Piyut Time Festival: ‘Shtetl for a Day’

Featuring ‘Heart and Wellspring’ (Halev Veha-ma’ayan) Ensemble, Daniel Zamir and Ilan Damri

Because of the changes affecting Israel’s musical culture in recent years, the role of Ashkenazi piyut has remained to some extent in the background. This might be attributed to the exclusive nature of the Ashkenazi world’s musical culture, which finds expression in the nigun (melody) rather than the piyut (poetic text); or it could be the result of historical upheavals which destroyed much of the Ashkenazi world’s cultural heritage.

This concert is the product of investigative research into the nigunim and piyutim of European Jewish communities. It will bring together on the stage, for the first time, virtuoso saxophonist Daniel Zamir – who pursued the research and whose own music draws on Hasidic nigunim – and Ilan Damri, soloist of Hamadregot, together with the ‘Heart and Wellspring’ (Halev Veha-ma’ayan) Ensemble, whose members have for years past engaged in the performance of Ashkenazi Jewish music and who gained the outstanding Jewish ensemble award at the Amsterdam Music Festival in 2010.

Sunday, February 5, 2012, Brodt Center auditorium, at 9 p.m.

Tickets: NIS 60, NIS 40 for students (on presentation of student card), may be purchased from Castel *8965.