The festival is being headlined by Renan Koen, a Sephardi classical pianist from Turkey.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFYemen Blues (photo credit: ZOHAR RON)
Israeli world music favorites Yemen Blues will be one of the highlight of this year’s second annual American Sephardi Music Festival taking place from October 4-8 in New York City.The ensemble, founded by Ravid Kahalani and featuring musicians from Tel Aviv, New York and Uruguay, mix Yemenite, West African and jazz influences and have appeared worldwide. They’ll be closing the festival at The Center for the Jewish History in Manhattan on October 8.The festival is being headlined by Renan Koen, a Sephardi classical pianist from Turkey, who will perform three distinct shows of Sephardic and original Holocaust music at Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum on October 4 and twice more at the Center.Other artists appearing will include Granada-born Ladino singer Lara Bello, Pantam player and multi-instrumentalist Adam Maalouf, and the NY Andalus Ensemble, which conjures anew the cosmopolitanism of Córdoba.“This large variety, from the ancient to the modern, showcases perfectly the diversity of culture throughout the Greater Sephardic diaspora,” said the festival’s artistic director, French opera singer and actor David Serero.The festival is sponsored by the American Sephardi Federation, which preserves and promotes the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities as an integral part of the Jewish experience.For more information, visit: www.americansephardi.org.
