NYC 1/21 Yiiddish concert - Song of the Shtetl

[Carol Freeman <tsipra...>]

SONG of the SHTETL Jewish Music Ensemble

Concert of Old World Yiddish Songs, Unaccompanied Ballads, and Melodies

Featuring:

   CAROL FREEMAN - Vocals
   ISMAIL BUTERA - Accordion
   MICHAEL HESS - Violin
   ALAN ZEMEL - Domra Bass, Balalaika

SUNDAY  JANUARY 21st, 1:30 and 3pm

TONIC  107 Norfolk Street
   (between Rivington and Delancey Streets,
    F or J train to Delancey and Essex Streets


Information:  212-358-7501
Band Information:  212-255-7890

Admission:   $10, or $15 for both shows (different programs)

Sponsor:  Sunday Klezmer Brunch curated by David Krakauer


Since many of you may not be familiar with our ensemble, I?d like to
tell you a little about the music we present. While many of the groups
performing today recreate music from the Yiddish instrumental or stage
traditions, Song of the Shtetl focuses more on the traditional songs
that were such a vibrant part of  the everyday life of the East European
Jew. I have had the wonderful good fortune to work with extraordinary
immigrant Jewish singers over the past twenty-five years, and have had
the opportunity to learn from them not only their most treasured songs,
but also the wonderful vocal stylings and melodic and ornamental nuances
that historically defined the singing of traditional Yiddish song. The
other members of the ensemble, Ismail Butera, Michael Hess, and Alan
Zemel, accompany these songs and interpret the related instrumental
melodies with uncommon sensitivity, sweetness, and depth.
______________________________________________________________

About the ensemble:

Well known as a performer, researcher, and teacher of a variety of East
European and Judaic singing traditions, Carol Freeman has performed
since 1970 as vocalist for the Smyrneiki Kompania  Asia Minor Greek
Music Ensemble, Sevda  Balkan Music Ensemble, Song of the Shtetl Jewish
Music Ensemble, and Zhenska Pesna  (Balkan women?s trio), and as a solo
interpreter of traditional song.  First introduced to Yiddish song by
her grandmother, Carol has been actively involved in its research and
presentation since 1977, when she was selected a vocalist for the
American Jewish Congress' CETA Artists' Project. In 1984 she was awarded
a New York State Council on the Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship with
Master Yiddish Singer, Bronya Sakina. Carol has also worked as a field
researcher with immigrant Yiddish singers for the Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies 1982 Festivals of Soviet Jewish Traditions and the Center
for Traditional Music and Dance?s  Soviet Jewish Community Cultural
Initiative (1998 to thepresent.)

Ismail Butera - Accordion - is a virtuoso musician who spent  his youth
immersed in the musics of Eastern Europe, has performed Yiddish, Balkan,
and Near Eastern music with a multitude of groups for more than
twenty-five years. Michael Hess - Violin - is a versatile musician who
has performed with prominent Jewish, and Middle Eastern ensembles across
three continents. Alan Zemel - Domra Bass, Domra, Balalaika - is a
gifted string player who has performed Russian , East European, Greek,
Macedonian, and Yiddish music for the past three decades..



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