14th Annual Washington Jewish Music Festival Announces Line-up

The rich diversity of Jewish music comes to life for music lovers at this year’s 14th annual Washington Jewish Music Festival. Bluegrass, jazz, gospel, classical, a cappella, punk and show tunes are just some of the music styles festival goers can explore. Today, the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center announced details of its signature celebration of Jewish music from around the world, which will take place April 28 – May 11 at venues across the metro area.

“This year’s festival celebrates interesting and unexpected pairings of musicians performing Jewish music of many styles,” said Lili Kalish Gersch, Director of the Washington Jewish Music Festival. “Bringing together punk-infused Yiddish from Daniel Kahn, kosher gospel from Joshua Nelson, and Israeli music from Noa all in one festival will create an exhilarating and unique experience for our community. This will be a festival that appeals to music lovers of all stripes and all ages and should not be missed.”

The festival opens Sunday, April 28, with a performance by celebrated Israeli artist Noa at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Rockville. She will be performing an homage to the Hebrew songs that inspired her personally and have molded Israeli culture for the past 50 years, including songs from her most recent album, “The Israeli Songbook.”

On the evening of Thursday, May 2, at Artisphere in Arlington, the festival features a double billing that combines the outsized sensuous sounds of Sephardic Jewish music with the raucous balladeering of Eastern Europe. Sarah Aroeste opens with the premiere of an unplugged version of her album “Gracia,” which fuses the Judeo-Spanish sounds of Ladino music with rock, pop, jazz and funk. Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird continue the evening with their signature mixture of radical Yiddish song, punk sensibility and re-worked klezmer melodies.

On Sunday, May 5, WJMF in the Park is a day of free outdoor concerts at Stead Park in the DCJCC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. The lineup kicks off with children’s music sensation Robbie Schaefer, a Virginia native and member of the hit indie-folk band Eddie From Ohio; continues with bluegrass fusion group Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys; and finishes with bubblegum pop duo Stereo Sinai. Family friendly activities include a moonbounce, arts and crafts, face painting and field games.

Joshua Nelson, known as the “Prince of Kosher Gospel,” performs his unique fusion of Jewish liturgical lyrics with the soulful sounds of American gospel music on Thursday, May 9 at the DCJCC. Nelson, an African American who was born Jewish, was inspired to become a gospel singer after he heard an album by gospel superstar Mahalia Jackson when he was just eight years old. This concert is Nelson’s homage to Jackson, the “Queen of Gospel,” which exudes a spirit of love and cross-cultural joy.

Other highlights include the internet sensation a cappella group the Maccabeats, a theatrical song cycle by Alicia Jo Rabins (of Golem and Girls in Trouble), provocatively named, “A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff;” “Defiant Requiem” a film by Washington-area filmmakers about Nazi concentration camp prisoners who organize a powerful form of musical resistance; a klezmer-bhangra mash-up with trumpeter Frank London of the Klezmatics and master percussionist Deep Singh; and a Broadway sing-along.

The festival website and full line-up is now live at www.wjmf.org. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling (202) 777-3251. In addition to single tickets, WJFF will be offering full festival passes ($120).

The Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation is the major sponsor of the Washington Jewish Music Festival.

The DCJCC, founded in 1987, is a partner agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and a member of JCCA of North America. The DCJCC strives to preserve and strengthen Jewish identity, heritage, tradition and values through a wide variety of social, cultural, recreational and educational programs and services.

Festival Lineup

Noa
Opening Night
Sunday, April 28, 7:30 p.m.
Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center
$38; $32 Member/Student with ID/Senior
VIP (includes private reception and priority seating): $100
Celebrated Israeli artist Noa (Achinoam Nini) will kick off the 2013 Washington Jewish Music Festival with an homage to the beautiful Hebrew songs that inspired her personally and have molded Israeli culture and consciousness for the past 50 years. Noa, accompanied by musical director Gil Dor and the Yoed Nir String Quartet, will play some of her most famous songs from the past 23 years, as well as music from her most recent album The Israeli Songbook.
Sponsored by Louie and Ralph Dweck

Mika Karni & Kol Dodi
Wednesday, May 1, 8 p.m., Sixth & I
600 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at the door
Led by Israel’s acclaimed female vocalist Mika Karni, this ensemble of Israeli, Moroccan, Yemenite, and Ethiopian musicians and singers combines traditional Jewish melodies with African ethnic rhythms and a dash of folk.
Mika Karni and Kol Dodi re-interpret one of the world’s most beautiful love songs, The Song of Songs.
Presented with Sixth & I

The Maccabeats
Thursday, May 2, 7 p.m., Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital
6045 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011
Tickets: $15, $50 Priority Seating
With over 10 million YouTube views and numerous television appearances, the Maccabeats aren’t your average college a cappella group. After hitting it big with their 2010 smash hit “Candlelight,” Yeshiva University’s student vocal group has continued to create holiday hits, and came out with their first original song, “Shine” in 2012.  The Maccabeats’ irresistible music and humor charms audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Presented with the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital

Sarah Aroeste and
Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird
Thursday, May 2, 7:30 p.m., Artisphere
1101 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington VA 22209
Tickets: $25, $20 Discounted
The outsized sensuous sounds of the Sephardic tradition meet their match in the raucous balladeer-ing of Eastern Europe.
Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird employ an inimitable mixture of radical Yiddish song, punk sensibility and re-worked klezmer melodies. Their latest spirited reverie, Bad Old Songs, takes on Leonard Cohen, Franz Josef Degenhardt, and the poetry of Heinrich Heine.
The double-bill opens with the premiere of an “unplugged” version of Sarah Aroeste’s newest project, Gracia, which fuses Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) music with rock, pop, jazz and funk. 

Shabbat in Song
Friday, May 3, Various Times, All Around DC
Join local congregations for a Shabbat in Song. This community-wide celebration of Shabbat and music will highlight musical services and events around Washington, DC.

A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff by Alicia Jo Rabins
Saturday, May 4, 9 p.m., DCJCC
Tickets: $20, $15 Discounted
Markets go up, markets go down.  But Madoff’s returns went up, more or less.  In a straight line.  For forty years.  Who wouldn’t want that kind of security – no downturns, just growth?  No failure, no loss, no death.  It’s beautiful. 
But it’s impossible.
Girls in Trouble frontwoman Alicia Jo Rabins explores the spiritual implications of the financial collapse. Her theatrical song cycle—which draws on interviews with FBI agents and Madoff victims—investigates the intersection of mysticism and finance, the cycles of life and business, and the true meaning of wealth.

WJMF in the Park
Sunday, May 5, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Stead Park
1625 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
FREE
A day of free outdoor concerts with games and fun for all ages! Featuring performances from children’s music sensation Robbie Schaefer (of Eddie From Ohio), footstomping bluegrass fusion group Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys and biblical bubblegum pop duo Stereo Sinai.

Children’s music sensation Robbie Schaefer, formerly of the hit indie-folk band Eddie From Ohio, creates kids music that delights the entire family. Until 2012 he was the musical director and a host for SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live.

Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys combines Appalachian and southern fiddle tunes with klezmer melodies from pre-war Russia and Eastern Europe. Leverett is a founding member of The Klezmatics.

Stereo Sinai’s unique combination of ancient, holy tongues with blasphemous backbeats and synthesized pop melodies deftly brings the old world into the new.  If Gwen Stefani and Will.i.am had been on the mountain with Moses, they would have come down sounding a lot like Stereo Sinai.
Activities include:

• Moonbounce
• Arts and crafts
• Face-painting
• Field games
• And more!

Film: Defiant Requiem
Monday, May 6, 7:30 p.m., DCJCC
Tickets: $11
Dir. Doug Shultz (85min, Czech Republic/USA, 2012). Partisan Pictures.
Documentary
Featuring Music Director Murry Sidlin
Emmy-winner Bebe Neuwirth narrates the little-known story of a group of Theresienstadt prisoners who bravely organize a powerful form of musical resistance. Under the leadership of imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter, a group of over 150 inmates performed Verdi’s Requiem – a song of death reimagined as a message of hope and justice – in front of the Nazi high command.

Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All-Stars’ Klezmer-Bhangra Extravaganza
featuring Deep Singh
Tuesday, May 7, 7:30 p.m., DCJCC
Tickets: $25, $20 Discounted
Indian and Jewish music collide! Trumpeter Frank London of the Klezmatics joins master percussionist Deep Singh in presenting a new look at old traditions. The connection between Jewish and Indian culture is a long one, with roots stretching back to biblical times. The concert will explore both the ecstatic and the meditative aspects of Jewish and Indian music, and will feature songs by Malkit Singh and Moyshe Oysher. Songs will be sung in Yiddish, Punjabi, Hebrew, Hindi, and English.

Special Guests:

Master Indian percussionist Deep Singh has played with everyone from the legendary Punjab singer Malkit Singh to British superstar Sting.  
Manu Narayan sang the part of the Badkhn in Frank London's Jewish rock opera, A Night in the Old Marketplace, was the lead in Bombay Dreams on Broadway and co-starred in Mike Myers' The Love Guru.

Jeremiah Lockwood, leader and singer of the Sway Machinery, is a guitarist with Balkan Beat Box and Songs of Zebulon.

Sarah Gordon is the lead singer of the prog-ethnic band, Yiddish Princess.

Funded by the Arthur Tracy “The Street Singer” Endowment Fund
Honoring the memory and musical legacy of Arthur Tracy—the renowned radio, stage and screen singer whose talents delighted millions around the world—the arts programs supported by this fund continue Tracy’s ability to entertain for years to come.

The Big Broadway Sing-Along!
Wednesday, May 8, 7:30 p.m., DCJCC
Tickets: $20, $15 Discounted
Belt like Barbra! Sing along to your favorite show tunes from Jewish Broadway (aka Broadway)—everyone from Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Gershwins to Kander and Ebb, Schwartz, Sondheim and more. Professional performers will lead, and we’ll provide the lyrics … just in case you’re a little rusty on RENT or forgot your Fiddler.

Joshua Nelson
Thursday, May 9, 7:30 p.m., DCJCC
Tickets: $30, $25 Discounted
Joshua Nelson was inspired to become a gospel singer after he heard album by gospel superstar Mahalia Jackson when he was just eight years old. Nelson combined Jewish liturgical lyrics with the soulful sounds of American gospel music, sparking a revolution in Jewish music. Hear “The Price of Kosher Gospel” perform his original compositions and a tribute to the Queen of Gospel in this spiritual, uplifting concert.

Shai Wosner, piano
Saturday, May 11, 2 p.m., Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20566
Tickets: $38
Israeli-born pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity and creative insight. His virtuosity and perceptiveness have made him a favorite among audiences and critics. His program will feature the work of Austrian composer Franz Schubert.
Co-sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society