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Dan Nadel’s Wandering Song: An Afternoon of Mystical Music & Poetic Prayer
July 5, 2020 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm MST
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Blending his roots in flamenco, jazz and Middle-Eastern music, guitarist Dan Nadel presents The Wandering Song Ensemble, a partnership with a cohort of expert musicians from around the world. They engage with piyutim (Jewish liturgical poetry) as a foundation for musical exploration, showcasing Jewish heritage through universal sounds. While many of the melodies have roots in North Africa and the Middle East, Dan also matches meaningful American melodies to traditional poetry in the hopes of bringing forth renewed relationships with the beautiful texts.
The Ensemble performs live, which is unique as there is currently no software that allows musicians from different locations to perform without a delay. Committing to performing in this way during the pandemic, via platforms such as Zoom, has led to reimagining what music is and how the human ear perceives it – a grueling, fascinating and ultimately rewarding process. It is a statement of commitment to collaborative music-making at this time of forced isolation. The commitment mirrors the essence of the poetry in the Ensemble’s repertoire, focusing on how interconnected we all are across time to the poets’ hopes and struggles, and also to what is happening urgently right now in our world (COVID-19, fight for racial equality, refugees, global warming and more).
At the July 5 concert, the ensemble will feature Jay Gandhi (Bansuri flutes), Satoshi Takeishi (percussion) and special guest Shira Averbuch (vocals).
Bios:
Dan Nadel
Dan Nadel is an Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist and composer, whose personal style combines flamenco, jazz, and Middle Eastern influences. He is a bandleader, a solo performing artist, and a collaborator with his multinational neo-Balkan group, Tavche Gravche.
A busy musician on the New York scene, Nadel has also worked with many world-renowned artists, including jazz musicians Chico Freeman, Dave Liebman, and Anat Fort; Israeli-French pop star Yael Naïm, jazz vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli, opera soloists Chen Reiss and Audrey Majzlin, and genre-crossing musicians from around the world such as Frank London, Ismail Lumanovski, Souren Baronian, and Satoshi Takeishi.
Nadel attended the jazz program at the prestigious Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, before completing his three-year army duty, during which he was the guitarist for the IDF Air Force Band. He is a graduate of the BFA jazz program at The New School in New York City.
Since July 2017, Dan has been the music director of B’nai Jeshurun. He established, curated, and musically directed Songs of Sacred Time, a series of Jewish liturgical music concerts at JCC Manhattan. He is a frequent collaborator with performers of Jewish liturgical music, and his Sefarad-Yerushalayim-New York project is dedicated to introducing North American audiences to the beauty and richness of Mizrahi and Sephardi traditions.
Jay Gandhi
A multifaceted artist, Jay’s music is at once reflective of his devotion to his Guru, the legendary bansuri maestro, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as a diverse range of other musical influences. Jay’s initial training in Hindustani music was under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal (vocal) and later in bansuri under Pt. Ronu Majumdar and Pt. Raghunath Seth. Since beginning his training with Hariprasadji in 2006, he has had the honor of accompanying him on stage for multiple concert tours.
A multifaceted artist, Jay’s music is at once reflective of his devotion to his Guru, the legendary bansuri maestro, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as a diverse range of other musical influences. Jay’s initial training in Hindustani music was under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal (vocal) and later in bansuri under Pt. Ronu Majumdar and Pt. Raghunath Seth. Since beginning his training with Hariprasadji in 2006, he has had the honor of accompanying him on stage for multiple concert tours.
From his formative years, Jay was also strongly drawn to the music of the African diaspora and Jazz in particular. With the desire to bring the sound and versatility of the bansuri into the jazz idiom in a meaningful way, he studied Jazz Performance at Oberlin Conservatory (Ohio) and trained under Jazz luminaries Gary Bartz and the late Marcus Belgrave. Today, his journey into this world continues to evolve in new and promising ways, and in more recent times he has had the fortune of performing with such greats as Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jeff “Tain” Watts, as well as of sharing the stage with one of the great voices of the tenor saxophone, Pharoah Sanders himself.
A recipient of the prestigious AIIS Performing Arts Fellowship, Jay maintains a busy schedule performing for audiences across the globe. He currently is based out of New York City, where he is very active as both a teacher and performer and also as a founding member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a prominent musicians collective.
Satoshi Takeishi
Satoshi Takeishi, drummer, percussionist, and arranger, is a native of Mito, Japan. While at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, he developed an interest in the music of South America and went to live in Colombia. He spent four years there, forging many musical and personal relationships. One of the projects he worked on while in Colombia was “Macumbia” with composer/arranger Francisco Zumaque in which combined traditional, jazz, and classical music. With this group, Satoshi performed with the Bogotá symphony orchestra in a series of concerts honoring the music of the most popular composer in Colombia, Lucho Bermudes. In 1986 he returned to the U.S. where he began work in Miami as an arranger. In 1987 he produced “Morning Ride” for jazz flutist Nestor Torres on Polygram Records. His interest expanded to the rhythms and melodies of the Middle East, where he studied and performed with Armenian-American oud master Joe Zeytoonian. Since moving to New York in 1991 Satoshi has performed and recorded with musicians including Ray Barretto, Carlos “Patato” Valdes, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, Paul Winter Consort, Rabih Abu Khalil, Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, Erik Friedlander, and Pablo Ziegler. He continues to explore multicultural, electronic, and improvisational music with local musicians and composers in New York.
Special Guest: Shira Averbuch, vocals
With a “beguiling voice” (NYTimes) and “a string of epic songs, heaven sent vocals and intricate playing….” (Brokelyn) NYC based Israeli-American singer-songwriter and actress, Shira, “is a leading name that will stop you dead in your tracks… “(Philly Weekly).
NY based international performer and songwriter, Shira Averbuch, is currently the Artist in Residence at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. Was born in Rochester, NY to Israeli parents and split her time growing up between Israel and the States.
She has performed all over the world in various productions ranging from musical theater to her original indie folk acoustic music.
After her service in the Israeli Army Band she moved to NYC and fell madly in love with the concrete jungle.
Was cast in a few Off Broadway shows. One of those Off Broadway shows was, Solitary Light, at Axis Theater Company where she met the incredible Paul Carbonara, former music director and guitarist of the pop band Blondie.
As they worked on Solitary Light a magical musical connection emerged and they’ve been musical partners ever since.
Together they recorded Shira’s debut indie fairy folk album, Till the Sun Comes, and Shira’s upcoming 2020 album, Birds of a Feather.
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