• events • artists • store • downloads • press •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• street team • support • contact • links •

- ARTISTS -

Michal Cohen

Michal Cohen’s family comes from Yemen, but she was born and raised in Israel. Michal arrived in the United States after receiving a scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She graduated in 2000, and has sung in many prestigious venues, including Kats Theatre with the Pittsburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Merkin Hall, The Museum for American Jewish History in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Symphony Space, Scullers Jazz Club, Joe’s Pub, Satalla, Pianos, and the Knitting Factory. Her recordings include collaborations with artists such as DJ Cheb I Sabbah, Guillermo Nojechowicz, Frank London, Avi Elbaz, and many more. Her vocals have appeared on two movies: “Historias Minimas”, by Carlos Sorin, and Pearl Gluck’s “Divan” (Tribeca Film Festival). She has toured widely, including the Avivir Festival, Festival Del Desierto, San Luis Potosi in Mexico, Ottawa Folk Festival in Canada, Tamaulipas World Music Festival in Mexico, as well as the Far East. Her range extends from ancient Yemenite songs through to contemporary. Besides English, Yemenite, and Hebrew, Michal has sung in Bulgarian, Spanish, French, Yiddish and Portuguese. She is the recipient of a “Finalist” from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2002, as well as The Vocal-Jazz Cleo Laine Award. Her reputation is building as one of the most eclectic and exciting vocalists on the East Coast.
www.michalcohen.com
 
Pshutei Ha'am
(ex Shotei Hanevua)

In Hebrew, Pshutei Ha'am - Gilad Vital and Roi Levi are two of the founding members of the Israeli supergroup, Shotei HaNevuah. With Pshutei Ha'am or "Simple People", they are bringing you their combination of Gilad's vocal and studio/mix wizardry and Roi's guitar and vocal charisma. Simple People can perform for a dance club audience or as a full six-piece band which includes some of the finest Israeli musicians. It's music for your head AND for your feet! Enjoy! Love Life!
www.myspace.com/simplepeopleband
 
Hadag Nachash
Hadag Nahash is Israel’s leading Hip Hop band and has been topping the Israeli music charts since September 2000. Their recent release, “BeEzrat HaJam” (With the Help of the Jam) has produced three # 1 hits and has achieved Platinum status in Israel. The band plays a unique style of music that blends Hip Hop, Funk, Jazz, Electro and Rock with a touch of Middle Eastern flavor. This great musical fusion has garnered Hadag Nahash a large fan-base in Israel and abroad. The band has been touring extensively around the world.

Hadag Nahash was formed in Jerusalem in 1996. After touring Israel for more then four years and generating a large following, they released their first album, “Hamechona Shel HaGroove” (the Groove Machine) in September 2000. The album was very successful and proved that excellent music can go along with important ideas. In 2003 the band released their second album, “Lazuz” (To Move), produced by internationally acclaimed musician Yossi Fine. The album had four # 1 hits and achieved gold status.

 
Raquy and the Cavemen

When Middle Eastern music extraordinaire Raquy Danziger joined forces with
hard rock musician Liron Peled, the result was dark, powerful Middle Eastern
music with a heavy emphasis on Arabic drumming, backed by a band of Arab and
Israeli musicians.

The group features internationally-acclaimed dumbek player Raquy Danziger,
who has performed and taught all over the world and has recently been
invited to Egypt to perform as a soloist with a local 15-piece percussion
orchestra led by Egyptian percussion superstar Saiid El-Artist
Raquy and the Cavemen have performed at Central Park Summerstage,
Lollapalooza and Floydfest among others. Their 1st CD, "Dust" made the top
20 on the CMJ chart for multiple weeks and their 2nd CD "Jordan" debuted at
the top 30 on the same chart.
www.raquyandthecavemen.com
 
Anthony Coleman's Sephardic Tinge

From traditional Sephardic melodies to Latin-influenced originals by way of Thelonious Monk and Jelly Roll Morton, to an Irving Fields arrangement from the classic '50s Borsht Belt mambo/cha-cha album, Bagels & Bongos, Anthony Coleman takes a radical approach to the classic jazz piano trio. Pianist Anthony Coleman has worked with Marc Ribot, Glenn Branca, and the Krakauer Trio, and has performed and recorded with John Zorn since 1979. He has a previous album as a composer/performer on Avant (Japan) and two albums as a duo with Jazz Passengers' saxophonist Roy Nathanson on Knitting Factory Works. Coleman also composed "Below 14th St. / Above 128th St." for Guy Klucevsek's Manhattan Cascade (CRI). Bassist Greg Cohen is a member of John Zorn's Masada. Among his many recordings, he can be heard on recent albums by Tom Waits (Island), Elvis Costello (Columbia) and as arranger/bassist on Hal Willner's Weird Nightmare: Meditations On Mingus (Columbia). Drummer Joey Baron is another long-time Zorn associate. He is also a member of Miniature, a trio with Tim Berne and Hank Roberts, who have two albums on JMT-Polygram, and has released two albums with his own trio with Ellery Eskelin and Steve Swell on New World and JMT.
 

Yoel ben Simhon & The Sultana Ensemble (with spacial guest dancer - Daliah Carela)
Yoel Ben-Simhon & The Sultana Ensemble had performed at numerous venues throughout the US, Europe and Israel, including  Theatro Manzoni-La Scala in Milan Italy, Lincoln Center Festival, the United Nations General Assembly Hall, Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, the Jewish Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, The HotHouse Chicago, and in New York¹s main music scenes; Symphony Space, Metropolitan Museum, The Jewish Museum, Joe¹s Pub, Knitting Factory, Satalla, and Makor 92nd Street Y. The ensemble had performed with internationally known artists such as Yossi Fine, George Mgrdichian, Howard Levi, Rachid Halihal, Yair Dalal, Bassam Saba, Haig Manokian, Souran Baronian, Frank London, Matisyahu, Kenny Muhammad,  and Yosi Piamenta to name just a few. The instruments will include: vocals, oud, flamenco guitar, viola, flute, nay, sax, bass, hand drums, and dancers. The musical experience of  Yoel Ben-Simhon & The Sultana Ensemble introduces the audience to music from all around the Near East and the Mediterranean region and demonstrates how cultures and religions coexisted and influenced musicians over time. The program includes original compositions as well as unique arrangements to some traditional music from the Jewish Sepharadic/Mizrahi and Arabic cultures.
www.sultanamusic.com
 
Smadar

An exciting new voice emerging from the NYC world music scene, Smadar is an Israeli-Moroccan singer whose craft is best described as pan-Mediterranean music peppered with a gypsy sound. Smadar sings original and creative renditions of traditional tunes in Hebrew, Arabic, and Ladino. The Epoch Times International recently dubbed Smadar"a euphonious and haunting voice" for peace and unity, while the internationally-renowned nonprofit organization Seeds of Peace honored her with an award for "uniting cultures to achieve peace through music."  Smadar's current project consists of an all-star international band
whose aesthetically arresting sound reflects the rich cultural mosaic of the Mediterranean world. www.smadarlevi.com
 
Soulico
Soulico is a 4 member DJ Crew from Tel Aviv, the first DJ's in the Middle East to master the trifecta of production, turntablism, and party-rocking skills. Soulico has garnered incredible respect and critical acclaim both for their original songs and their unique mash-ups that blend Israeli folk and Jewish melodies with American hip-hop tracks.
http://www.myspace.com/soulicocrew
 
Ramon Tasat and Fiesta Sefarad
Exciting songs in Hebrew, Ladino and Aramaic that will make you clap, dance and sing. Cantor Tasat, a vocalist and guitarist, is joined by  Ramón Gonzalez on bass, guitar and mandolin, and Steve Bloom on percussion. 

Born in Buenos Aires, Cantor Dr. Ramón Tasat learned Ladino, the language of the Sephardic people, at his grandmother’s knee; his style reflects the rich history and drama of this extraordinary culture. Trained in five different countries, he received a doctorate in voice performance from the University of Texas at Austin.  His doctoral dissertation is entitled AThe Cantillations and Religious Poems of the Jews of Tangier, Morocco. Cantor Tasat has toured Europe with world-renowned Dr. Robert Shaw and has participated in international festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. 
 
Hebrew Mamita

Actress/Poet/Playwright/Native New Yorker Vanessa Hidary grew up on Manhattan's culturally diverse Upper West Side, graduating from LaGuardia High School of the Arts and Hunter College. Her experiences as a Sephardic Jew with close friends from different ethnic and religious backgrounds inspired her to write "Culture Bandit," a solo show that chronicles Vanessa's coming of age during the golden age of Hip-Hop and her dedication to fostering understanding and friendship between all people. www.hebrewmamita.com

 
Y-Love
Y-Love (born Yitz Jordan) is an MC unlike any other. He is a black convert into the Bostener sect of chassidus (the mystical branch of Orthodox Judaism). He among the most innovative freestylers on the scene, weaving seamless polyglot rhymes in English, Arabic, Yiddish, and Hebrew. Most unique is Y Love's revival of Aramaic, the ancient language used to discuss Jewish Law. With each word he spits in the tongue of the Talmud, Y-Love breathes new life into Hasidism, and hip-hop one beat at a time.
www.modularmoods.com/y-love
 
Pharaoh's Daughter

Blending a psychedelic sensibility and a pan-Mediterranean sensuality, Basya Schechter leads her band, Pharaoh's Daughter, through swirling Hasidic chants, Mizrachi and Sephardi folk-rock, and spiritual stylings filtered through percussion, flute, strings and electronica. Basya's sound has been cultivated by her Hasidic music background and a series of trips to the Middle East, Africa, Israel, Egypt, Central Africa, Turkey, Kurdistan and Greece. She began retuning her guitar to sound like a cross between an Arabic oud and a Turkish saz, with harmonic minor melodies, and odd time signatures. With the many amazing musicians, named below and others as well she has recorded three albums as Pharaoh's Daughter.

Pharaohs' Daughter has toured extensively through America, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Greece and the UK. Pharaoh's Daughter had the honor of debuting at Central Park's Summer Stage series in August 2004, and has played such presigious stages as Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. When she's not touring or performing, Basya plays darbuka, riq and frame drum as part of the B'nai Jeshurun music ensemble that accompanies Friday night services.
www.pharaohsdaughter.com
 
DJ Shotnez

DJ Shotnez (shotnez =illegal hybrid), known in the jazz and Bulgarian world as Ori Kaplan, has been instrumental in such groups as Shot'nez, Firewater, Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box, bringing melodies from around the world with infectious beats that have had no problem settling everywhere. DJ Shotnez is a multi cultural maestro that spins a mix of Turkish, Middle Eastern music and Baili Funk, which gets the most famous US clubs to resemble the craziest festivals abroad. DJ Shotnez is the house DJ at Nublu and the famed Rubulad parties, amongst other international DJ parties from Beijing to Istanbul. www.balkanbeatbox.com/djshotnez.html
 
Uri Caine

Jazz pianist/composer Uri Caine brings an eclectic array of disciplines and influences to his music. His own Jewish heritage, his classical and jazz training, and his interest in electronics combine in ambitious hybrids that are often challenging but always inventive.

Caine grew up in an intellectual, open-minded family in Philadelphia. His father, a law professor at Temple University, and his mother, a poet and professor at Drexel, ensured the best musical education possible for their son, having him study with French expatriate pianist Bernard Peiffer.

Uri Has recorded and performed with DJ Logic, ?uestlove, Don Byron, Joey Baron, DJ Olive, Tracie Morris, Dave Douglas, Dave holland, and Aaron Bensoussan and countless others.
www.uricaine.com

 

Piamenta

Guitarist Yosi Piamenta is a truly unique musician, and is a beloved fixture of the New York City music scene. Yosi's performances seamlessly deliver a frenetic fusion of Middle Eastern scales, classic rock riffs, and soulful blues. While critics have compared Piamenta's fret magic to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and Carlos Santana, Yosi's style is truly his own. A listening experience you won't soon forget.
www.myspace.com/piamenta

 
Sarah Aroeste Band
Sarah Aroeste is the founder of the NY-based Ladino Rock group, the Sarah Aroeste Band. American-born Aroeste, with family roots in Spain and more recently in Salonika, Greece, launched her band to help bring Sephardic music to a new generation. Most influenced by the music and language of her Spanish origins, Aroeste grounds her music in Ladino, an ethnic form of Castilian Spanish developed by Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Although this mysterious pan-Mediterranean language has, unfortunately, been fading away, the musical legacy of Spanish Jews highlights the strength of an oral tradition that spans many centuries and crosses many geographic boundaries. Determined to help keep Ladino music alive, Aroeste updates and reinterprets the tradition by fusing it with more modern sensibilities. With its unique Ladino Rock sound, the Sarah Aroeste Band (Sarah Aroeste: vocals; Yotam Bary: electric bass; Yoel Ben-Simhon: oud, piano, backup vocals; Yaron Eilam: electric guitar; Liron Peled: drums, percussion) takes traditional Ladino music from across the Mediterranean and combines it with contemporary influences such as rock, funk, and blues. Since Aroeste launched her band in 2001, she has toured and amassed a loyal following across the nation and abroad, and has worked hard to bring an updated, exciting new sound to Ladino and Sephardic music.
www.saraharoeste.com
 
David Broza

Talented singer/songwriter David Broza was born in Israel and raised in England and Spain. Son of a businessman and a folksinger, the artist was influenced at a very young age, reaching the stage when he was a teenager. At the age of 21, Broza was climbing local charts with his own compositions, recording his debut album in 1978. David Broza's first English release came out in 1989. That album, produced by Steve Miller, was called Away From Home. In 1995, while promoting Stonedoors, the singer had the opportunity to open for Sting, even playing a song along with him. In 1996, Broza returned to his roots, recording a Hebrew album called Big Secrets in Tel-Aviv. It would be several years before he returned to releasing another English album, eventually returning with 2001's Starting to Breathe. The following year, he tried releasing the first bilingual album of his career, Painted Postcard. ~ Drago Bonacich, All Music Guide
 
dj handler
The brains behind Modular Moods and many of the hyped parties in and around NYC, dj handler's music defies stereotypes. He frequently includes collaborations with non-electronic musicians, creating textural fusions of live and recorded sound. He references Ashkenazic cantorial music, traditional Yemenite melodies and hip hop. dj handler is a multi cultural maestro that spins a mix of Baile Funk and Afro Beat blended with 80's free style and hip hop, which gets the most famous US clubs to resemble the craziest festivals abroad.

Erez (dj handler) currently runs Modular Mood Records, an independent record label that produces a variety of hip-hop, rock and klezmer-jazz bands.  Modular Moods began in Washington, D.C., but has since moved to New York City where it continues to thrive and collaborate with other artists and organizations all across the board, such as The Workmen's Circle, DJ Rekha, MC Paul Barman, Daniel Carter, and Heeb magazine to promote the arts, and specifically a variety of cultures fused with a modern edge.  London Radio's 104.4 FM called him, "One of New York's hottest Jewish musicians"  and Heeb Magazine listed him in their "Top Hundred Heeb".  He resides and maintains his label, Modular Moods, within the auditory heart of Brooklyn.
www.modularmoods.com/djhandler
 
Yardena y son ladino

When the roots of Cuban music are traced, one always goes back to the African tradition - U.S-based musicians rarely look to Spain. Yardena y son Ladino successfully finds the common ancestry of Sephardic and Andalusian/Middle Eastern sources with Cuban rhythms and Latin jazz in a unique, dynamic and soulful fusion. Yardena herself is a major vocal talent whose voice transports us to distant, exotic lands.  

 
Frank London

Trumpeter/composer FRANK LONDON is a member of the Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave, has performed with John Zorn, LL Cool J, Mel Torme, Lester Bowieπs Brass Fantasy, LaMonte Young, They Might Be Giants, David Byrne, Jane Siberry, Ben Folds 5, Mark Ribot, Maurice El Medioni and Gal Costa, and is featured on over 100 cds. For the SMF Frank has put together a special band set to perform 70's pop takes on African and Middle Eastern musics.

 
Daniel Carter

Daniel Carter is one of the most important living jazz musicians on the scene. Over the past three decades-plus, Daniel Carter has performed with: Sun Ra, Billy Bang, Roger Baird, Sufjan Stevens, The Undisclosed Recipients, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Sabir Mateen, Simone Forti, Joan Miller, Thurston Moore, Nayo Takasaki, Earl Freeman, Dewey Johnson, Nami Yamamoto, Matthew Shipp, Wilber Morris, Denis Charles, MMW (Medeski, Martin, & Wood), Vernon Reid, Raphé Malik, Sam Rivers, Sunny Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, Cecil Taylor, David S. Ware, Karl Berger, Don Pate, Gunter Hampel, Alan Silva, Susie Ibarra, D.J. Logic, Margaret Beals, Douglas Elliot, Butch Morris, Biet Indecisive, TEST, OTHER DIMENSIONS IN MUSIC, ONE WORLD ENSEMBLE, SATURNALIA STRING TRIO, LEVITATION UNIT, WET PAINT, THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS, and many many many many others.
www.aumfidelity.com/carter.html
 
Divahn
Front-woman, lead singer, and anthropologist Galeet Dardashti follows a family tradition of distinguished musicianship dating back to 19th-century Persia. But it was down in Austin, Texas, where Divahn's bold all-woman Mizrahi/Sephardi ensemble began dazzling audiences with its Middle Eastern grooves. Today, Divahn has engendered an international following, infusing traditional and original Jewish songs with sophisticated harmonies, entrancing improvisations, and funky arrangements. The group's thrilling live shows include eclectic instruments such as tabla, cello, violin, didgeridoo, doumbek, and vocals spanning Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, and Aramaic. Galeet's diverse background performing Persian and Arab classical music, Ashkenazi cantorial music, Western classical music and jazz enhance Divahn's unique and innovative sound.

The group has appeared at national music festivals and live television and radio shows throughout the country. Divahn has also shared the stage with some of the world's most renowned master musicians, including Glen Velez and Anindo Chatterjee.
As one of the few groups performing Mizrahi and Judeo-Arab music in the US, Divahn shares with its audiences a beautiful sphere of Jewish and Muslim culture that many have never experienced in person. "Divahn," a common word in Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, means a collection of songs or poetry. Through their music, the group creatively underscores common ground between diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religions.
www.divahn.com
 
Ayelet Rose Gottlieb Jerusalem native Ayelet Rose Gottlieb performs music that combines free improvisation with elaborate composition, spicy Middle Eastern scales, and adventurous texts. Gottlieb’s newest album, Mayim Rabim, is a reinterpretation of biblical love poetry from the Song of Songs.www.ayeletrose.com
 
Saz

Sameh "SAZ" Zakout is a native of Ramle, a predominantly Palestinian Arab city within Israel, reputable for its excessive crime and poverty. Transcending the violence plaguing his people and his city, SAZ chose hip hop as a means to overcome his circumstance, stating, "If I didn't have a music career, I'd probably be in the streets selling drugs and getting shot at." A Muslim descendant of Palestinian Communists who were dispossessed from their village in 1948, SAZ was inspired to write hip hop rhymes by his third grade Arabic teacher. He began performing publicly at the age of 16 and has since become a staple of the Palestinian hip hop scene. SAZ rhymes in Arabic, Hebrew and English and is widely hailed for his beatbox technique. He has been featured in Rolling Stone and on CNN, and was the subject of a 2004 self-titled documentary which was broadcast in over five countries.
* Saz's documentary is available online now at Choices Films
 
Yuri Lane

Yuri Lane is a Beatbox actor with 2 smash hit solo beatbox plays, "From Tel Aviv to Ramallah", and "Soundtrack City''. Mr Lane has been acting professionally for 20 years. He has appeared in numerous commercials, TV shows and film.  Yuri is excited to release his full length beatbox album this summer, filled with his world famous beatbox/harmonica tracks. He continues to tour the Country bringing Beatbox theatre to the masses! www.yurilane.com
 
Divahn
 Front-woman, lead singer, and anthropologist Galeet Dardashti follows a family tradition of distinguished musicianship dating back to 19th-century Persia.   But it was down in Austin, Texas, where Divahn's bold all-woman Mizrahi/Sephardi ensemble began dazzling audiences with its Middle Eastern grooves.  Today, the NYC-based group has engendered an international following, infusing traditional and original Jewish songs with sophisticated harmonies, entrancing improvisations, and funky arrangements.  The group's thrilling live shows include instruments such as tabla, cello, violin, didgeridoo, doumbek, and vocals spanning Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, and Aramaic. As one of the few groups performing Mizrahi and Judeo-Arab music in the US, Divahn shares with its audiences a beautiful sphere of Jewish and Muslim culture that many have never experienced in person. "Divahn," a common word in Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, means a collection of songs or poetry. Through their music, the group creatively underscores common ground between diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religions. www.divahn.com
 
Shusmo
"SHUSMO" in Arabic means "what's his name." This project began to take shape in the Fall of 2000, when Palestinian composer Tareq Abboushi started developing a musical language that aims to blend various elements of jazz, Arabic, and Latin music. Over the years, as the sound of the band began to mature, other elements came into play including North African rhythms, Western classical counterpoint, and spoken word. Today, every member brings their own background to add flavor to the compositions, and the result is far beyond what the original goals were. www.shusmo.com
 
DJ Rekha
Born in London, raised in Queens and Westbury, Long Island, Rekha Malhotra (aka DJ Rekha) is one of the pioneers of New York's South Asian music scene. As founder of Basement Bhangra, Bollywood Disco, Beat Bazaar, and co-founder of Mutiny club nights, she has been instrumental in introducing the sounds of Bhangra and British Asian music to North America. Considered by Jane magazine to be "among the genre's most important players in the United States" Rekha has also been pivotal in forging the international network that sustains Bhangra and other contemporary South Asian music. Accordingly her DJ itinerary includes not only New York and numerous cities across the U.S but also Bombay, New Delhi, Montego Bay, Toronto and London. www.sangament.com
 
DJ Balagan
DJ Balagan, a.k.a. Sam Hopkins, has been producing his own sample-based "Anthropological Dancehall" tracks since 2003, incorporating Sephardic elements among
various other ethnic styles.  He served as world music director and hosted Radio Balagan at KJHK radio in Lawrence, Kansas from 2002-2005 and is a freelance music journalist, contributing to Baltimore's City Paper and Wax Poetics magazine among others. www.myspace.com/djbalagan
 
Asefa
Asefa was founded in 2001 by bandleader and composer Samuel Thomas. From the Hebrew word for "collecting," Asefa brings together diverse worlds. Traversing a wide musical landscape, Asefa travels from Morocco to Persia, Poland to America and back. Thomas' arrangements and original compositions, imbued with contemporary concepts in improvisation and instrumentation, reflect the spirit of music making integral to World history. 

Blending a reverence for North African traditions with a love for innovative composition and improvisation, Asefa creates a fresh sound that moves your mind, body and spirit. Bandleader, woodwindist and frame drummer Samuel Thomas is joined by Shanir Blumenkrantz on oud, Eric Platz on drumset and Rich Stein on percussion.
www.asefamusic.com
 
Ezra Malakov Ezra Malakov was born in 1938 in Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan. During the 1970s and '80s he performed and recorded with the national radio and TV orchestras in Tashkent, singing classical and popular pieces. He moved to Queens in 1992, where he is a key exponent of Bukharian religious music, serving as a hazzan at Congregation Beth Gavriel and producing several recordings. He has recently completed, with the noted maqomist Ari Babakhanov, notations of over one hundred religious songs with accompanying CDs, soon to be published. He is joined tonight by David Davidov on the tar and Osher Baraev on the doira.
 
Nat Rahav aka DJ Busquelo
Nat Rahav aka DJ Busquelo is a DJ, producer, & percussionist blending urban dance music with various traditions of improvisational and folk music from around the world. Seeking soulful sounds, unearthing priceless musical gems, and weaving an eclectic path through the global diaspora of funky music, he taps the healing and elevating power of music and movement. www.busquelo.org
 
Basya Schechter
Basya Schechter leads the popular ensemble Pharaoh’s Daughter which combines Hasidic chants, Mizrachi and Sephardi folk-rock, and spiritual stylings filtered through percussion, flute, strings, and electronica. Pharaoh’s Daughter has toured extensively throughout America, Europe, Greece, and the U.K. www.pharaohsdaughter.com
 
Afro-Semitic Experience
The Afro-Semitic Experience began performing in late 1999 as an off-shoot of the creative work of African-American pianist Warren Byrd and Jewish-American bassist David Chevan. In 1999 they were asked if they had a band that could perform their brand of Jewish and African-American music. As much as they liked the idea of expanding the duo to perform large ensemble versions of pieces of sacred music, Chevan and Byrd were also interested in finding a musical setting where they might be able to explore not only the sacred sounds of Jewish and African-American music, but the secular as well. At the time they both belonged to the New Haven based jazz group, Bassology. It was not before they began adding new material to the Bassology set lists. Soon the group was jamming on Klezmer, Gospel songs, spirituals, and Yiddish songs along with their usual assortment of jazz and world music pieces. As word got out they found themselves playing the occasional wedding and Bar Mitzvah (yes! We still do play weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and parties--musicians gotta eat and feed their families!! Plus we have fun bringing joy into the world). People in the New Haven area were thrilled to hear a group that could encompass such a wide range of musical styles and languages. Pretty soon it was obvious that a second band had emerged and that it was no longer Bassology. This is THE AFRO-SEMITIC EXPERIENCE.
 

VJ Nico

As part of (Projectile Arts) a collective of filmmakers, editors, cross-faders and image junkies, nico (aka Nicole Jaquis) has boiled the process of screening images down to high art. Telling stories through the juxtaposition of raw footage, rare documentary films, and other global sources, this TV turntablist tempts our visual taste buds with treats of impressionistic unpredictability. Nico has performed her live-mixed video projection installations at festivals and clubs throughout U.S. and India.
 
Elyakeem Kinstlinger
Elyakeem Kinstlinger - As Creative Marketing Strategist for the ad agency www.YourSpark.com, he has developed ad campaigns for over 40 Jewish organizational projects.  He also runs an events web site www.TheFullHit.com: “Get a full hit of intellectual and spiritual nourishment.”  Most recently he has been making Friday night dinners called “New Shabbat Table!” You can email him to find out when the next dinner is scheduled. elyakeem@YourSpark.com  
 
Sam Thomas
Samuel Thomas, performer and ethnomusicologist, holds two degrees from Berklee College of Music in Jazz Composition and Performance and is currently finishing a Ph.D in Ethnomusicology at the City University of New York. His work includes North African musical traditions, Arab music, Jewish music research and jazz, rock and American popular music. He is founder and executive director of JATM (Jewish Awareness Though Music) and bandleader of Asefa, an ensemble devoted to contemporary approaches to composition, improvisation, and fusion drawn from Sephardic and worldwide Jewish musics. He is co-founder of FourMinusOne, a jazz/rock power trio formed in 1997. Recordings with FourMinusOne include At Any Given Moment, Live! and Split Decision. He currently performs worldwide, teachers privately, and is adjunct faculty at CUNY.
www.FourMinusOne.com | www.asefamusic.com
 
Jewlia Eisenberg
Jewlia Eisenberg is the founder, bandleader, and performer behind Charming Hostess a “klezmer-funk/girly-punk” ensemble. Their music incorporates doo-wop, Balkan harmony, and Andalusian melody.
 
Frantic Turtle
Frantic Turtle merges poetry, music, and performance into philosophically viral mixtures like existentialist dancehall, punk-prayer, and toasted jazz poetry. We're into strictly avant expression - the over-fed language of the urban god-piece. And jumpy grooves on the background to keep your ids dancing. www.myspace.com/franticturtle
 
Rashanim

Rashanim is a trio of guitar, bass and drums/percussion drawing on influences including
Jewish melodies, indie rock, punk, and jazz. The 'Jewish power trio' is led by guitarist Jon Madof, who has worked with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Frank London, Matisyahu and many others. Shanir Blumenkranz (Pharaoh's Daughter) is on bass, and Mathias Kunzli
(Lauren Hill) plays drums and percussion. Rashanim performs throughout the US and Europe; their latest release is 'Masada Rock' on Tzadik Records. The band gets its name from the noisemakers used during the Jewish holiday of Purim.
http://www.rashanim.com

 
DJ Equal

DJ Equal plays party rocking hip-hop with seamless creative blends and deft cuts. Touring with hip-hop's finest MC's since the age of 17 has led to a lucrative career as a tour dj, party rocker, and studio turntablist. He has shared the stage with Arrested Development,
Hieroglyphics, Rob Swift, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, and many more. Most recently, Equal has performed at Bonnaroo Music Festival, toured the states with Louis Logic, Toubab Krewe and collaborated with Eric Krazno of Soulive and J-Zone. November marks Equal's third European tour, with many big things on tap for 2006.
www.djequal.com

 
Juez
Juez is a breakbeat-klezmer-jazz band of Orthodox kids from D.C., Chicago and New York. The four-member ensemble's influences range from Yemenite niggunim to hip-hip; from John Zorn to DJ Shadow. Onstage, they resemble a punk band, with manic solos, frenzied interplay, audience call-and-responses and stage-diving. Juez is totally sweet! www.modularmoods.com/juez
 
Jake Break

Jake Break is a souled-out independently affiliated producer. His music bridges Afro Beat, Brazilian jazz and funk rhythms with layers of instruments that stray from your cousin's boom-bap loops.  His style is 60's pleats, hairgreased, and satin sheets, 8o's turbo creased, 70's jazz-fusion funked out, 90's bubble fat geese-tommy hilfiger fleece.  Basically, he's a record fiend, with vast quanties of tight beats and records of generational genre smashing musicians, from the east.
www.modularmoods.com/jakebreak

 
The Elias Ladino Ensemble

The Elias Ladino Ensemble is one of the very few Sephardic groups whose vocalists are native speakers of Ladino. They are the real thing ,having been born and raised in that musical tradition.Their instrumentalists have mastered " A la Turka" ensemble playing as well as World Class solo virtuosity . The group has performed together since their debut at the Smithsonian Institution's " Festival of American  Folklife " in 1976.  Since then they have performed and collected material in every corner of  the Ladino-speaking world, such as Istanbul, Izmir, Bat Yam, Safed , San Juan, Miami, Toronto, Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Folk Festivals , Universities, Hispanic Institutes, and congregations of many denominnations. In performance , they will explain each song and how it fits into the Ladino culture and where theses songs came from.   Many of the songs can be traced back to 15th century Spain, while others from the Ottoman Empire.  Turn back the clock to the early 20th Century to hear how this music sounded when our parents and grandparents first came to America.