ANIMUS
Friday, May 16th
Animus is an instrumental group of culturally diverse musical concepts and traditions from ancient to modern alike. Greek, Blues, Middle Eastern, Jazz, Spanish, Funk, Latin, Rock, Indian, Jewish Klezmer, African. The unorthodox instrumentation and unique original compositions excite the mind, body and soul with an endless variety of grooves and tribal rhythms, coupled with spontaneous, passionate improvisation knows no boundaries and awakens the spirit to get everyone moving to the music.
Animus performs world fusion music and dance blends music and dance forms from around the world. Primarily an Eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern/Latin/American fusion ensemble, ANIMUS also performs traditional Eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern music. ANIMUS’ original music freely barrows and incorporates musical ideas and traditions from East to West, North to South, Ancient to Modern... it's one beautiful sounding world! The nature of our performance is interactive, exciting and inviting, open for all to participate or just sit back and enjoy the musical journey. The music may remind you of home or of far off places you'd love to visit. ANIMUS promotes tolerance, diversity, unity and peace through music and dance. Furthermore, Animus is here to push the boundaries and borders of music from all over the world to create something new as well as to preserve the oragins of cultural insparation. Over the years ANIMUS has taken their fans on a continuously evolving live experience, away from the stress of everyday life and created a relaxing and fun musical journey, mesmerizing audiences with their unique eclectic style.
WOZ & FRIENDS
Saturday, May 17th
Woz & Friends is a performance group of up to 5 musicians and 2 tribal belly dancers. The group performs world music and has played in many venues in the tr-state area. The compelling music ranges from Middle-Eastern-Latin-African to jazz, played on hand drums-guitar-accordian and flute. Performances include the PA Rennaisance Faire, the Arden Fair, the Fairie fest in Glenrock, and many others.
The group is led by Paul "Woz" Woznicki, a multi-instrumentalist/composer who has been performing world wide for 30 years with many well known groups. His music covers many styles and can be heard in film, radio and TV.
SAMADHI KIRTAN
Friday, May 23rd
Samadhi Kirtan is a musical group that supports the yoga community with one of the oldest music traditions - Kirtan chanting. Using ancient Sanskrit mantras, the Kirtan calls upon sacred energies to quiet the mind, remove obstacles, and bring us back to the center of our being. Although Kirtan involves music, the underlying art of Kirtan chanting is not about musical ability - it is about the heart. The purpose of this music is to take you out of your head and into your heart. Please join us and allow Kirtan to carry you effortlessly to a place of quiet, stillness, and joy!
It is peace, Samadhi
Lighten up the outer glow.
Om peace, Samadhi
As the fire inside you grows.
– Samadhi Kirtan
Samadhi Kirtan is spirited by two professional musicians whose yogic journeys have brought them together to deepen their connection to Universal Consciousness. Yvette and Curt are certified yoga instructors and enjoy kirtan as a transcendent form of meditation. The yogic path is a continual cleansing and deepening of the self. Kirtan supports personal evolution by tuning into higher vibrations and resonating with higher levels of consciousness. In so doing the heart is opened as sound reawakens and frees the spirit.
Yvette Pecoraro vocals, harmonium
Curt Woolford vocals, percussion
Bill Nixon violin, keyboard
ELECTRIC DIAMOND
Saturday, May 24th
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Returning from a concert tour of Singapore, Classical Electronica Duo "Electric Diamond" will present a live performance of Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition" along with a program of original works in what promises to be an evening of 21st century high tech musical art in an intimate chamber music setting. Soloist Stuart Diamond is a master of the Akai EWI, a sensitive new instrument commanding a virtual orchestral woodwind and brass section. Keyboardist Don Slepian supplies the strings, percussion, piano, and ethereal atmospheric support. Together they perform traditional music and improvise new compositions in a presentation that is at once classically familiar and startlingly new. From a whisper to an enveloping vortex of sound these two musical virtuosi deliver an experience not to be missed for jazz, prog rock and adventurous classical music lovers alike.
SHARON SIGAL
Friday, May 30th
AN EVENING OF CABARET AND THEATER
with Sharon Sigal, Arnold Kendall
and accompanist Barbara Browne
You are invited to an evening of songs by Harold Arlen (Over the Rainbow), Leonard Bernstein and Adam Guettel (Richard Roger's grandson) and a performance of Brecht's The Jewish Wife.
This year, instead of a Spring salon, I will be presenting an evening of theater and song at the Philadelphia Society for Art, Literature, and Music (PSALM).
THE JEWISH WIFE is a two character, 20 minute play that immerses the audience in the life of an interfaith couple during the Third Reich. Brecht focuses not on the physical violence and suffering caused by Nazism, but on the emotional, spiritual and psychological effect it had on daily interactions between friends, colleagues, family members, and even husband and wife. People become distant, unfriendly, even hostile as a result of their own fears of associating with a Jew.
The play deals with an aspect of Nazism not usually discussed -- the way the Nazis transformed Jews, their partners, friends, and colleagues from integral members of society into outsiders -- the “Other.”
Sharon Sigal is a mezzo-soprano, actress and voice instructor who enjoys singing everything from oratorio and opera to musical theater and jazz. Her most recent performances include the role of Peep Bo in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado with the Rose Valley Chorus and Orchestra last November, and Iolanthe in Iolanthe with the Philadelphia Gilbert and Sullivan Union at the International G&S Festival in Buxton, England last August. She portrayed Iolanthe last spring with Thespis, Etc. Sharon's cabaret show made its debut last spring at Franco& Luigi's in South Philadelphia. Sharon's semi-annual Salon of Music and Theater features seasoned actors, singers and instrumentalists in an evening of eclectic entertainment.
ALFRED JAMES BAND
Saturday, May 31st
Alfred James is the only cellist in the world playing a black, 5 string carbon fiber cello -- standing up!
We made our National TV debut in September 2007 on Comcast CN8's nightly entertainment program, Backstage with Barry Nolan.
XM Satellite Radio's XMU named Alfred James one of their Elite 27 of 2007 - the best 27 unsigned artists in the XM Nation and featured us on their year-end best of show.
The band toured Greece and Turkey in June 2007 accompanying The Philadelphia Boys Choir and Chorale. While we were on tour, XM Satellite Radio selected us as their Artist of the Week on The Radar Report.
We won a Grammy songwriting contest in May 2007 and performed at 2 Grammy showcases.
NPR featured our song, Better Days, on their online music show, All Songs Considered where it received the highest rating of any artist on the program.
We've opened for Bruce Hornsby and Dave Mason and Alfred was featured in the August issue of Main Line Today Magazine as one of the Main Line's Artists to Watch.
We are currently touring colleges and acoustic venues nationally (while planning our next international tour!).
Lucky If Easy was nominated for 2 Underground Grammy's in 2006 -- for Album of the Year and Song of the Year. After a trip out to LA, it took home 4th place out of over 3000 submissions!
Alfred started playing the cello as a young boy after his father (a surgeon and amateur cellist) suffered a stroke that ended both his surgical and musical careers. Alfred picked up his dad's cello where he left off and the rest as they say is history... His influences range from Pablo Casals, Ralph Kirshbaum, Yo Yo Ma, Sting, Dave Matthews, etc. etc. etc.
Welcome to the high energy sounds of the Alfred James Band and remember, the cello isn't just for classical music anymore.
JUDITH KAY
Friday, June 6th
TASTY CABARET
Composer, lyricist and arranger Judith Kay is a one-of-a-kind singer-guitarist and cabaret artist. Jazz great John Pizzarelli has called her a "singular sensation."
Her broad activities range from musical director of her group
ChamberJazz™ Ensemble to cofounder, in 1997, of the Arden Jazz Gild, a society devoted to the promotion and preservation of American jazz.
For the last twenty years she has performed her unique repertoire of Brazilian bossa nova , swing-era jazz, original and eclectic songs throughout the US and Europe. Since 1986 she has produced six recordings on her own TASTY label, and is now at work on her seventh. She has gone to Brazil to research the history and rhythmic styles of Brazilian popular music. This became the basis for a course which she taught at the University of Delaware called "The Brazilian Sound."
A former arranging student of the late Manny Albam, she has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in addition to the rare phenomenon of receiving two Individual Artist Fellowships from the Delaware Division of the Arts - in Jazz Performance as well as Composition. In both 2004 and 2005 she received an Opportunity Grant for the purpose of career advancement. Judith Kay is listed in Who's Who in Entertainment and 2000 Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century.
An active composer, Judith's commission (with lyricist Cecilia Vore) for the Berkshire Chorale of Reading, Pennsylvania was debuted in the spring of 2003. Her latest CD is a solo effort titled "Judith Kay - Even More…Her Voice, Her Guitar". Judith teaches guitar, voice and music theory at her home studio in Arden, Delaware.
WYNNE ALEXANDER
Saturday, June 7th
She’s played for Pearl S. Buck of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize fame and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
It's Jazzed. It's Blues. The Cabaret crowd is very pleased. Cosmopolitan Rock will do, but why quibble.
Just let her play.
Humanitarian, Message Music Founding Father, two-time Grammy winner, Kenny Gamble said, “Given only one word- ‘Strong’ best describes Wynne’s music, her performances and lyrics…Her record as a voice for social justice
is equally bold and impressive...”
Began life as an investigative journalist, says training in a newsroom was the best music conservatory possible, just finished writing a history book-Get It From The Drums- on the Civil Rights and Protest Movements where she convinced 17 music legends and superstars to donate their lyric and sound rights to better illustrate the study.
Music legend Richie Havens said, “She's a one woman show. There's a Broadway aspect to her that is unmistakable.”
Press Quotes
The Philadelphia Inquirer -United States
"To repeat, her music nearly pales. For Alexander's haughty, smoky sound took into consideration the grainy bass quiver of Bryan Ferry, the heady romanticism of Billy Strayhorn, and the blues-imbued jazz classicism of Hazel Scott- sometimes all at once…Yet Alexander strode on…crooning and swooning low through the lyrical crossfire of kiss-off cabaret and leering rockabilly-filled blues, whose wit was as wily as her piano fills."
The CityPaper -United States
"Inspired by Gershwin, Ellington and Armstrong, Take Back the Night is but a bit denser and darker than its predecessor, Knowing Love by Its Absence. With hints of Marlene Dietrich, Bryan Ferry and Al Green in her voice and a sentimentality lacking in all things saccharine, the new CD is hard, classically tinged, boisterous cabaret-blues that never lacks in divine elegance..."
Robert Lee will also be appearing, known for his innovative percussion work, he has performed with Rhythm & Blues legends Clarence Carter and Bunny Siegler. The Philadelphia Inquirer was very impressed and recently wrote:
"The invaluable Robert Lee created rumbling ferocity (on 'Controlez-Vous') and pumping syncopation worthy of a Bob Fosse finale ('Catch a Ride')." By the way, that review was from their appearance at the Psalm Salon of 2007.
World Art Celebrities Journal -Paris, France
"Wynne calls her music ‘Cosmopolitan Rock’. I call it a rosary of glittering beads of virtuosity, warmth, elegance and beauty…Celestial in its musical evocation, yet down to earth and explosive in its delivery. Her style is a bouquet of refined sophistication and a mad volcano of emotions...Maestra Alexander should not be compared to anybody. This woman is multi-dimensional and marvelously innovative in her music interpretation, deep enigmatic voice, [and] piano elegant performance. Wynne Alexander’s CD is a music treasure."
Winner-Top Albums of 2006 CollectedSounds.com - United States and The World
"You can call it cabaret or jazz or blues or lounge or even pop. But it's really none of those and all of them at once...Wynne's voice is deep and sultry, think Marlene Dietrich...Listen to this record a few times and I know the songs will implant themselves in your head…They are very grand.
Luna Kafe - Sweden
" Alexander plays the disillusioned diva to perfection...Her cabaret sensibilities and sharp wit are intact as is her glorious voice. She writes sharp, imaginative lyrics and unusual melodies...This is a fabulous record...
SIRIOM SINGH
Friday, June 13th
SiriOm Singh is a spritual teacher and Kundlini instructor, percussionist and vocalist.
After rediscovering his sprituality through the practice of Kundalini Yoga and meditation, he found his way back to his musical roots in church choir and jazz.
His music combines mantras from many traditions with church hymns, spirituals, sacred texts and his own lyrics and music that is inspired by jazz, gospel, reggae and folk. His music reflects his deep respect for all spiritual and religious paths, and honors them as all different paths to celebrate peace and the human spirit.
SiriOm performed with well known devotional artists such as Snatum Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh and SatKirin Kaur, and in a variety of venues including churches, yoga centers, cafes, and peace building workshops.
His first CD, Travel the Light, was released September 2006.
SiriOm is accompanied by Theo Thwing on guitar and vocals and Autin Weight on drum and vocals.
MARK SOBOL BAND
Saturday, June 14th
Mark Sobol is a music teacher in the Philadelphia School District. He graduated
Temple University with a degree in music education and pursued further study in the
University of the Arts. Mark came to this country in 1989 from Odessa in the Ukraine. He attended elementary school for the gifted and went on to receive a degree in piano performance from the Odessa Conservatory. While he was a student at the Conservatory, he accompanied the Red Army Choir.
Shimon Suissa came to the United States in 1990. While growing up in Israel, he tried the flute and clarinet but finally settled on the drums. He started playing in a Klezmer band called Coral and then formed Klezmer and Israeli band “Golden Note”
When Simon Came to this country, he went to art school and now has his own business called “Faux by Design”. In addition to playing the drums, Shimon sings in the group “Havurat Hazemer”
Bob Cisik plays clarinet, flute and saxophone. At and early age he was exposed to music from the Eastern European cultures and developed a deep sensitivity and appreciation for this music. He began performing professionally at the age of 15.
Bob received his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and a Masters Degree in performance. He began accompanying the choir on his clarinet, playing solo clarinet for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and High Holy Days at his synagogue in Doylestown. He became part of the Klezmer Band formed by the cantor of the synagogue. When the cantor moved our of the area, Bob and Mark Sobol joined Shimon to form “Sabra
Sounds”
FAERIE ELAINE SILVER
Friday, June 20th
Elaine Silver has a voice you'll never forget. It has been described as stunningly clear and fine, magnificent, rich and supple. She sings a cappella or accompanies herself on guitar and banjo, and has performed in concert for hundreds of thousands at colleges, festivals, churches, clubs and children's events throughout North America and Europe. She was featured nationally on The Wisdom Channel and on New Jersey Network's award-winning television program State of the Arts. Elaine is the recipient of a Garden State Music Award for Outstanding Folk Performer, and has appeared in concert with Arlo Guthrie, Doc Watson, Tom Paxton, Suzanne Vega, Jorma Kaukonen, Tom Chapin and many more of the folk world's brightest stars.
She often teams up with best-selling author Alan Cohen as musical accompanist for his workshops and special events. Other authors she has worked with include Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, don Miguel Ruiz, Marianne Williamson and Neale Donald Walsch.
YOFIYAH
Saturday, June 21st
KABBALAH KIRTAN, CALLING TO THE DIVINE
Hebrew or Kabbalistic Kirtan is a new expression of Jewish spirituality, offering to everyone what was once reserved for mystics alone: a direct experience of the presence of God. Hebrew Kirtan is the intense devotional chanting of Hebrew texts, and the Names of God found in the Jewish tradition. The simplicity of the words, and the hypnotic energy of the music transforms Kabbalistic Kirtan into a broad highway
to Heaven open to men and women regardless of their level of Hebrew fluency and religious training and background.
Hebrew Kirtan is the practice of calling out to God. As the intensity of our calling grows, we enter into a vibrational harmony with God. We are enveloped in a mysical union marked by deep joy and even ecstasy, expressing a sense of Oneness and unity with all in All.
Yofiyah (Susan Deikman), MFA, is the founder of Hebrew or Kabbalistic Kirtan, an ecstatic kabbalistic practice based on the chanting of sacred Hebrew texts and Names of God. She is also the creator of Vocal Discovery, a unique method for personal transformation and community building, using the power of sound and song; and the Tone Deaf Choir, helping self-defined non-singers learn to sing.
A leader in the international Music for People organization, Yofiyah uses her skills as a voice teacher, artist, and improvisational musician to create a safe, welcoming, and spiritually challenging environment for finding and freeing your authentic voice.
CRAIG EISENDRATH
Friday, June 27th
READINGS FROM "TO ENTER JERUSALEM"
Craig Eisendrath, a career Foreign Service Officer, with postings both overseas and at the United Nations (where he co-drafted the UN Outer Space Treaty), has taken his experiences and woven a telling novel, "To Enter Jerusalem", that reflects these dangerous times.
Eisendrath will read from this newly released novel, and sign copies available at the Salon.
“This novel is powerfully conceived and executed—one that can be read at several levels. As a parable of the 20th century for the 21st, it is a persuasively moral work. As a page-turning literary thriller, it is compelling. As historical fiction, it has the authority of an experienced diplomat and important foreign policy scholar. As a sophisticated but very accessible exercise in magic realism, it is both attention holding and affirmatively ironic.” —Michael Pakenham, former book review editor at The Baltimore Sun
His main character is Dwight Lockwood, son of a Secretary of Defense, whose perversions—evident starting with the first paragraph of this story—not only victimize Dwight but propel his determination to make his life more meaningful and less destructive than those of his parents.
Eisendrath’s grasp of both history, international economics and political machinations serve him well, making the alternative political world Dwight hopes to achieve utterly believable; starting with his work in the Foreign Service through his eventual election as Secretary General of the United Nations.
The novel is filled with ironies: Dwight’s use of his father’s contacts to gain greater power and influence so that he could act in the sensitive political manner that his parents disdained; his chaste relationship with the beautiful, sensual Sabrina Montenegro, a young leftist he meets while posted in Guatemala and falls in love with; his push-pull suppression of deep-seated sexual feeling brought about by his father’s exploitation; his ability to improve life for whole nations while being unable to help his own damaged soul.Craig Eisendrath is a former diplomat, college dean and executive director of the Pennsylvania Humanites Council. He is a co-founder of the National Constitution Center, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and chairman of the Project for Nuclear Awareness. He has a number of produced plays, including The Disappeared, Crisis Game, The Hungerartist, and Stepping Down, as well as The Angel of History. In addition to books on foreign policy and philosophy, he has written several novels.
TANIA ISSAC DANCE
Saturday, June 28th
An intimate performance for three dancers including text, spoken word and movement.
A large part of my esthetic has been formed by the cultural ideas of movement that I grew up with: that moving is about feeling; that feeling does not count without expression; that expression does not count without knowledge, discipline, craft and communication.
As a West Indian straddling esthetic worlds, my process focuses on investigating the visceral communication inherent in the Caribbean dance form, both in the culture and as it exists in my own body. While I do not always choreograph ‘traditional’ Caribbean dances, my experience with tradition allows my work to reflect this cultural ideology rather than conform to an existing movement vocabulary. Many projects, however, are directly related to my cultural background and experiences in Western and Caribbean tropes. My work, both as performer and choreographer, delves into the germinating idea and all its associated history to find the specific facets that are relevant to a particular project. Coming from a region where art and life are still inventing their relative balance, I consider it a privilege to be exclusively an artist. To that end, I am committed to art as a vehicle for creating community and for the demystification of the artist to the audience.
My experience with movement is also closely tied to my love of language, prose and poetry, and of rhythm and how it translates or moves through the body. I revel in the idea of complete abandon. For me this translates as allowing movement to exist without pretense, and at times without conscious thought, while maintaining very specific structures. It requires finding freedom in a disciplined, sinuous muscularity and demands that every moment exist with an ease and flow and complete conviction.
My central belief is in promoting the diversity of art and theater without assigning value structures based on the separation of ‘ethnic’ and ‘western’ forms. This paradigm frames a range of artistic engagement that includes; creating opportunity for dialogue within the dance world and with its audience; fully exploring physicality and movement potential; making the theatrical experience as transformative as possible within the scope of the project idea and resources. Strongly embedded in this approach is the idea that the audience is as much a part of the work as the artist; if you can captivate them, you can take them anywhere.
Tania Isaac Dance is also designed to undertake a continuously developing series of workshops and classes geared towards establishing a forum for contemporary and traditional Eastern Caribbean dance and culture in the City of Philadelphia and beyond. This includes the use and promotion of Caribbean artists, writers and scholars.