eNewsletter
September 2007
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Greetings!

We're pleased to present you with CTMD's Global Beat of the Boroughs eNewsletter featuring news from New York's traditional music scene, artist profiles and information on CTMD-related events. Each month we'll provide information on events around town and highlight the people working to preserve the rich cultural heritage of New York's immigrant communities.

Master Artist Profile & New York World Festival September 16
 
Amalia Papastefanou Live at New York World Festival

CTMD, World Music Institute and Central Park SummerStage are pleased to present the upcoming New York World Festival: Music Around the Mediterranean on Sunday, September 16th from 1:30PM-7:00PM at Central Park's SummerStage. The New York World Festival brings top international performing artists together with New York-based artists for a meeting of cultures from around the Mediterranean.

This spectacular event will showcase the rich traditions of Morocco, Greece and Spain with an extraordinary line-up of artists: Hassan Hakmoun, the premier exponent of Moroccan Gnawa music in America performing ecstatic music and dance from Gnawa trance ceremonies; Orchestra of Tangier, a leading Moroccan ensemble specializing in Andalusian music; legendary Greek island singer Amalia Papastefanou with master clarinetist Lefteris Bournias; Pontic lyra player Christos Tiktapanidis; and the masked Dimonis d'Albopas from the Balearic Islands of Spain, who will open the concert portion of the show with a festive and colorful parade of masked "demons," drummers and bagpipers.

The day begins with Special Workshops in Gnawan devotional music (by Hassan Hakmoun) and Greek Island Dance (led by Demetri Tashie along with Anastasia Tsantes, Nikos Mavromihalis and Vaya Alayianis from the Greek American Folklore Society). Central Park SummerStage is at the Rumsey Playfield, mid-park at 69th Street. Suggested donation is $10.

The Schedule for the Festival is as follows:
1:30- 2:10 Gnawa Devotional Music Workshop with Hassan Hakmoun
2:15- 2:55 Greek Dance Workshop
2:00- 3:00 Procession with Dimonis d'Albopas
3:00-3:15 Concert: Dimonis d'Albopas
3:30-4:15 Concert: Orchestra of Tangier
4:30-4:45 Concert: Christos Tiktapanidis
4:45-5:30 Concert: Amalia Papastefanou
5:45-6:45 Concert: Hassan Hakmoun

Our Master Artist Profile for this month is of Amalia Papastefanou, a Greek Island singer whose recordings and radio performances in Greece have been hugely influential since they were released in the 1960s. We are pleased and honored that this distinguished artist will be performing at the New York World Festival, which will coincide with the release of her first new recording in forty-five years. To learn more about Amalia, please click on the link below for an article by CTMD's Eileen Condon, Ph.D.:


Upcoming Events
 
We hope to see you at some of these exciting presentations:

Saturday, September 15: CTMD Touring Artists McCollough Sons of Thunder perform shout gospel with their brass band ensemble as part of the One World Arts and Culture Festival, Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill, NY. For more information see the Paramount Center for the Arts website. (12noon-6:00PM)

Sunday, September 16: New York World Festival — Music around the Mediterranean A collaboration with World Music Institute and Central Park SummerStage featuring Moroccan Gnawa singer Hassan Hakmoun, Orchestra of Tangier, legendary Greek island singer Amalia Papastefanou, Greek clarinetist Lefteris Bournias, Pontic Greek lyra player Chris Tiktapanidis and Dimonis d'Albopas from the Balearic Islands of Spain. Central Park SummerStage (1:30-7:00PM)

Thursday, September 20: CTMD Touring Artists Retumba present Afro-Caribbean music and dance at University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire. For more information see University website

Friday, September 21: Mariachi Workshop/Lecture/Demonstration with members of Sol De Mexico and Real de Mexico. Bring your instrument! At Hunter College Lang Auditorium (695 Park Ave., 4th floor, North at 68th and Lexington). Free admission. (6PM)

Saturday, September 22: Mariachi Festival at Town Hall (123 w 43rd St. between Broadway and 6th Ave.) featuring Jose Hernandez and Mariachi Sol de Mexico with special guests Mariachi Real de Mexico, Mariachi Oro de Mexico, Mariachi Instrumental de Mexico, Raices de Mexico dance group and students of the Mariachi Academy of New York. Tickets available through Ticketmaster. For more information go to the Festival website (8PM)

Saturday, September 22: CTMD Touring Artists La Cumbiamba eNeYe perform in the Latin Fiesta Hispanic Music Festival at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Auditorium in Philadelphia for more information go to the Festival website(performances at 2:30pm and 7:30pm).

Wednesday, September 26th: Opening reception for the photographic exhibition Voices and Images from Bulgaria 1966. An exhibit of historic photographs taken by CTMD co-founder Martin Koenig that was recently shown in Sofia, Bulgaria. Presented by CTMD in collaboration with the Consul General of the Republic of Bulgaria. At the Bulgarian Consulate General, 121 E 62nd St. (between Lexington and Park Ave.). (5:00PM to 8:00PM)

Friday, September 28: Special Concert to launch the fourth year of Pachamama Peruvian Arts featuring demonstrations of Peru's performing arts by master teachers at PS 212, 34-25 82nd Street, Jackson Heights, Queens (7:00-10:00PM)

Saturday, September 29: Vechornytsi (Ukrainian village social dance), a program of CTMD's new Ukrainian Wave Community Cultural Initiative. Join dance leader Tamara Chernyakhovska in learning Ukrainian folk dances. Music by Andriy Milavsky and Cheres at Ukrainian East Village Restaurant, 140 Second Ave. between 8th and 9th Streets in Manhattan. (Instruction 7:30-8:15PM; Dance party 8:30-11:00PM).

Sunday, September 30: Yiddish Dance Classes begin in collaboration with the 92nd Street Y. Eight, three-hour intensive sessions will be taught by Walter Zev Feldman and other master dance leaders on the following Sundays: September 30, October 21, November 18, January 20, February 17, March 30, April 27, and June 1. For more information and registration see the 92nd St. Y website.

Friday, October 7: Pachamama Peruvian Arts fall semester of classes in a variety of music and dance forms begin weekly at PS 212 (3:30-6:30PM)

Thursday, October 11: First monthly Tantshoyz (Dance House) in collaboration with the JCC in Manhattan & Workmen's Circle. Yiddish dance led by Zev Feldman with live klezmer music. Dancers of all skill levels welcome. At the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street (7:00-10:00PM)

Saturday, October 13: CTMD Touring Artists EastRiver Ensemble perform at the University of Albany Performing Arts Center, Albany NY. For more information see the University website (8:00pm).

Friday, October 19: CTMD Ukrainian Wave presents a Canadian-Ukrainian Prairie Band Music Concert featuring tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) player/ethnomusicologist Brian Cherwick at the Ukrainian Museum (222 E 6th St between 2nd and 3rd Ave) (7:30PM).

Saturday, October 20: CTMD Ukrainian Wave presents a special Vechornytsi (Ukrainian Village Social Dance) featuring Canadian-Ukrainian Prairie music from Alberta. Led by tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) player/ethnomusicologist Brian Cherwick and folk dance scholar/dance master Andriy Nahachewsky. Ukrainian East Village Restaurant, 140 Second Ave. between 8th and 9th Streets in Manhattan. (Instruction 7:30-8:15PM; Dance party 8:30-11:00PM).

Monday, October 22: CTMD Ukrainian Wave presents a lecture/presentation on Canadian-Ukrainian prairie music hosted by the Columbia University Ukrainian Studies Program (noon).

Thursday, November 1: Second monthly Tantshoyz (Dance House) in collaboration with the JCC in Manhattan & Workmen's Circle. Yiddish dance led by Zev Feldman with live klezmer music. Dancers of all skill levels welcome. At the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street (7:00-10:00PM)

Friday, November 9: CTMD Ukrainian Wave presents an Armistice Day Concert featuring Ukranian songs and poetry reflecting on the First World War at the Ukrainian Museum (222 E 6th St between 2nd and 3rd Ave) (7:30PM).

Friday, November 9: CTMD Touring Artists Vodou Drums of Haiti perform at Bergen Community College's Anna Maria Ciccone Theater in Paramus, NJ. For more information see the College website (7:30pm)

Wednesday, November 14: CTMD Touring Artists Thunderbird Dancers at the Hostos Center for Arts and Culture in the Bronx. For more information see the Hostos Center website

Thursday, December 6: Third monthly Tantshoyz (Dance House) in collaboration with the JCC in Manhattan & Workmen's Circle. Yiddish dance led by Zev Feldman with live klezmer music. Dancers of all skill levels welcome. At the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street (7:00-10:00PM)

Sunday, December 9: Yiddish Dance Research Symposium A day-long session at New York University featuring leading researchers and practitioners of traditional Yiddish dance along with scholars of Yiddish culture and related dance genres. In the evening prior to the event, a participatory dance workshop will take place featuring leading dance teachers and a live klezmer band.


New CTMD Yiddish Dance Classes at the 92St Y
 
Workshops led by Walter Zev Feldman

CTMD announces a new partnership with Manhattan's 92 St Y to offer a series of Yiddish dance classes beginning in September led by Walter Zev Feldman. Building on our hugely successful monthly Tantshoyz (dance house) series at the JCC in Manhattan, the 92 St. Y classes will provide intermediate and advanced dancers with a more in-depth opportunity to explore classic Yiddish dances such as the sher, hora, freylekhs and bulgar. Special focus will also be given to the expressive power and gestures of solo dance. Classes will feature live klezmer music performed by Jake Shulman-Ment on violin and Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl (hammered dulcimer).

Eight, three-hour sessions will be held from 2pm-5pm on the following Sundays: September 30, October 21, November 18, January 20, February 17, March 30, April 27, and June 1. To register or for more information, go to the 92nd St. Y website or call Pete Rushefsky at 212-571-1555 ext. 36 or email [email protected].


Martin Koenig: Voices and Images from Bulgaria 1966
 
Photo Exhibition at the Bulgarian Consulate

Forty-one years ago, CTMD co-founder Martin Koenig, then in his mid-20s, went to Bulgaria with a letter from anthropologist Margaret Mead introducing him as an instructor of folk dance at Columbia University/Barnard College and someone interested in observing and documenting Bulgarian traditions. Martin worked in villages throughout the country filming and recording different aspects of the traditional culture.

CTMD is pleased to partner with the Bulgarian Consultate General to present an exhibition of beautiful photographs resulting from Martin's travels. Entitled Voices and Images from Bulgaria 1966, the exhibit was presented in Sofia by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture earlier this year. The show is about the fortuitous capturing of a moment in time at the end of Balkan traditional society - the transition to a modern society was just beginning, and he captured what no one realized at the time would be the final moments of that millenia- old society and way of life.

All are invited to an opening reception on Wednesday, September 26th at the Bulgarian Consulate, 121 East 62nd St. (between Lexington and Park Avenues). The exhibition will continue to be shown by appointment at the Consulate through October 17.


Pachamama Open House September 28
 
Free Concert and Start of Classes

CTMD's Pachamama Peruvian Arts program is thrilled to offer free classes of traditional Peruvian music and dance at PS 212 in Jackson Heights, Queens. On Friday, September 28th from 7:30-10pm we are pleased hold our fifth Open House at PS 212 where we cordially invite families to enjoy live music and dance and all new and returning students to register for weekly classes. This wonderful event will feature our Master Instructors demonstrating the artistic forms we offer, including: Luz Pereira, marinera Lime�a and resbaloza; Hector Morales, caj�n; Rosa Carhuallanqui, marinera norte�a and Carapachos; Peter Apaza, marinera Pune�a and pandilla and Patricio Paucar, Andean music.

Classes are open to children ages 7-14, from all backgrounds and any neighborhood. Children can meet with our instructors and apply for the class they are most interested in. This event is free and open to families with interested children.

Pachamama's classes will begin on Friday, October 5, 2007, from 3:30-6:30pm at PS 212, Jackson Heights, New York. Fall classes include: caj�n (Afro-Peruvian box drum), marinera Lime�a (a flirtatious couples' dance from Lima) and marinera norte�a (a similar couples dance with faster footwork), and Andean music (including panpipes, flutes and Andean guitar). These classes will continue to meet on Fridays until February 1, 2008, when Pachamama students will offer their first presentation.

Spring classes begin February 8, 2008 and will include: Advanced Andean music and caj�n, marinera Pune�a and pandilla (the elegant marinera from southern Peru) and carapachos (a ritual dance from the Amazon). The Pachamama program will conclude with a major student presentation on June 20, 2008.

Last year's Pachamama Peruvian Arts students played to full houses at PS 212, as well as at the Queens Theater in the Park and appeared regularly on Channel 57, Queens.


Ukrainian Vechornytsi Saturday September 29
 
Presented by CTMD's Ukrainian Wave

CTMD's new Ukrainian Wave Community Cultural Initiative is pleased to present its second season of monthly Vechornytsi (Ukrainian village social dances) at the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant (140 Second Ave. between 8th & 9th). The next Vechornytsi takes place on Saturday, September 29. Instruction in Ukrainian social dances begins at 7:30PM until 8:15PM followed by a dance party from 8:30-11PM. Tamara Chernyakhovska is our fabulous dance instructor. Dancers of all ages (including kids) and skill levels are welcome. CTMD Touring Artists Andriy Milavsky and the Cheres Ensemble provide the music. And if you liked the restaurant's varenyky (dumplings), try the kasha varnishkas (buckwheat groats with bowtie noodles)!

And stay tuned... In October, CTMD's Ukrainian Wave will be presenting a series of events with western Canadian-Ukrainian prairie polka music and dancing, with special guests from Edmonton, Alberta: tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) player and scholar Brian Cherwick, and Canadian- Ukrainian folk dance scholar/dance master Andriy Nahachewsky.

The brand new CTMD Ukrainian Wave is led by co-Artistic Directors Andriy Milavsky and Julian Kytasty and we're still looking for volunteers interested in helping with programs!


Mariachi Festival Saturday September 22nd
 
Presented by the Mariachi Academy of New York

We're proud to announce that the Mariachi Academy of New York, which was founded by CTMD through its Mexican Community Cultural Initiative in 2002, is presenting New York's first Mariachi Festival in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute. A special concert at Town Hall (123 W 43rd St. between Broadway and 6th Ave.) at 8PM on Saturday, September 22nd will feature the legendary mariachi ensemble Sol de Mexico�, directed by the "King of Mariachi" Jos� Hernandez in the New York debut of �Mariachi! The Passion of Mexico which presents a history of the Mexican mariachi tradition from its roots in rural Jalisco to its transformation as the music of the Mexican Revolution and finally as the national music of Mexico.

This original presentation will be augmented by at least 20 mariachi musicians from three New York-based groups: Mariachi Real de Mexico, Mariachi Oro de Mexico, and Mariachi Instrumental de Mexico along with Raices de Mexico ballet folklorico dance group and a special guest appearance by students of the Mariachi Academy of New York , the first mariachi school on the east coast. All proceeds from the concert will go to support the East Harlem-based Mariachi Academy of New York, which offers free classes to youth ages 8-17. Tickets for the concert are $35/$45/$55/$65 and are available through Ticketmaster.

Additionally, in a special workshop at 6PM on Friday September 21st at Hunter College's Lang Auditorium (695 Park Avenue, 4th floor, North at 68th and Lexington), Members of Sol de Mexico� and Real de Mexico will demonstrate and discuss mariachi style, instrumentation, repertoire, offering insights into the world of the Mariachi in the U.S. and Mexico. Bring your instrument!! Admission is free to the workshop, which is sponsored by the Graduate Program in Ethnomusicology at Hunter College.

For more information on these events, visit the Mariachi Festival website or send an email to [email protected].


Other Happenings...
 

Alcatraz, an innovative ensemble that combines Afro- Peruvian rhythms and jazz is holding a CD release party at Rose, 345 Grand St. in Brooklyn on Saturday, September 15th from 9PM to 11PM. Alcatraz features Pachamama Peruvian Arts instructors and master percussionists Marcos Napa and Hector Morales. Admission free, for more information visit the Alcatraz website or the Rose website.

On Monday, September 17 at 6PM, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College, CUNY presents a symposium entitled "Folk Music and Modernity in Southern Italy." This seminar, with accompanying music and video, explores the social changes occurring in contemporary Naples and southern Italy as presented in the theatrical performance of "A Global Dionysus in Napoli: The (Un) real story of Marcello Colasurdo" at Manhattan's La Mama Experimental Theatre (September 21st-23rd and 28th-30th). Some of the issues to be discussed as part of the symposium are: the musical biography of artist Marcello Colasurdo; the creation and background of the performance "A Global Dionysus in Napoli"; the uses and changing meanings of Southern Italian folk music, in particular tammuriata; folk music as cultural resistance and a form of collective memory; the adaptation of social and political materials to dramatic performances, among other topics. This event is free and open to the public and will be held at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute 25 W. 43rd St., 17th floor (between 5th & 6th Avenues). For more information visit the Calandra Institute website.



Founded in 1968, the Center for Traditional Music and Dance is one of the nation's premier arts organizations dedicated to preserving and presenting the performing arts traditions of New York's ethnic and immigrant communities through research-based educational programming, public performance and community partnerships. For more information visit us at www.ctmd.org

With kind regards,


Pete Rushefsky, Executive Director
Center for Traditional Music and Dance

Phone: 212-571-1555
Fax: 212-571-9052
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