eNewsletter
October 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 & Sounds of the Prairies Oct 16-22
 
Brian Cherwick and Andriy Nahachewsky present Canadian-Ukrainian Prairie Music
Soungs of the Prairies

CTMD's Ukrainian Wave Community Cultural Initiative is pleased to partner with the New York Bandura Society to present "Sounds of the Prairies: Music and Dance of the Ukrainian Settlers of Western Canada."

The program explores the unique music and dance traditions which evolved when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians settled the prairies and parklands of the Western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta through a number of waves of immigration that began at the turn of the 20th century. A series of concerts, workshops and lectures will feature special guests from Edmonton, Alberta: Brian Cherwick, a tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) player and ethnomusicologist, and Andriy Nahachewsky, a folklorist/dance ethnographer who serves as Director of the University of Alberta's Ukrainian Folklore Centre.

See the CTMD calendar below for a full schedule of Sounds of the Prairies events. For a profile of this month's Master Artist Brian Cherwick, please click the below link:


CTMD Calendar
 
We hope to see you at some of these exciting presentations:
EastRiver Ensemble

Tuesday, October 16th - Thursday, October 18: Sounds of the Prairies - CTMD Ukrainian Wave presents Prairie Dance Music Workshops with tsymbalist (hammered dulcimer player) and scholar Brian Cherwick. Bring your instrument! Workshop held in the evening at the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant (140 Second Ave. between 8th and 9th Streets, Manhattan). Call 212-571-1555 ext. 35 for times and to register.

Friday, October 19: Sounds of the Prairies - CTMD Ukrainian Wave and the New York Bandura Ensemble present a Canadian-Ukrainian Prairie Music Concert featuring tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) player/ethnomusicologist Brian Cherwick at the Ukrainian Museum (222 E 6th St between 2nd and 3rd Ave). Held in conjunction with the Ukrainian Museum's exhibit "Thread to the Past: Folk Art from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair." Tickets are $15 (member/student/senior discounts available). (7:30PM).

Saturday, October 20: Sounds of the Prairies - 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. Admission $10 for adults, $5 for kids. (Instruction 7:30-8:15PM; Dance party 8:30-11:00PM).

Sunday, October 21: Yiddish Dance Classes begin in collaboration with the 92nd Street Y. Seven, three-hour intensive sessions will be taught by Walter Zev Feldman and other master dance leaders on the following Sundays from 2:00-5:00PM: October 21, November 18, January 20, February 17, March 30, April 27, and June 1. For more information and registration call the 92 St. Y's Harkness Dance Center at 212-415-5552, or call Pete Rushefsky at 212-571-1555 ext. 36.

Monday, October 22: Sounds of the Prairies - CTMD Ukrainian Wave presents a lecture/presentation on Canadian-Ukrainian prairie music hosted by the Columbia University Ukrainian Studies Program. Room 1219, Harriman Institute/Columbia University, 420 W 118th St. - 12th Floor MC 3345. Admission free. (noon - 2:00PM).

Thursday, November 1: Tantshoyz (Dance House) in collaboration with the JCC in Manhattan & Workmen's Circle. Yiddish dance led by Walter 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, November 4th CTMD Touring Artists Ballet Fiesta Mexicana perform at the Newark Museum. For more information go to the museum's website. (4:00PM)

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

Saturday, December 1: CTMD Touring Artists Shashmaqam, featuring NEA National Heritage Fellow Fatima Kuinova perform Central Asian music for World Music Institute's National Heritage Masters series in a show that also features oudist/violinist Simon Shaheen, nay player Nadeem Dlaikan and oudist Richard Hagopian. At NYU's Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Pl. at Washinton Square South. Tickets $32. (8:00PM)

Thursday, December 6: 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: Defining Yiddish Dance: Sacred, Secular, Borrowed and Transformed. The first ever Yiddish Dance Research Symposium will present 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. Symposium is chaired by Michael Alpert and Walter Zev Feldman, Ph.D. and will be moderated by NYU Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt- Gimblett. In the evening prior to the event, a participatory dance workshop will take place featuring leading dance teachers and a live klezmer band.


Yiddish Dance in NYC
 
Upcoming Dances, Classes and a Symposium!

There's still an opportunity to enroll in our new Yiddish Dance Class at the 92St. Y. Led by Walter Zev Feldman, 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). Seven, three-hour sessions will be held from 2pm-5pm on the following Sundays: October 21, November 18, January 20, February 17, March 30, April 27, and June 1. Price for the series is $250. To register or for more information, contact the 92St. Y's Harkness Dance Center at (212) 415-5552, or Pete Rushefsky at 212-571-1555, ext. 36.

Through our partnership with the JCC in Manhattan and the Workmen's Circle, CTMD is pleased to present a new season of its popular Tantshoyz (Dance House) series. The next Tantshayzer will be on Thursdays November 1 and December 6 at the JCC in Manhattan, Amsterdam at 76th St. from 7:00-10:00PM. Cost is $10.

Finally, the first-ever Yiddish Dance Research Symposium, entitled "Defining Yiddish Dance: Sacred, Secular, Borrowed and Transformed," is scheduled for Sunday, December 9th at New York University's Bronfman Center. The symposium will be a first-ever gathering in an academic setting of leading researchers and practitioners of traditional Yiddish dance along with scholars of Yiddish culture and related dance genres. Symposium is chaired by Michael Alpert and Walter Zev Feldman, Ph.D. and will be moderated by NYU Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt- Gimblett. In the evening prior to the event, a participatory dance workshop will take place featuring leading dance teachers and a live klezmer band.


Introducing Tema Fishbein
 
New CTMD Development Director

We're pleased to announce that Tema Fishbein has joined CTMD as our new Development Director. Tema was formerly Assistant Professor in the Arts Management Program at American University, and prior to this was Program Director for the New York Arts Recovery Fund, a program of the New York Foundation for the Arts which awarded $5 million in grants to individual artists and arts organizations to assist their recovery from financial harm as a result of 9/11.

Tema served as Associate Institute Director of the Lim�n Dance Foundation and Education Director for the Mark Morris Dance Group. She holds a Masters of Public Affairs in Finance and Management from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a Masters in Dance/Movement Therapy from Hunter College, City University of New York. For 15 years she maintained a private Psychotherapy and Dance/Movement Therapy practice. Welcome Tema!


New CTMD Touring Artists: Ologund�
 
Afro-Brazilian music from Salvador, Brazil
Ologund�

CTMD is pleased to welcome Ologund� to its Touring Artist roster. Ologund� celebrates the rich Afro- Brazilian culture of the city of Salvador, in the Brazilian northeastern coastal state of Bahia, through music, dance and martial arts.

Under the direction of noted percussionist Dend�, of the famed Timbalada band, Ologund� explores a diverse repertoire which includes candombl�, a synthesis of Yoruba and Catholic religious performance rituals, the breathtaking capoeira, a martial arts dance which employs acrobatic movements, macul�l�, a warrior dance which utilizes sticks and machetes, and the exhilarating samba de roda, a spontaneous dance which can be traced back to Angola. Ologund� has toured throughout the United States including noteworthy performances at Popejoy Hall at the University of New Mexico and The CityFolk Festival in Ohio. Most notably, Ologund� toured Greece as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2002, appearing at the Kalamata Dance Festival and The Athens Festival at the Acropolis.

For more information about CTMD Touring Artists, all New York-based artists who are available for concerts and workshops around the country, click the following link:


Review of Recent Festivals
 
Heritage Sunday, New York World Festival & Marty's Photo Exhibit

We've had some wonderful events recently... On a very hot August 12, CTMD curated a spectacular Lincoln Center Out of Doors Heritage Sunday in a program that featured CTMD Touring Artists Abdoulaye Diabate and Super Manden performing West African Manden music, Albanian superstar Merita Halili and the Raif Hyseni Orchestra performing traditional Albanian music, and Viento de Agua performing Puerto Rican bomba and plena.

Then, on September 16, CTMD and World Music Institute teamed up to present the New York World Festival: Music Around the Mediterranean at Central Park SummerStage. A beautiful day and beautiful music, dance and pageantry started with a parade by the devilishly fun Dimonis d'Albopas of the Balearic Islands of Spain, complete with bagpipers, and demonic masked drummers. Hassan Hakmoun provided a workshop on Moroccan Gnawa music, and Demetri Tashie and members of the Greek American Folklore Society led participants in Greek Island dance. The concert portion of the day opened up with the magestic Orchestra of Tangier performing a set of Moroccan Andalusian music. Then many of the crowd joined in a large dance circle during consecutive sets by Pontic lyra player Chris Tiktapanidis and Greek Island singer Amalia Papastefanou. Hassan Hakmoun finished the day with a spirited set of Gnawa music.

Finally, on September 26, CTMD and the Bulgarian Consulate presented the opening of Martin Koenig's beautiful photographic exhibition entitled "Voices and Images From Bulgaria 1966." The exhibition, which was presented in Sofia earlier features photographs taken by Martin during several trips through Bulgaria in the 60s and 70s. As the event coincided with the annual U.N. General Assembly, we were honored to be joined by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin, Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorova, and Consul-General Nikolay Milkov.


Other Happenings...
 

On Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 at 7pm the Egyptian Folkloric Dance Troupe performs at Walt Whitman Theater in Brooklyn. For the first time in NY, here is a chance to experience the intoxicating beauty of Egyptian/Arabian culture through the long history of the Raqs Sharqi -- the colorful and exotic folkdances as of Ancient Egypt as passed down through eons of generations. These dances arose from Upper Egypt, Cairo and Alexandria and were an integral part of both ancient religious ceremony as well as secular celebration; these dance forms were danced in local towns and villages where men, women and children all knew the colorful baladi or saiidi dance movements. Tickets: $25.00, kids under 12, $15.00. Tickets can be purchased on-line by clicking here or by phone at 866-386-4849. For more detailed info, call: 347-254-8437, or email [email protected].

On Thursday, October 18 from 8:00-10:00 PM, Columbia University presents an evening of traditional song and dance from the Republic of Georgia featuring the Zedashe Ensemble. The Zedashe Ensemble is based in the medieval fortress city of Sighnaghi, Eastern Georgia, which has been home to the Kiziqian wine growers and warriors since ancient times. Directed by Ketevan Mindorashvili, the current incarnation of this ten-member, mixed-voice ensemble was founded in the mid-1990s to sing repertoire largely lost during the Communist era. Their repertoire consists of ancient three-part chants from the Orthodox Christian liturgy, folk songs from the Kiziqian region as collected from village song-masters and old publications, and folk dances from the region. The concert will take place at Milbank Chapel, Columbia University's Teachers College (120th St. and Broadway). Admission free.

Raices Latin Music Museum presents Salsa Sunday, celebrating Afro-Caribbean music and dance on Sunday October 28, from 1:00PM to 7:00PM, at the Heckscher Building, 1 East 104th St. at 5th Ave. Admission is $7. For more information go to the Raices/Harb or Conservatory web site.

Throughout their 2007-2008 season World Music Institute will be featuring concerts by a number of past recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship Award . From Appalachian to Central Asian traditions, experience the music of master musicians who have been awarded the federal government's highest award for achievement in folk arts. For more information, go to the WMI 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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