Musical ensembles

  
         
   
Pharaoh's Daughter - Lead by Basya Schechter, the band has been playing their unique brand of cutting edge contemporary singer/songwriter material mixed with Klezmer, Middle Eastern, Indian and Balkan influences.
         
    Divahn, a bold all-woman power-house ensemble lead by singer and vocal innovator Galeet Dardashti, infuses traditional and original Jewish songs with a modern and edgy twist. Today Divahn has engendered an international following performing in venues ranging from top international concert halls and festivals to the most prestigious clubs in NYC.  
         
    Alaev Family has deep roots in the music of Tajikistan and the Jewish music of Buchara. An ensemble of three generations of virtuosos perform together on stage creating a happy feast of colors and music, where rhythms are dominant. The presence of the younger generation makes this a true cross over from the old to the new. Today, the multi talented ensemble includes Allo Alaev’s two sons, Ariel and Amin, and his grandchildren Zvika, Allen, Amir and Aviva (ages between 79 -15)  
         
    Golem is where Eastern Europe meets the Lower East Side. Golem’s sound evokes wisps of old-world elegance filtered through the successes and disappointments of new-world dreams. These are the songs to which Eastern European grandparents danced over a century ago, and now Golem has its unwrinkled fans moshing to the same pulsing beats. "Golem produces the sort of music you'd expect if the shtetl were filled with punks instead of peasants" - The Washington Post  
         
    Amir Gwirtzman, world renowned Israeli multi-culti jazz artist, masters more than 20 different woodwinds from all over the world as a one-man band called Inhale–Exhale. Gwirtzman infuses his music with a combination of R&B, jazz and rhythms of Cuban jazz, along with Middle Eastern, Gypsy, Jewish klezmer, Armenian, Irish Celtic and Native American influences.  
         
    HaBanot Nechama are a live band in the deepest sense, having built themselves a huge and very dedicated following before releasing even one single. Reggae influences, soul-folk melodies, one of a kind harmonies and impeccable song-craft are highlights of this perfect showcase of how English and Hebrew can co-exist.
         
    Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird: Radical Yiddish Punkfolk Cabaret. Detroit-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter, polyglot poet, translator, activist Daniel Kahn concocts furious, tender, electrifying and revolutionary Alienation Klezmer. "Accordion charged with punkrock... the free-spirited attitude of the New York Tzadik circle, cabaret flair, and scraps of Tom Waits." - Rolling Stone [Germany].  
         
    Mika Karni, a trained classical violinist, could read music notation before she knew her ABC (Alef Bet). Kol Dodi is a special musical version of one of the world’s most beautiful love songs of all time: “Shir Ha’Shirim” - bringing together a unique ensemble of Israeli Moroccan, Yemenite and Ethiopian musicians and singers. Their special sound combines traditional Jewish melodies with African–Ethnic rhythms and a taste of folk/singer-songwriter qualities, creating a musical landscape of modern Israel. Mika composed and re-arranged the original biblical lyrics to convey the original story in a modern, intimate and personal way, taking the listener on a deep and emotional experience.  
         
    Vira Lozinsky is one of today's outstanding Yiddish singers. An enchanting performer in every way, Vira’s mellifluous alto voice is powerful, warm, expressive, and pure. "The singer is a master in her genre. Her diction, her understanding of the texts and her stylistic knowledge are flawless. The jury loved her easy, understated delivery, steeped in knowledge of the Yiddish song tradition... the jury was moved to tears by the emotion in the singer’s voice."- Jury notes, Grand Prize - International Jewish Music Festival, Amsterdam 2012.  
         
    Monajat is a Persian word meaning an intimate dialogue with the Divine. Inspired by old and haunting recordings of the prayers of Selihot chanted by Galeet Dardashti's grandfather - a master singer of Persian classical music - Dardashti reinvents this deep and reflective musical ritual with an acclaimed ensemble of Middle Eastern and jazz musicians, using digital technology to perform live with her grandfather's recordings.  
         
    The Naming is the new multi-disciplinary work created by Galeet Dardashti. Her songs tell the stories of why the Queen of Sheba shaved her legs, how Vashti laid down the line for her drunken husband, and how a mysterious witch spoke King Saul’s doom and then served him a nice dinner. For Dardashti, the stories of some women in her songs also intertwine with her own Iranian family’s tales of women breaking the rules as well as those of women in the Middle East today fighting to have their voices heard.  
         
    Joshua Nelson, the prince of kosher gospel. You may have never heard of 'kosher gospel' music before, but the inspirational performances of Joshua Nelson, the creator of this style, will surely call out to your soul. Kosher gospel is the marriage of Jewish religious lyrics and meanings with the soulful sounds of American gospel music, and such soul-inflected vocalizations filled the Black Hebrew synagogue Joshua Nelson attended as a child with his family, observant Jews who traced their lineage back to Senegal. For Joshua Nelson, kosher gospel is a way to claim both parts of his identity as a Black Jew. For his audiences, whatever their faith or heritage, kosher gospel has been a revelation.  
         
    Israeli flutist and composer Hadar Noiberg is a major force in the Cuban, Jazz and World music scenes, with a language that transcends her Middle Eastern roots she fuses styles seamlessly, making her voice highly distinctive and innovative. Hadar has been busy performing and touring in such venues and festivals as The Blue Note, Womex, Dizzy's at Lincoln Center, Babel Med Festival, Summer Stage, Iridium, Jazz Standard, Sweet Rhythm, Smalls Jazz Club, Merkin Hall, 55 Bar, Creole Blues Festival, Michigan Womyn’s Festival, Midsummer Night Swing Festival, Roskilde Festival, Nessiah Festival, and many more.  
         
    Meg Okura, composer, erhu player and premier jazz violinist, leads a group of virtuosi, Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble, inventing and defining "world chamber jazz" today. Her credits include over fifty appearances on albums, movie soundtracks, television and music videos, and performing with musical icons such as David Bowie, Mary J. Blige, Michael Brecker, Phillip Glass, Ziggy Marley, Lee Konitz, Lenny Kravitz, Steve Swallow, Kanye West and others.
         
    Omer Avital Quintet - Hailed by Downbeat as “one of the leading composers of his generation“ and “a pioneer in combining jazz with myriad world music elements" (LA Times), acclaimed jazz bassist and composer/arranger Omer Avital has loaned his highly spirited and soulful sound to the jazz, classical and world music scenes for well over two decades.  
       
   
The Strauss/Warschauer Duo draws from Klezmer, Yiddish, Hasidic and liturgical traditions. Violin, guitar, mandolin and accordion combinations create a dynamic atmosphere and exceptional range of feeling - from delicately refined to foot-stomping exhuberance.
       
   
Howard Leshaw and The Golden Land Orchestra - Top-notch New York City jazz players achieve a unique blend of imagination, ethnic integrity and straight-forward virtuosity that regularly leaves audiences breathlessly begging for more. Klezmer and much more!
       
   
Greek born musical arranger, lead guitarist, and bouzouki virtuoso Avram Pengas is a versatile performer who plays popular Israeli hits, exotic Arabic melodies, pulsating Persian and Turkish rhythms, Armenian dances and traditional Yiddish songs. Avram Pengas' Noga Group has been a staple of New York's downtown music scene for nearly twenty years.
  
         
   
Klezmer Mountain Boys - Virtuoso clarinetist Margot Leverett joins forces with today's stars of klezmer and bluegrass to explore the shared musical spirit of two genres literally worlds apart. Appalachian and southern fiddle tunes meet klezmer melodies from pre-war Russia and Eastern Europe. The resulting medleys and improvisations are at once raw, funny, melancholic and footstomping.
 
       
   
The Afro-Semitic Experience is a band of African-American and Jewish-American musicians dedicated to preserving, promoting and expanding the rich cultural heritage of the Jewish and African Diasporas. With interpretations from the rich traditions of our two cultures: Gospel, Klezmer, Nigunim, Spirituals, Bebop and Swing, they also frame the music, telling stories about what the pieces mean, how they relate to us as individual members of the community, and how they reflect upon the relations between Blacks and Jews.
 
       
   
Soul to Soul: Yiddish and African-American Music Meet in a Celebration of Two Cultures. The concert is headlined by Elmore James, a veteran of five Broadway productions and numerous opera stages around the world, Tony Perry, a commanding young singer-actor, and Magda Fishman, Israeli singing sensation. Musical Direction by Zalmen Mlotek
  
         
    Litvakus brings to life often overlooked Belarusian and Litvak (Belarusian-Lithuanian) Jewish musical heritage - through the prism of their research of North-Eastern Europe’s music and the wide variety of their own cultural backgrounds. Backed by generations of klezmorim and muzyki, Litvakus are extending the bridge to the modern audiences worldwide, making the old sound new and fresh, hip and meaningful, for the sake of the future of the millennial legacy.  
         
   


Moroccan born Aaron Bensoussan has taken the exotic Moroccan Piyutim (poems) and sounds of his youth, along with his expertise as a world renowned Ashkenazic Cantor, to create his newest concert project. Together with world class musicians, he masterfully weaves stories of his youth and of the great tazadikim (holy sages) of Morocco with sounds of Andalousian, flamenco, jazz and blues to create the unique experience of 'Shir Maghreb - Song of Morocco'. The New York Times called Aaron Bensoussan’s singing “Stout and Impassioned”.

  
         
    Shye Ben Tzur is an Israeli composer, producer and performer who has been living and creating music in India and Israel for over a decade. Shye has worked with traditional Sufi Qawwali singers (a form of ecstatic Muslim devotional music) who have been learning his compositions and poetry, and sung them in Hebrew. He has also been collaborating with various folk musicians from the Rajasthan desert. From his personal life experiences Ben-Tzur has succeeded in bringing his own ancient culture alive into a unique cross-cultural work.  
         
 

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