All About KlezmerQuerque 2018

Klezmer! Nahalat Shalom! Presidents Day Weekend!  Yes, Abq Jew has mentioned this before. About a zillion times. But here we go once again!

KlezmerQuerque 2018

 16th Annual

Presidents Day Weekend

February 16-18

Congregation Nahalat Shalom

featuring

Henry Sapoznik

Margot Leverett
Avia Moore

Here is the plan:

The 16th Annual KlezmerQuerque is a three-day festival of concerts, workshops and dance parties featuring ‘Klezmer’ which is the traditional dance and instrumental music based in the ancient wedding ceremonies of the Eastern European Jewish people.

The festival will take place from February 16-18, 2018 (Friday evening through Sunday evening) over Presidents Day weekend.

KlezmerQuerque is produced by Congregation Nahalat Shalom, its 22-piece inter-generational Community Klezmer Band, and Rikud dance troupe.

The festival presents a wide variety of events for all ages, abilities and budgets including a free children’s event, concerts, dance parties, lecture-presentations, and “hands-on” workshops in music and dance.

Highlights of the festival include 

• Performances by the guest artists on Friday evening February 16 as part of Der Freylekher Shabbes; 
• Performance and a dance party on Saturday evening, February 17, featuring the guest artists; 
• Four workshops by the guest artists on Sunday, February 18 between 10:00 am and 5:45 pm.

Henry Sapoznik, IYDK, is an award-winning record and radio producer, banjoist, author, and ethnomusicologist in the fields of Yiddish and American popular and traditional music. Henry is a pioneer - the first? - in the worldwide revival of klezmer music.

Margot Leverett (see Margot's in New Mexico!) is one of the foremost of the new generation of klezmer clarinetists. Margot was involved in avant-garde music when she first heard klezmer. When it comes to klezmer and Jewgrass, Margot is one of the best.

Photo by Randi Thompson

Avia Moore - dance leader, teacher, and choreographer from Toronto, Canada - will be leading dances at the parties and teaching workshops. 

KlezmerQuerque 2018 will also feature music and dance by many local klezmer artists including: The Rebbe’s Orkestra, The Nahalat Shalom Community Klezmer Band, Rikud Dancers, Alavados, Di Kavene Kapelye, and Beth Cohen.

Here is a forshbite (that's Yiddish for hors d'oeuvres, one of the most-looked-up words on the Internet) of what's in store for Albuquerque: Henry plays the hardly-strictly-klezmer sad song Baltimore Fire (see The Great Baltimore Fire) from his 2017 album Banjew.

This is gonna be good!

See you there!