Pomegranates & Figs
The Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse Presents
Pomegranates & Figs 2009
Wednesday, December 16 & Thursday, December 17
Featuring:
Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express
with Nikolai Prisacar, accordion and Daniel Fabricant, double bass
&
Teslim
with Special Guests Shira Kammen and Julian Smedley, fiddles and Faisal Zedan, percussion
About the Artists
 |
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Alicia Svigals |
Teslim - Kaila Flexer, violin Gary Hegedus, oud, saz, lauoto photo: Anne Hamersky |
The Freight & Salvage presents Pomegranates & Figs: A Feast of Jewish Music on December 16 and 17, the sixth and seventh nights of Hanukah. On hand for the festivities will be fiddler Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express: West Coast Edition and the Bay Area’s own Teslim (Kaila Flexer & Gari Hegedus) with Special guests fiddlers Shira Kammen and Julian Smedley and percussionist Faisal Zedan.
While there’s nothing wrong with The Nutcracker, Santa Claus and the rest of it, maybe you need a little something else? A bisl rockin’ klezmer? Some Sephardic music to tug at your heartstrings? Pomegranates & Figs: A Feast of Jewish Music provides the exuberance of klezmer music and Yiddish folk song combined with the soulful traditions of Sephardic music and the excitement of roots-based original music.
Before the big klezmer bands of New York arose with their brass and clarinets, there were the archetypical Jewish orchestras of the old world, led by the fiddles and born aloft by the basses. Renowned violinist Alicia Svigals, a founder of the Klezmatics and the world's foremost klezmer fiddler, presents a program of those ancient and ecstatic Jewish melodies accompanied by Moldovan accordionist Nicolai Prisacar and Daniel Fabricant on the upright bass. This is an unplugged roots group that sounds like a high-octane Jewish string orchestra.
Hosting the evening is the Bay Area string duo Teslim, featuring violinist Kaila Flexer and multi-instrumentalist Gari Hegedus, “an utterly original pair of players” (San Jose Mercury News). Flexer—who was the force behind Klezmer Mania!—the much-loved Bay Area Jewish music event that occurred annually at Hanukah from 1989 to 2002—created Pomegranates & Figs to celebrate the rich diversity of Jewish music. They are joined tonight by fiddlers Shira Kammen and Julian Smedley and percussionist Faisal Zedan. Klezmer (literally klei zemer meaning “vessel of music,” or by extension, “musician” or “instrumentalist”) is an Ashkenazi Jewish music, which began in 15th–century Europe. As klezmer musicians immigrated to this country, especially in the 1920s, klezmer became tinged with the sounds of Tin Pan Alley and early jazz. Sephardic music originates from the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.
To make the evening more heymish (“homey”), audience members can schmooze, kibbitz and nosh (“visit,” “chat” and “snack”) before the concert and at intermission on sweets and savories.
What’s not to like?
Tickets: $22.50 in advance and $23.50 at door.
Half-price tickets for youths 18 years old and under.
Seniors and Freight members get a $1 discount.
For more information on how to buy tickets:
www.freightandsalvage.org/tickets.html
or call 510-644-2020
About the artists:
ALICIA SVIGALS’ KLEZMER FIDDLE EXPRESS:
WEST COAST EDITION
Her fiddle ruled...-New York Times
Violin playing with ...depth and urgency...-L.A. Times
String work of uncommon beauty...-Jazziz
Alicia Svigals, violinist/composer, a founding member of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics, is the world's foremost klezmer fiddler. During the past decade, she almost singlehandedly revived klezmer fiddling. She’s taught and toured with violinist Itzhak Perlman, who recorded her compositions; and was awarded first prize at the Safed, Israel International Klezmer Festival. Svigals has been featured in Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues at Madison Square Garden with Phoebe Snow, Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, and Brooke Shields. She’s composed for the Kronos Quartet, and composer Osvaldo Golijov was commissioned to create a work for her, entitled Rocketekiya . She’s been featured on NPR's New Sounds Live and at festivals such as Fiddle Tunes (Port Townsend, WA) and the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
In Svigals' band the Klezmatics, she created contemporary Jewish music that combined the joyous and mystical Yiddish tradition with a postmodern aesthetic and a political world view. She toured with the band for seventeen years and recorded albums which reached the top ten of the Billboard and European World Music Charts. The Klezmatics appeared on Prairie Home Companion, Rosie O'Donnell's Kids are Punny, Good Morning America, MTV News, Nickelodeon, the BBC and NPR's Weekend Edition. As a group, they composed music for theater, dance and film, including the score to Tony Kushner's A Dybbuk and It's an Undoing World, Judith Helfand's P.O.V. documentary A Healthy Baby Girl, and for poets Allen Ginsburg and Israeli singer Chava Alberstein. Alicia’s multi-media piece The Third Seder, featuring Tony Kushner and the Klezmatics, was presented by La Mama and by the Jewish Museum in New York. Alicia and the Klezmatics recorded two albums for EMI with violinist Itzhak Perlman, which became the best-selling folk albums of all time. They performed with him on PBS' Emmy-winning In the Fiddler's House and on Late Night with David Letterman and appeared in concert at Radio City Music Hall, Tanglewood and Wolf Trap.
Ms. Svigals plays and writes music from heavy metal to traditional Greek and she's recorded on projects from Lipa Shmelzer ‘s CDs to the L-Word. Most recently, she wrote and recorded string quartet parts for singer/songwriter Diane Birch’s debut, Bible Belt, and appeared on Gary Lucas and Najma Akhtar’s Rishte. She was featured on Herb Alpert’s recording of Belz, arranged by Marvin Hamlisch, on the 2008 CD A Jewish Songbook. She’s appeared in stadium shows with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, recorded for John Cale's (Velvet Underground) album Last Day On Earth, and the Ben Folds Five's Whatever and Ever Amen. She’s written soundtracks to Judith Helfand's documentary The Uprising of 1934 with singer Peggy Seeger in an old-timey score, string quartet for singer/songwriter Debbie Friedman at Carnegie Hall, music for choreographer Risa Jaroslow at Lincoln Center and for author Thane Rosenbaum. She’s featured on Avraham Fried's Avinu Malkeynu, and has arranged Lubavitcher nigunim (wordless spirituals) for her klezmer quartet on her CD Vodkazak, produced by a Chabad rabbi. Svigals is currently working with filmmaker Peter Miller on the music for his new documentary about Jews and baseball.
Accordionist Nikolai Prisacar was born and raised in Moldova, where he worked as a musician and conductor. He moved to North America in 1995, and currently resides in Sacramento, California. He received his Master of Arts degree in Music and Music Education at the National Cultural Education College and the Moldavian National Conservatory, and served as conductor of the National Academic Dance Company Zhok from 1966 to 1985. His recent performing credits include the North End Klezmer Project, California Wind Orchestra, Ciocarlia, Next Village, Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik, and Third Ear. Prisacar serves as a rehearsal accompanist for the Sacramento Ballet.
Bassist Daniel Fabricant has performed with Petula Clark, Joan Rivers, Keely Smith, Connie Francis, Andrea Marcovicci, Mary Wilson, Spencer Day and others. He currently plays with Nice Guy Trio, Los Boleros, Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, and others. He recently completed his education degree at San Francisco State University and teaches private guitar and bass students as well as classroom general music. He is also an in-demand arranger, writing charts for Terese Genecco’s Little Big Band, Shotgun Players Theater Company and Veronica Klaus.
TESLIM (tes-LEEM)
Teslim (Turkish, meaning “commit” and “surrender”) features violinist Kaila Flexer and multi-instrumentalist Gari Hegedus on oud, Turkish saz, Greek lauto and other stringed instruments. The duo performs original songs as well as Sephardic, Greek and Turkish music. As both performers and composers, Flexer and Hegedus’ work reflects their respect for folk music traditions. Teslim released its self-titled debut album in 2008 which was praised by press including the San Jose Mercury News who declared it “an enthralling body of music; a singular CD by an utterly original pair of players.” The duo performs in classical, early music and folk music venues and holds workshops on a variety of topics.
Kaila Flexer is a violinist, composer and music educator. Flexer founded and produced Klezmer Mania!, a much-loved annual Bay Area musical Hanukah celebration for over 10 years (1989-2002). She has been at the helm of bands such as Third Ear, Next Village and Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik, ensembles that feature her original material. As a composer, her work reflects her deep respect for folk music as well as her ability to forge new musical landscapes fertilized by traditional music. She has performed both nationally internationally with her own ensembles as well as with groups including The Hollis Taylor-Kaila Flexer Duo, The Flexer-Marshall Duo, Club Foot Orchestra and KITKA Women’s Vocal Ensemble. In addition to the Teslim’s 2008 self-released recording, Kaila has recorded two CD’s of original music for Compass Records (Nashville) to critical acclaim.
Gari Hegedus plays violin and viola and variety of stringed instruments from Greece and Turkey including lauoto, oud, saz and hand drums. In addition to playing in the duo Teslim with violinist Kaila Flexer, he performs with world music group Stellamara and Persian vocalist Hamed Nikpay. He has studied with oud master Naseer Shamma and has recorded and performed with Ross Daly. He has toured with the Mevlevi Dervish (Sufi) Order of America and continues to participate in Turkish ceremonial and devotional gatherings around the country as well as playing with Black Olive Babes and The Helladelics.