Performers' Index A
A Machayeh
Dutch klezmer band. Website in Dutch. Includes information on the Dutch Sephardic Jews, contact info, repertoire of the band, and brief histories. The band also does general Balkan music.
http://www.amchayeh.com/Startpagina_Nederlands.htm
Bonnie Abrams & Allen Hopkins
Bonnie Abrams and Allen Hopkins perform acoustic folk music. Bonnie writes and sings new songs. A CD called A Sudenyu of Yiddish offers traditional and contemporary folk and theater songs in Yiddish.
http://dynrec.com/bonnieabrams/
Adama
Music group based in the Bay area, California, with Achi Ben Shalom - Group's leader. Singer, guitarist, arranger, and the leader of the band; Jan Padover - World class middle eastern multi-percussionist;
Michael Gill - Keyboard player doubling on clarinet;
Jeremy Cohen - Bass guitarist; Daniel Hoffman - Popular bay area violinist and recording artist. Styles include Klezmer, Ladino, Israeli, Yiddish, Hassidic, and contemporary American-Jewish songs.
www.achibenshalom.com
Bruce M. Adler
Website promoting the compositions and cassettes of Bruce and Donna Adler. Jewish music that searches for spirituality done in a folk/bluegrass style. The Adlers are Reconstructionist and Reform rabbis.
http://w3.one.net/~bruad/index.html
Adonai and I
David Gould has released "Adonai and I". A dub remix of the CD is coming out in November on
Tzadik Records as "Adonai in Dub"- "Adonai and I" performs "spirit-infused roots reggae interpretations of traditional hebrew prayers, psalms, and melodies." David Gould started the band, which currently is made up of: Craig Akira Fujita- vocals, percussion (Pressure Cooker, Joint Chiefs); Lisa Beth Gould- vocals, percussion ;David “Solid” Gould- bass (formerly of John Brown’s Body); Bill Carbone- drums (Miracle Orchestra, Mang Dub); Paul Walstencroft- organ, keys (Jiggle the Handle, Knockout);John Trama- guitar (Moonboot Lover, Rockett Band); Marc Berney- trumpet (Skatalites, Klezmer Conservatory Band);
Jared Simms- tenor sax, flute (Miracle Orchestra);
Brian Thomas- trombone (Pocket, Nozmo King);
Dave Szabita- trumpet, flugelhorn (Nozmo King);
Joshua Driscoll- sound engineer, live dubbing mastery
(former JBB sound engineer). A CD available at: http://www.itownrecords.com.
Daniel Akiva
Daniel Akiva, guitarist, appears as soloist, in Classical Trio (oboe, cello and guitar) and in ensembles presenting music inspired by the Judeo-Spanish tradition, with the Ladino language; a synthesis of Spanish and older Hebrew. Daniel Akiva’s repertoire includes works from the Renaissance to the 20th century. Special emphasis is placed in his programs on original music written by him or for him by Israeli composers.
http://www.monica-fallon.com/artists/daniel_akiva.htm
Aaron Alexander & Midrash Mish Mosh
Drummer and Composer Aaron Alexander is a New York City based since 1993 klezmer and jazz drummer, composer, bandleader and teacher. His band is "Midrash Mish Mosh." Hailing originally from Seattle, Alexander is one of the "premier drummers in New York City, a first-call musician on the feverishly creative downtown scene." He has performances and/or recordings with Hasidic New Wave, Babkas, The Klezmatics, Greg Wall's Later Prophets, Alicia Svigals, Satoko Fujii Orchestra, Tronzo Trio, Jay Clayton, Margot Leverett, The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Boban Markovich Orchestra and Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars.
www.aaronalexander.com
The Alexandria Kleztet
The website of this klezmer group contains bios, concert calendar, photos and links to related sites.
The group's leader Seth Kibel (clarinet) and Scott Harlan (bass) both provide original compositions for the group in jazz-fusion and surf music (among other influences) to create an "alternate klezmer" sound. the others rounding out the quartet are Claire Cardon (violin) and Tim Jarvis (percussion)
http://www.kleztet.com/
Amsterdams Synagogaal
Koor (ASK)
Amsterdam Synagogue Choir in Rav Aron Schuster synagogue of Amsterdam, Netherlands, under the direction of Ilia Belianko. Ilia Belianko joined the ASK as chief conductor in September 2004. The choir was founded in 1985, and today consists of sixteen voices. The website includes a history of the organization and selected excerpts of music with information about obtaining sound recordings. Formerly under the direction of Barry Mehler in the Portuguese Esnoga (Synagogue) in Amsterdam.
http://www.ask-choir.org/
Zohar Argov
Features information about this Mizrachi and other singers. There is a picture gallery of several other performers.
http://www.speedy.co.il/zohar/
Amit Arieli
Amit Arieli is a clarinet player born in Israel, and living in Italy. Amit is a "clarinetist with
a classical formation, for many years seriously
engaged with research and performance of Jewish
music - ashkenazy, sephardic, Italian and Israeli." The website is in Italian. There is a video and list of works.
http://www.europamusica-firenze.it/curriculumarieli
Sarah Aroeste
American born. Sings in Ladino, music orginally from Spain, and her family later settling in Salonika, Greece. The Aroeste sound combines and updates aspects from her 'unique family background with influx of Latin-based music in America over the past few years.' Sarah wrote: "I have a Ladino fusion band--you can check it out at www.saraharoeste.com
I began this project because there are so few young people working in Ladino. I grew up on the traditional music (my family is from Salonika, Greece), but I am also influenced by other musicial styles. Not only am I a proud Sephardic Jew, but I am also a young, modern American woman! I wanted to find a musical style that could really incorporate my various identities. So I started a band a few years ago taking traditional sephardic songs from
across the Mediterranean and combining them with American rock, blues and jazz. I have a 5-piece band, based in NY, and we've been traveling all over the country the past year sharing our interpretation of this exotic body of music. We just released our debut album, A la Una: In the Beginning , and invite you to check it out and listen to sound clips at www.saraharoeste.com
Arbel: Philadelphia Young Adult Jewish Choir
Arbel is an acronym for Ohavei Rinah Bo-u Lashir. It is the website of the Jewish Choir in Philadelphia which provides information on concerts and connections to other Jewish choirs around the country.
http://home2.icdc.com/~arbel/
Asefa
Samuel Thomas saxes, clarinet, percussion, and composition; Shanir Blumenkranz, bass, oud;
Eric Platz percussion. "An Asefa performance displays the diverse traditional and contemporary styles of music from around the Jewish diaspora." The band plays a combination of original tunes and well known Jewish melodies.
http://jatm.org/ASEFA/index.html
Atzilut
This group is known in Europe as the "Middle East Peace Orchestra". The ten-member ensemble features Arab and Jewish musicians in concert making a powerful statement for peace thru working together. Atzilut has three CDs: Fourth World, Souls on Fire: Music for the Kabbalah, and
Concertsforpeace.com. The latter is a balanced program of Arabic and Jewish music. Available on CDbaby. Music director: Hazzan Jack Kessler.
www.concertsforpeace.com
Azamra
Spiritual Jewish music from Yehuda Glantz, Chaim David Saracik, Yehuda Katz & Reva Le-Sheva and Yitzhak Attias.
http://www.azamra.org/HTML/song.htm
Isaac Azose, Cantor
Cantor Isaac Azose, retired from Congregation Ezra Besaroth in Seattle has produced a CD called "The Liturgy of Ezra Bessaroth". Many of the prayers are sung in Ladino. The CD features Sephardic liturgy of the Sabbath, Festivals as well as daily prayers.
http://www.ezrabessaroth.org/pages/hazzan.html