Byrd and Chevan @ National Yiddish Book Center

[Mordechai Kamel <mkamel...>]

I had the pleasure of seeing Warren Byrd and David Chevan in a concert of
interpretations of Jewish and African-American Sacred Music today at the
National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA.

As most of you are aware, David is a member of this list.

The music was wonderful and both of the performers were excellent.  With the
exception of the last song which was a new composition by a South African
whose name I no longer remember, the concert consisted of alternating pieces
of gospel and Jewish liturgical music.  Although David referred to the music
as a dialogue, and there was certainly dialogue between the instruments
(piano for Warren, double bass for David) and the artists, from the
perspective of the unwashed audience, it was more as if the pieces of music
were alternating monologues that meshed into a theme of common and deep
humanity.

Each piece of music was introduced by one of the artists and with the
exception of David's rant [ :-) ] on our culture's commercialization of the
basic needs of life (in this case it was water) as part of the introduction
to "Water from an Ancient Well", the intro's were both relevant and
poignant.

All in all it was a wonderful concert and I urge anyone out there to go see
them if they perform in your neck of the woods.

A final treat of course, was that when I bought the new album after the
concert, the salesperson was David's mother.

Mordi