Boston Jewish Music Festival to feature Portsmouth and Nashua concerts

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The Fourth Annual Boston Jewish Music Festival (BJMF) takes place March 1-10 in locations throughout the greater Boston area, and this year expands venues to include concerts in Portsmouth and Nashua. The two N.H. concerts are also made possible with support from the New Hampshire Jewish Federation and Greater Seacoast UJA.

On March 3, the Boston Jewish Music Festival will hold a concert in Portsmouth, at 2:30 p.m. at Temple Israel, 200 State St. The concert features the internationally-famous Lerner Moguilevsky Duo from Buenos Aires, Argentina. César Lerner and Marcelo Moguilevsky, festival artists-in-residence this year, use klezmer music as a springboard for improvisation, mixing Argentinian folk, jazz, contemporary music and tango in a seamless blend that redefines the genre. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $15 for students, available through the BJMF web site. (The duo will also be performing in Newburyport, Mass. on Feb. 28, and in Somerville, Mass. at the Somerville Theater on March 2).

The Nashua concert, Saturday, March 9 at 8 p.m. at Temple Beth Abraham, 4 Raymond St., features the award-winning Guy Mendilow Ensemble presenting Tales From The Forgotten Kingdom, new interpretations and arrangements of Ladino folk songs. Led by Guy, an Israeli citizen who has also lived in South Africa, the group features Irish, Japanese, Israeli, and Palestinian musicians whose very diversity adds great richness to the music and the concert-going experience. The program illuminates the music, legends and lives of Sephardic Jews from ancient Spain through Sarajevo, Salonica and Jerusalem, sung in the endangered Judeo-Spanish language, Ladino. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door available at the BJMF web site, www.bostonjewishmusicfestival.org, or by calling the ticket hotline at 1-800-838-3006.

In addition to these artists, this year’s Boston Jewish Music Festival features some Boston firsts and an American premiere in its eclectic and wide-ranging concert series, including:

– Mazal, a duo from France, is making their American debut at the festival. Mazal performs traditional and original Sephardic-Jewish songs with electronic sampling and dance beats, creating a unique, contemporary danceable experience. They perform at Johnny D’s Restaurant Lounge in Somerville on March 7. Also on the bill are opening act, Stereo Sinai, an Chicago-based duo, who perform electronic dance music using Hebrew text.

– Daniel Kahn The Painted Bird. Born in Detroit, a student of theater and poetry as well as music, and now living in Berlin, Daniel Kahn has been an integral part of the international Yiddish and klezmer scene. The Painted Bird concocts a mixture of Klezmer, radical Yiddish song, political cabaret and punk folk, kept together by Kahn’s amazing abilities as a songwriter, translator and performer; telling stories of outrageous incidents, poetically dark, tragically humorous and politically incorrect.

– Itzhak Perlman Cantor Yitzchak Helfgot: Eternal Echoes: Songs and Dances for the Soul. The world renowned violinist teams with one of the world’s greatest cantors for an acclaimed concert blending sacred and secular, classical and popular, with guest artists the Klezmer Conservatory Band and a chamber orchestra, at Symphony Hall on March 3rd. Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, the BJMF has partnered with this major local series; limited numbers of tickets are available through the music festival’s site. Afterwards, the BJMF is sponsoring a reception (additional tickets required) at Symphony Hall where attendees can meet the artists and toast the fourth festival year.

– Mika Karni’s Kol Dodi. One of Israel’s all-time favorite female artists, Mika Karni has assembled a unqiue musical ensemble of Israeli, Moroccan, Yemenite, and Ethiopian musicians and singers in a program based on the Biblical Song Of Songs reinterpreted for today. They appear Saturday evening, March 9th, at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill.

– Fathers Sons — This concert, held Sunday afternoon March 10 at Northeastern University’s Fenway Center, features the work of two generations of two noted musical/composer families: Lazar Weiner and his son, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner, and Cantor Hugo Adler and his son, Samuel, recipient of the Aaron Copland Award for lifetime achievement in music. Choral works and chamber music from the four are performed by the Zamir Chorale of Boston and Hebrew College’s Kol Arev. Both Yehudi Wyner and Sam Adler will be on hand for a discussion about the music.

– New Harmony: Two multi-ethnic ensembles. The Guy Mendilow Ensemble performs Tales from the Forgotten Kingdom, new interpretations and arrangements of Ladino folk songs. Led by Guy, an Israeli citizen who lives in the Boston area, the group features Irish, Japanese, Israeli, and Palestinian musicians whose very diversity adds great richness to the music and the concert-going experience. The Ensemble will also be appearing at Temple Beth Abraham in Nashua, on Saturday night, March 9 at 8 p.m.

The Epichorus, featuring Zach Fredman, a New York rabbinical student, and Alsara, a Sudanese Muslim singer, is a multi-ethnic band performing Hebrew and African love songs “to create music that transcends the boundaries of culture or religion.” Their story and sound is nothing less than magical and has been featured in the Huffington Post and Tablet Magazine.

– Josh Nelson’s Warehouse Shabbat. A Friday night multi-media musical service infused with rock music, video, spirit, spirits, snacks and schmoozing. A former Boston area resident, Josh Nelson is a rising star who has concocted an innovative, uniquely spiritual and social approach for young adults to welcome Shabbat. Held at Oberon in Harvard Square, Friday, March 1, reservations required.

Other events include: Famed guitar virtuoso Tim Sparks and BJMF discovery Noah Lubin (who has opened for Matisyahu in Israel before moving to Boston) at Passim’s in Harvard Square (March 5); singer-songwriter Dan Nichols in an Unplugged concert at Temple Sinai, Sharon (March 3); a family concert by Ellen Allard at the Newton JCC (March 10); and eight Friday night musical services, Kabbalat Shabbat Across the Region, held throughout the area on March 1 and 8. Several workshop/events are also being held that the public is invited to attend, and some artists are holding master classes at local colleges and schools. (See www.bostonjewishmusicfestival.org for details.)

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