In September, CTMD and World Music Institute presented the fourth New York World Festival, this time featuring Music Around the Black Sea through a magical four-part series of programs.

 Some festival highlights included:

• The North American debuts of two major ensembles from overseas - Ukraine's Tecsoi Banda and Romania's Mahala Rai Banda
• An unprecedented concert of solo and duet performances of stringed instruments from the Black Sea region at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 
• A multi-media lecture by musician/ethnographer Bob Cohen, who has researched the lost musical traditions of Romania for over two decades
• Performances by two of the great reed players of Thrace - saxophonist Yuri Yunakov and clarinetist Selim Sessler 
• The series finale - the Black Sea Roma Festival - at Central Park SummerStage drew a crowd of almost 5,000 people.     

We want to thank everyone who came to events, as well as our partners New York Gypsy Festival, Central Park SummerStage, CTMD's Ukrainian Wave Community Cultural Initiative, the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant, Lotus Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Center for Jewish History.

When CTMD initiated our new Colombian Community Cultural Initiative in 2009, we fully expected that Eugenio Ortega, one of the U.S.'s top vallenato musicians, would play a large role in the initiative. Sadly, Ortega passed away in December of 2009. CTMD Program Director Gabrielle Hamilton provides a profile on the late leader of the Los Macondos ensemble - read it by clicking here.

Giovanni Coffarelli was a a leading advocate for the traditional music and dance of the Campania region of southern Italy. A master singer/performer in his own right, Coffarelli played a major role in reviving interest in Neapolitan music by creating classes for youth and organizing festivals. He was prominent in a series of Italian music tours of the U.S. that the Center produced in the mid-1980s with the help of Anna Lomax Wood, who provides a tribute to Coffarelli here.

Saxophonist/clarinetist Greg Wall is a leading musician on New York's Jewish Music scene; he also happens to have recently been installed as the Rabbi at the Sixth Street Synagogue in Manhattan. The synagogue has initiated a wonderful series featuring the metropolitan area's leading traditional and contemporary practitioners of Jewish music which is being curated by percussionist Aaron Alexander. For more information go to the synagogue's website.

On Thursday, October 28 at 7:00PM our friends at the Museum at Eldridge Street (12 Eldridge Street in Manhattan's Chinatown) feature legendary solo guitarist Gary Lucas as he brings the 1920 silent horror film The Golem to life at a screening with live musical accompaniment at the spirit-filled 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue. In this cult classic directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese and steeped in Jewish folklore, a Jewish Frankenstein roams the streets of 16th-century Prague. Kabbalist Rabbi Judah Lowe has created the Golem out of clay to protect the Jews from persecution. But like Mary Shelley's monster, things do not turn out as anticipated and the Rabbi's beautiful daughter is caught in the crosshairs. Tickets are $20 adults; $15 students/seniors. For more information, go to the Museum at Eldridge Street website.

On Saturday, November 6, Alwan For the Arts, 16 Beaver St, features a performance of Raqs Arabi with Karim Nagi and the Arab Dance Seminar at 9:30 pm.  Karim Nagi is a native Egyptian drummer, DJ, and folk dancer. He is the creator of Turbo Tabla, and has released two internationally distributed CDs of this unique brand of Arab House/Electronica using acoustic instruments. Karim has authored instructional DVDs for the tabla/doumbek and riqq tambourine, as well as two rhythm compilation CDs. He is also well versed in the ultra-traditional styles of music and dance as the leader of the Sharq Arabic Music Ensemble, and the Arab Dance Seminar. Karim performs and teaches tahteeb cane dance, dabka line dance, and zikr Sufi dance. The concert features Rachid Halihal - Oud and Vocals, Amel Tafsout - North African Dance, Nourhan Sharif - Egyptian Dance, Sami Abu Shumays - Violin and Rababa, Taoufiq Ben Amor - Percussion and Vocals and Kay Hardy Campbell - Arabian Gulf Folklore. For more information, go to Alwan's website.

On Saturday, November 13, "The Music Room" @ St John's Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher Street (7 Avenue South) presents sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan at  8 pm. Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan is one of the finest sitar players alive today. His dazzling virtuosity and innovative genius have earned him a legacy as a giant of the sitar. Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan learned his craft from his father, Ustad Aziz Khan, and enjoys an impeccable pedigree. He is a seventh generation heir to the sitar's first family, the Etawah Gharana. Ustadji's global reputation as an awe inspiring performer is complemented by another rare gift - his ability to spread his music as a dedicated and loving guru. Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan sums up his mastery of this most intricate art form with a profoundly simple philosophy: "Music is my life". For more information, click here.