SHIR HASHIRIM: The song of songs minyan

SHIR HASHIRIM: THE SONG OF SONGS MINYAN

Friday, March 11, 7:30 PM

FREE, no tickets necessary
1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley at the JCC East Bay

JCC invite you to an amazing evening of sacred music and poetry that I am co-leading. There are no tickets for this public event. It is FREE to the public.

For 15 years, Hazzan Richard Kaplan and I, along with John Erlich and many talented volunteers have been presenting the artistry of Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi sacred music and poetry with a full ensemble of guest musicians at a Friday evening service at the JCC East Bay (see www.shirhashirim.net).

Once a year, concurrent with the Jewish Music festival, we go all out and bring in exceptional artists participating in the music festival and other local musicians for a Shabbat evening of sacred music and poetry.

This year will be exceptional. We will highlight the music of eastern Europe and mix in some magical Sephardic offerings. The guests this year are some of the most talented musicians I know who play with great passion and skill.

This event is free, please come if you can and arrive early (to get a seat). If you have ever wanted to attend one of these sacred concerts, this is the one! You are welcome to bring friends.

FYI our very talented guest musicians for the evening will include:

The Veretski Pass trio: preeminent exponents of East European Jewish music who set out to create new Jewish music with emotional power comparable to that of traditional synagogue singing, with appeal to Jews of all denominations, secular Jews, and non-Jews. Taking its name from the mountain pass through which Magyar tribes crossed into the Carpathian basin to settle what later became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Veretski Pass offers a unique and exciting combination of virtuosic musicianship and raw energy that has excited concert goers across the world. The trio plays Old Country Music with origins in the Ottoman Empire, once fabled as the borderlands of the East and the West. In a true collage of Carpathian, Jewish, Rumanian and Ottoman styles, typical suites contain dances from Moldavia and Bessarabia; Jewish melodies from Poland and Rumania; Hutzul wedding music from Carpathian-Ruthenia; and haunting Rebetic aires from Smyrna, seamlessly integrated.

David Buchbinder: Founder of Canada’s leading klezmer band, The Flying Bulgars, award-winning trumpeter and composer. For his music festival concert David Buchbinder teams up with the brilliant Cuban pianist Hilario Durán and a crew of Canada’s top jazz and world musicians to present a high-powered collision of two great musical styles: the Jewish- Cuban connection. For Friday night David alone will join the ensemble.

John Erlich: John Erlich is the founder of Za’atar, a ensemble that explores and promotes Mizrahi music, which originated with the Jews from Arab and Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa. John is a master of the oud, an 11-stringed instrument shaped like a lute but without frets.

Lila Sklar: Lila is a talented violinist who became fascinated with the music of the Middle East and the Balkans in her early 20s. In addition to recording on many film and television productions, Lila has toured and performed extensively throughout the US, Japan, Europe, and the Middle East playing with such groups as Bauhaus, Joanna Newsom, The Quarta Dolce Quartet, Gypsy Caravan, Sherefe, The Toids, and members of Cirque Du Soleil.