THE SEPHARDIC MUSIC FESTIVAL IS PRODUCED AND PRESENTED BY SHEMSPEED WITH MEDIA SPONSORSHIP BY TABLET, THE FORWARD, JIMENA, JEWLICIOUS, BE’CHOL LASHON AND JSPACE.
NEXT UP:
Dec 13th 2012 | THE BIGGEST HANNUKAH PARTY IN NYC @ B.B. KINGS
Event info: Join us for the BIGGEST and BRIGHTEST Hanukkah event of the YEAR! Location: B.B. King Blues Club & Grill 237 West 42 Street, New York NY Time: 9pm Ticket: $25 | (Use code “FRIENDS” for $5 off all week till next Wednesday)
• Over 800 exclusive guests comprised of young Jewish professionals and Israeli artists in all genres and mediums are expected!
*Dessert Bar with Sufganiyot *Premium Sweet Creations and Chocolate *PITOPIA Falafel *Sushi
*Special LIVE Performances of ‘Tel Aviv to Broadway’ *Israeli Music and Top 40′s
* Gifts and Giveaways all night!
ISRAEL VIP-Hanukkah Bash An Exclusive Hanukkah Celebration
photo of the crowd from last year’s Sephardic Music Festival.
ORDER THE SEPHARDIC MUSIC FESTIVAL VOL. 2 (audio fundraiser):
The Official Sephardic Music Festival COMPILATION VOL. 2 PRE-ORDER!: <> $18
CD (audio fundraiser) NOTE:EVERY PRE-ORDER OF THE CD COMES WITH A FREE DOWNLOAD TO YOUR EMAIL AND A COPY OF THE CD TO YOUR HOUSE BEFORE IT HITS STORES! <> $14 Download Direct (audio fundraiser)
Tracklisting: 1. Cheb I Sabbah – “Im Ninalou (If the Doors are Locked)” 2. Axum – “Knowa” 3. Watcha Clan – “Balkan Qoulou (Dunkelbunt Remix)” 4. Cohen@Mushon - “Tel Aviv” 5. Shtar – “Kel Adon” 6. DeLeon – Ansi Dize La Novia 7. Jaffa Road – “Ana El Na (Oh Heal Her)” 8. Sarah Aroeste – La Comida La Mañana 9. Smadar & Diwon – “Esther” 10. Mika Karny – “Mi Zot” 11. Sam Glaser - Ki Eshmera (ft. Yehuda Solomon & Duvid Swirski of Moshav, Cantor Hagai Batzri) 12. Kiss Slash Crooked Smile - “Healthy Lovin” 13. Mazal – “La Rosa Linda” 14. Diwon – Gonna Light (ft. Y-Love & Sarah Aroeste) 15. Onili – “Bali Lo Bali” feat. Yael Deckelbaum 16. Diwon – “Stuck in the Middle Eastern” 17. Asefa – “Allah Hu Ehad” 18. Mor Karbasi – “Arvoles”
* The Sephardic Music Festival’s second compilation album is set for release on December 11. Selections range from traditional Sephardic folk songs to hip hop, electro, and dance music. Album tracks incorporate Jewish liturgical and ceremonial texts, Sabbath songs, and classic love poems, as well as original compositions inspired by traditional themes. Cheb i Sabbah, among the most talented world-music producers, kicks off the compilation with “Im Ninalou” (If the Doors are Locked), a traditional Yemenite song made famous by the late great Ofra Chaza. Israeli club kids Axum blow up the compilation with their energetic “Knowa.” Dunkelbunt remixes Marseille-based Watcha Clan, which mixes Balkan brass and Sephardic folk with Gnawa trance and hip-hop. DeLeon uses their distinctive style of rock to transform ancient Sephardic folk music into a sound that is both brand new and centuries old. On Ansi Dize La Novia, DeLeon borrows Manu Chao-esque grooves to convey an ancient tale of a bride being described to a groom. Each of her features is more beautiful than the last just as each of this song’s verses is funkier than that which preceded it. Jerusalem native Mor Karbasi chills out the compilation with her beautiful song titled “Arvoles.” The listener can’t help but feel that they are floating along on a carpet as Karbasi sings gently to the accompanying piano. Tel Aviv’s Cohen@Mushon highlights the 90′s golden era hip hop sound. Diwon includes a couple of his own tracks including a Middle Eastern instrumental single and a “Maoz Tzur” holiday-inspired song with an LMFAO feel. The latter track features ex-Hasidic, gay rapper Y-Love and Ladino songstress Sarah Aroeste. Like the Sephardic Music Festival itself, the compilation album highlights the remarkable diversity that exists within the Jewish community. While other Jewish music festivals focus mostly on Ashkenazi tunes, themes, and beats, the Sephardic Music Festival offers a fascinating exploration of Sephardic music and culture from around the world.
BUY THE SEPHARDIC MUSIC FESTIVAL VOL. 1 (audio fundraiser):
The Official Sephardic Music Festival COMPILATION VOL. 1 WORLDWIDE RELEASE: <> $18
CD (audio fundraiser) <> $14 Download Direct (audio fundraiser) OR download directly from
ITUNES or AMAZON
* A mix of traditional, dance, electro, hip hop, and folk songs from around the Sephardic world makes up the Sephardic Music Festival’s first compilation album! Grammy-nominated artist Matisyahu combines a suite of Middle Eastern inspired hip hop riffs with a time-honored Yemenite chorus sung by Yehuda Solomon. Yasmin Levy’s impassioned song “Mi Korasón” (My Heart) emphasizes the underappreciated romantic side of the Ladino language. The Moshav Band — an L.A. based group of expatriate Israeli musicians — contributes a powerful rendition of the Yemenite wedding song “Abba Shimon” in Judeo Arabic. In addition, Yair Dalal, the world-renowned Sephardic musician who performed at the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize Gala in Oslo, offers a memorable interpretation of the classic Shabbat song “Ya Ribon."
Tracklisting: 1. Matisyahu- Two Child One Drop, 2. Moshav - Abba Shimon, 3. Smadar Levi - Ghali Ya Bouy, 4. Brody – Yalda Metuka (feat. Y-Love), 5. Yasmin Levy – Mi Korasón, 6. Yair Dalal – Ya Ribon Alam, 7. Electro Morocco - Joe Pill, 8. dJOoKRoO & Diwon – Rak Tavi Esh, 9. DeScribe & Shmoolik – Modern Day Moses (Stolen Casios Remix), 10. Sarah Aroeste - Hija Mia (Tamir Muskat Remix), 11. Shi360 & Yamanz – Kapayim, 12. Diwan Saz - Who is She that Looketh Forth as the Dawn, 13. Pharaoh’s Daughter - Ven Hermosa, 14. Levi Mordechai - Ani Maamin, 15. Michal Cohen - Ode L’eli, 16. Jon Madof - D’ror Yikra, 17. Galeet Dardashti – Michal (DJ Vanjee Remix), 18. Benyamin Brody, Diwon & Dugans - Yehi Razton (final prayer)
PAST SMF 2012 EVENTS
Dec 8th 2012 | COPAL, CANNIBAL ANIMAL MACHINE & SWAY MACHINERY @ KNITTING FACTORY
Event info: COPAL, CANNIBAL ANIMAL MACHINE & SWAY MACHINERY Location: Knitting Factory 361 Metropolitan Avenue Brooklyn, NY Time: 7pm Ticket: $12 Advance | $15 Door
• COPAL: Copal sets an evocative tone; lavish voices of violin and cello flicker against a twilight scape of electronic swells and textures, impelled by a driving rhythmic sense, and original melodies steeped in global musical traditions. CANNIBAL ANIMAL MACHINE: Cannibal Animal Machine blurs the line between a rock show and a dubstep dance party by combining organic percussion and Tuvan throat singing with samplers and the thick sound of the electric doumbek, creating a raw and visceral sound that makes you bang your head and shake your ass at the same time. SWAY MACHINERY: For those who have seen The Sway Machinery in action, little explanation is needed. The band’s combination of rhythmic power and potent folklore takes no prisoners. On stage the energy of submerged worlds is torn out into the light of day. And indeed, the historical tradition of Cantorial music, which is the focus of the band’s work, is very much a lost world. The music of The Sway Machinery invites the listener to become like children wandering in the forest, discovering something mythic and wonderful.
Event info: Sephardic Story Slam Location: Lolita Bar – 266 Broome Street Time: 7pm
• Join us as storytellers from far and wide, actors, poets, writers, comedians and other doe-eyed hopefuls try their hand and taking home the most coveted prize of all time: The legacy of being crowned: “Story Slam Champion” !!!
Come hear riveting stories of Arabian Nights, where the caravan camels roam. When the wind’s from the east and the sun’s from the west and the sand in the glass is right. Come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly, to another Arabian night.
You will hear mesmerizing stories of middle eastern upbringing, exotic travels , family traditions from Morocco, Persia, Tunisia, Yemen and so much more!
10 Stories – 6 Minutes – 1 Champion. YOU CHOOSE THE WINNER!to enter please email smf@shemspeed.com
Dec 10th 2012 | THE SEPHARDIC SCHOLAR SERIES @ CUNY GRAD CENTER
Event info: The Sephardic Scholar Series with the New York Andalus Ensemble Location: CUNY-Graduate Center – Elebash Recital Hall. 365 Fifth Avenue (corner of 34th St. ) Time: 7pm Cost: Free
• The Sephardic Scholar Series continues this year with a free concert at the CUNY-Graduate Center with the New York Andalus Ensemble. This community ensemble — which includes singers and instrumentalists from an extremely diverse background performing traditional north African music in Hebrew, Arabic, and Ladino – is directed by festival resident ethnomusicologist and long-time bandleader and performer Samuel R. Thomas. The performance will be preceded by a scholarly introduction on the meaning of the ensemble’s music in Sephardi history and the present implications of Jewish-Muslim intercultural exchange in New York.
The New York Andalus Ensemble is co-sponsored by the Foundation for Iberian Music, the CUNY Music Programs, the Middle Eastern-Middle Eastern American Center (MEMEAC), and ASEFA-MUSIC.
Dec 11th 2012 | VANESSA PALOMA & LEV-YULZARI DUO and FRIENDS @ THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE SYNAGOGUE
Event info: Vanessa Paloma and Lev-Yulzari Duo and Friends Location: 2 West 70th St. at Central Park West, NYC Time: 7:15pm Ticket: Purchase tickets online:
Early bird tix, by December 4
$12 for CSI, ASF, AICF members / $18 for non-members / $5 for children
December 4 – 10
$15 for CSI, ASF, AICF members / $20 for non-members / $8 for children
At the door: $20 members; $25 non-members
• VANESSA PALOMA is a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar and artist to Morocco specializing in Judeo-Spanish music from the Sephardic diaspora. She will perform: Jewish Maghreb in Haketía and Judeo-Arabic Humorous songs, epic poems, trance-like lullabies and synagogal prayers in Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish formed the soundscape of most Maghrebi Jews. Lilting and rhythmic melodies that combine European and Moroccan musical roots embody the crossroads of the world that sits at the Strait of Gibraltar. This program includes field recordings and commercial releases intertwined with live performance in a tapestry of sonorous experience.
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NADAV LEV & REMY YULZARI: The borders-crossing duo explores some of the most loved Sephardic music, in a personal approach that derives from various musical genres. Both extremely versatile, Lev and Yulzari lead Sephardic tradition through their many musical influences, including folk, classical, jazz and even klezmer music. Along with their special musical guests they create a fascinating, surprising and compelling musical experience.
Dec 12th 2012 | ISRAEL’S MIKA KARNY AND THE KOL DODI ENSEMBLE, ZION80, + HASIDIC NEW WAVE & YAKAR RHYTHMS @ LE POISSON ROUGE
Event info: Zion 80, Mika Karny and Kol Dodi Ensemble, Hasidic New Wave & Yakar Rhythms. Location: Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St. Manhattan, NY 10012 Time: 9:30pm
• MIKA KARNY AND THE KOL DODI ENSEMBLE: Kol Dodi is a special musical version to one of the world’s most beautiful love songs of all time “Shir Ha’Shirim” – The Biblical psalms. Performed by a unique ensemble of Israeli Moroccan, Yemenite and Ethiopian musicians and singers, led by one of Israel’s all time favorite female vocalists – Mika Karni. HASIDIC NEW WAVE: HNW is joined by the very special Senegalese drum ensemble, Yakar Rhythms to celebrate their box set at (le) poisson rouge as part of this 8th Sephardic Music Festival. ZION80 explores the music of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach through the lens of the Afrobeat master Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Led by guitarist Jon Madof (Rashanim, Matisyahu), the 12-piece band sets the beautiful melodies of Reb Shlomo in arrangements using the polyrhythmic intensity of Afrobeat along with the flavor of the downtown New York City improvised music scene. Zion80′s debut CD will be released on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records in early 2013.
The Official Sephardic Music Festival COMPILATION VOL. 2
