center for Yiddish Culture and the Association of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Israel.

Radio Gagarin: Experiments in Sunday Socialism

Sunday 16th July 6pm – 1am
Radio Gagarin: Experiments in Sunday Socialism
Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate, London W12
6pm – 1a.m. £5.

After a run of successive roadblocks, Radio Gagarin is back with the latest in a series of regular Gypsy Balkan Russian Klezmer mash-ups at the NHAC.
The Commissar continues to pledge exclusive new music from your hosts the Gagarin Allstars, plus special guests, internationally renowned, Mama Matrix with Daz Dolczech, poetry from Tim Cumming, performance from Friends of Gagarin, Marxist-Leninist alienation from art/animation/video installations for the Proletariat from state artists Adrian Philpott & Cathy Gale; frozen vodka & rakiya galore and resident DKs (Dancefloor Komissars) Max Reinhardt & Misha Maltsev sweating it out in the Gypsy Diskoteka til’ the road of excess has led us to the place of wisdom. Early evening come to feed your soul with summer home-cookin in the Kitschen and take a rest from your fight for Revolutionary Determinism for a few moments in the Kinodrom with new and classic shorts from Eastern Europe.

Co-Produced by Adrian Philpott/ Oi Va Voi / Taskovski Films / YaD Arts / Ziggurat.
www.yadarts.com

Women musicians Needed

Yoheved Friedland, (aperfecthealing@cs.com), a Jewish woman songwriter in N. Miami Beach, Florida would like to create a Jewish women's musical group with other singers and songwriters. Please contact her if you would like to join this sort of women's music ensemble. Please contact her directly at the email address.

Leeds Hopkele

Hopkele III - the summer Klezmer Keilidh

Whether you're in London or Leeds you can dance the summer night away to live klezmer music-- Leeds Hopkele
When? Wednesday 12 July. Doors open 7.15pm
What? Yiddish barn dance with Steven Weintraub calling
Where? Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre, 311 Stonegate Road, Leeds LS17 8AZ (no. 71 bus)
Tickets? £9/£7 concs. Call Tracy Bickler on 0113 218 5824 or hopkele@hotmail.co.uk


Love to dance? Steven Weintraub, Chicago?s Yiddish Fred Astaire, will be showing you the steps to fantastic eastern European Jewish traditional dances. In London you can also come and learn some extra moves in advance at our special Yiddish dance workshop

Can?t dance, won?t dance? Then come along, listen, and watch those dancers shvitz while you shmooze! There?ll be snacks, drinks and live klezmer music all night (except when we?re on our break, of course) from the Hopkele House Band: John Bone (accordion), Ilana Cravitz (fiddle), Ros Hawley (clarinet), Guy Schalom (drums) and Paul Tkachenko (bass)

London Hopkele
When? Sunday 16 July
What? Afternoon dance workshop and evening dance with Steven Weintraub calling When exactly? Dance workshop: 4-6pm. Evening dance: doors open 7.15pm Where? West London Synagogue, 33 Seymour Place, London W1 (Marble Arch tube) Tickets? Workshop or dance: £10/£8 concs. Both events: £17/£13 concs if booked in advance. Call Ilana on 020 8985 3724 or hopkele@hotmail.co.uk

Presented by Hopkele Productions
020 8985 3724 ● hopkele@hotmail.co.uk

Jewish National and University Library Digitized Books includes Song Books

The Jewish National and University Library's Digitized Books Repository continues to grow and now contains 340 titles of rare and out-of-print books.
Among the items added this week:
mi-zimrat ha-arets : American national songs in Hebrew / [translated by Gerson Rosenzweig] (New York, 1898) which contains the songs: "America, or My country tis of thee" (le-artsenu mizmor shir), "Columbia, the gem of the ocean (adom, lavan u-tekhelet), and "The Star spangled banner" (degel ha-kokhavim), along with notes for singing them in Hebrew.

The Digital Repository can be accessed via the Library homepage at:
http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/digibook.html
or directly at:
http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/books/html/bk1946517.htm
It may be noted that this software to view the items works in Internet Explorer, but won't work with Mozilla or Firefox browsers.

Herzliya Chamber Orchestra

Harvey Bordowitz, Music Director and Conductor, announces a new website for the Herzliya Chamber Orchestra. The Orchestra is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The website address is: http://www.hcomusic.com By logging on to the new website you will learn about the Herzilya Chamber Orchestra's present and future programs.
Herzilya is a community located on the coast of Israel. Guest artists include many of Israel’s finest soloists and conductors. The Orchestra also plays many world premières of commissioned works by Israeli composers, as well as classical music from the baroque to the present.