Metropolitan Klezmer cd release

[SICULAR <SICULAR...>]

Hi!  Hope this is easier to unpack than the last posting:
METROPOLITAN KLEZMER CELEBRATES DEBUT CD:
 <<Yiddish For Travelers>> Spans Broad Musical Landscape 

  NYC-based METROPOLITAN KLEZMER will celebrate the release of their
long-awaited debut CD, =Yiddish for Travelers=,  with several events: 

UPTOWN: Wednesday, December 17,  5:30-8:30pm at The West End, 2911 Broadway
between 113th & 114th Streets (music sets at 5:45 and 7pm).  Come eat, drink,
dance & be freylekh!  

Theater, 74 Leonard Street in Tribeca (212/219-3006).  

And for the last night of HANUKA: Tuesday, December 30, 8:30pm, at Cornelia
St Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street in the West Village (212/989-9318).

Cover charge for each event is $8; children 12 & under, $5 at the West End.

CD and cassette copies of <<Yiddish for Travelers>> will be available at all
performances, as well as the Jewish Museum Store, MultiKulti Music, Judaica
Experience Too and other establishments; for distribution updates &/or mail
orders, please contact sicular (at) aol(dot)com, tel/fax (212)475-4544, snail 
mail
Metropolitan Klezmer, 151 First Avenue #145, New York, NY 10003.

 METROPOLITAN  KLEZMER  finds fresh, vibrant sounds in Yiddish dance, trance,
folk and swing tunes.  In <<Yiddish for Travelers>>, the group explores
musical crossroads of Eastern Europe,  Asia Minor and the Middle East, with
ovinstrumentation.  The band features *Ismail Butera* (accordion, bendir),
*Steve Elson* (Bb & bass clarinets, flute, tenor & soprano sax), *Michael
Hess* (violin, viola, ney flutes, kanun), *Dave Hofstra* (bass, tuba),
 *Deborah Karpel* (vocals), and *Eve Sicular* (drums),  plus special guests
Pam Fleming (trumpet) & Harris Wulfson (violin).  

 Since March, 1994, the group has played for concerts and celebrations
including Museum Mile at the Jewish Museum; City Lore's  Festival of Ethnic
Culture; the Gowanus Arts Exchange; the Tenement Museum; John Zorn's New
Jewish Music Festival; Dixon Place; the Knitting Factory; Cornelia Street
Cafe; CB's Gallery; Third Street Music School Settlement Concerts at Abe
Lebenwohl Park; The International Jewish Arts Festival of Long Island;
Workmen's Circle; Thof the film "Surviving Memory".

 Metropolitan Klezmer's <<Yiddish for Travelers>> maps out many musical
journeys through a wide range of song and style.  Versatile explorations
include both the Greek and Ashkenazic versions of a melody shared by the two
cultures; original arrangements of klezmer and Yiddish theater classics from
Old World and New; and adaptations of soundtrack material from the 1937
Warsaw-based film version of "The Dybbuk".

MUSICIAN BIOGRAPHIES
=Ismail Butera= is a renowned virtuoso accordionist in the New York area,
playing a range of styles including Balkan, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Albanian,
and Persian as well as klezmer and other Jewish music, such as Sephardic and
Israeli.  He has performed with Smyrneiki Kompania (playing various
traditionaMichael Alpert, Song of the Shtetl, Klezmeydlekh & Friends, 
Klezmerfest, the
Noga Group, and Yale Strom, appearing on the soundtracks of feature
documentaries <<The Last Klezmer>> and <<A Life Apart: Hasidim in America>>. 

Clarinetist/saxophonist =Steve Elson= has worked as a side-person with David
Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Joe Jackson, and the Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues
Revue, and has performed in the ensembles of Lenny Pickett, The Klezmatics,
GiBouchard, among others.  Elson also composes music for dance, theater and
film, and has collaborated with Bill T. Jones, Risa Jaroslaw, Charles
Moulton, Hilary Easton, Robert Longo, Amy Sue Rosen, Juliana Luecking, and
Marta Renzi.  He leads the Lips and Fingers Ensemble, is a co-founder of the
Borneo Horns, and has received composition grants from the NEA, NYFA, and
NYSCA.  Elson is resident music artist at Dance Theater Workshop.  

Multi-instrumentalist =Michael Hess= has studied classical violin and viola
at the Manhattan School of Music, learned kanun (Middle Eastern zither) from
the late Mohammed El Akkad, and is an accomplished player of Arabic ney
flutes and frame drums.  In addition to klezmer and other styles, he is an
eminent performer of Sephardic music, touring throughout North America as
well as Turkey and Lithuania with Alhambra.  He has recorded with many
artists as well as performing with Mogador Ensemble, Song of the 
ShtKlezmeydlekh & Friends and Smyrneiki Kompania.

Bassist/tuba artist =Dave Hofstra= has played, toured and recorded
extensively in jazz, rock, blues, klezmer, and new music.  He has performed
with artists John Zorn, Bobby Previte, Lou Grassi, Bobbi Radcliff, Grady
Gaines, Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Debbie Davies, Elliot Sharpe, Tom Cora,
Guy Klucevsek, Bill Frisell, Toshi Reagon, and Luka Bloom, and with bands
such as Philip Johnston's Big Trouble, Microscopic Septet, Transparent
Quartet, Twilight Time and The Klezmatics.

Vocalist =Deborah Karpel='s eclectic background brings together musical
theater, jazz standards, art song, Bel Canto opera, and Yiddish songs from
her grandfather.  Recently featured as a soloist acting in the Obie
award-winning play "Hot Keys" at PS 122, she has also appeared at the 92nd St
Y Opera Lab and on PBS' "Cgiven art song recitals at NYC's Donnell Library.

Drummer =Eve Sicular= has played klezmer, rock, rhythm & blues and
cajun/zydeco on the East & West Coasts for Vilde Khaye, The Voodoobillies,
Gotham Playboys, Klezmeydlekh, Song of the Shtetl, Klezmerfest, Pie Alamo,
Pink Noise, Mediterraneo, and The Mazeltones, as well as playing samba, jazz
and Middle Eastern styles.  On staff at KlezCamp, Mame-Loshn, and Buffalo on
the Roof, she has taught percussion and Yiddish film history.  She has also
drummed for Tigressa, Laura Wetzler, Terry Dame's Sax Appeal, Rhythm Method,
and soundtrack & theater productions.