Metropolitan Klezmer gigs etc.

[SICULAR <SICULAR...>]

Hi!  Happy spring....Metropolitan Klezmer has just marked our fourth
anniversary, and we're happy to announce that our new release, "Yiddish for
Travelers" is now being distributed throughout North America by Stern's Music
US.  

Here are upcoming shows for this season and early summer:
METROPOLITAN KLEZMER
151 First Avenue #145, New York NY  10003
tel/fax: (212) 475-4544   
 
Sun, Apr 19, 9pm:
      The Knitting Factory, 73 Leonard St., New York City  (212) 219-3006

Sat, Apr 25, 8:30pm:
     Congregation Beth Elohim, Garfield Pl. and 8th Ave, Park Slope, Brookyln
NY, sponsored by the Brownstone Brooklyn Jewish Coalition to benefit programs
for older adults.  Info:  (718) 832-6230
 
[to be confirmed] Sun, May 3, time tba:  The Knitting Factory
  
Sun, May 10, 2:30-3:45pm: 
     The Marquette Internationale, Corning Glass Center, Corning NY  (607)
974-8908

Sun, May 17, 8pm:
    The Towne Crier, Pawling NY  Reservations/info: (914) 855-1300.  Open for
dinner at 5:30pm

Tues, June 9, 6-9pm:
      Museum Mile Festival, The Jewish Museum, Fifth Ave & 92nd St, NYC,
free/outdoor -- in case of rain, in museum auditorium.  Fifth Avenue closed to
vehicular traffic, all museums free!  (212) 423-3200
  
Thur, June 11, 12:30-1:30pm:
      Abe Lebenwohl Park Concert Series, 2nd Ave & E. 10th St, sponsored by
the Third St Music School Settlement NYC (212) 777-3240--free/outdoor!  Free
refreshments provided by the 2nd Avenue Deli.

Thur, July 2, 6:30-8pm:
      Washington Market Community Park Series, Greenwich St @ Duane St., NYC
(212)   431-7359 -- free/outdoor!

    METROPOLITAN KLEZMER plays dance, trance, folk, and show tunes based on
the traditions of Yiddish celebratory music.  Their acclaimed new CD release,
=Yiddish for Travelers=, maps out fresh, vibrant tunes from the klezmer
crossroads of Asia Minor to classic soundtrack gems of the1937 <<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
traditional Greek instruments), and with The Klezmatics, Andy Statman, Michael
Alpert,  Song of the Shtetl, Klezmeydlekh & Friends, Klezmerfest, The Noga
Group, and Yale Strom's Hot P'Stromi, appearing on soundtracks of The Last
Klezmer and A Life Apart: Hasidim in America.  He has taught on staff at
Buffalo Gap Balkan Folk Arts Camp.

Clarinetist/saxophonist *Steve Elson* has worked with David Bowie, Laurie
Anderson, Joe Jackson, Duran Duran, and the Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Revue,
and is heard on many hit records and feature soundtracks.  He has performed in
the ensembles of Lenny Pickett, The Klezmatics, Philip Glass, Giora Feidman,
Big Joe, Scott Johnson, A. Leroy, Guy Klucevsek, and Linda Bouchard, among
others.  He 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 NEA, NYFA, NYSCA, and the Mary Flagler
Cary Charitable Trust.  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, and learned kanun (Middle Eastern zither) from
the late Egyptian master Mohammed El Akkad.  He is also widely known as an
accomplished player of Arabic ney flutes and frame drums, and as an eminent
performer of Sephardic music, touring throughout North America as well as
Turkey and Lithuania with Alhambra.  He has recorded with various artists as
well as performing with The Mogador Ensemble, Song of the Shtetl, Klezmeydlekh
& Friends, Smyrneiki Kompania, and The New York String Ensemble.

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

Vocalist *Deborah Karpel*'s eclectic background brings together musical
theater, jazz standards, cabaret, art song, Bel Canto opera, and Yiddish
repertoire from her grandfather.  Recently featured as a soloist in the Obie
award-winning play Hot Keys at PS 122, she has also appeared at the 92nd St Y
Opera Lab and on WNET's City Arts.  For the past three years, she has given
art song recitals at New York City's Donnell Library.

Drummer *Eve Sicular* has performed klezmer, rock, rhythm & blues, and
cajun/zydeco with Vilde Khaye, The Voodoobillies, Klezmeydlekh & Friends, Song
of the Shtetl, Pie Alamo, Pink Noise, Mediterraneo, and The Mazeltones, as
well as playing samba, jazz, swing, and Middle Eastern styles.  On staff at
Buffalo on the Roof, MameLoshn, and KlezCamp, she has taught percussion and
Yiddish film history.  She has  recorded for Terry Dame's Sax Appeal, Susan
Arrow & the Quivers, and numerous film soundtracks, and has accompanied
Tigressa, Laura Wetzler, Rhythm Method, and many musical theater productions.
She is also a former curator of the Film and Photo Archives at the YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research.

"Metropolitan Klezmer is a band worth driving from Boston to New York for....
The music is excellent" --Ari Davidow's  Klezmer Shack

"Wildly variegated flavors... Clever, spirited and smart musicianship... A
formidable debut" --The Jewish Week, NYC

"Each of these 24 tracks is an historic gem" --Downtown Music Gallery web
newsletter 

 Among the band's recent engagements:   
    The Knitting Factory...The Jewish Museum...Princeton University...City
Lore's ethnic culture festival...The Museum of the City of New York...Museum
Mile Festival...John Zorn's New Jewish Music Festival...Dixon Place...The
Workmen's Circle... CB's Gallery...The 92nd St Y annual dinner at Ellis
Island...The International Jewish Arts Festival of Long Island..."Molly Picon
is Alive & Well & Living in Brooklyn" at Gowanus Arts Exchange & The Tenement
Museum...Cornelia Street Cafe...The Uptown Coffeehouse...summer concerts for
Brooklyn Arts Council, The Third Street Music School Settlement, The Town of
Hempstead, and Washington Market Community Park...the 6th & B Garden Harvest
Festival..."Surviving Memory" film soundtrack...and weddings, birthdays, &
other joyous simkhes from Tavern-on-the-Green to Caramoor to Ratner's
Restaurant.  

bookings & info:  Eve Sicular c/o METROPOLITAN KLEZMER
151 First Avenue #145, New York NY  10003
tel/fax: (212) 475-4544    e-mail: sicular (at) aol(dot)com