The Ark Project - Live in Lublin, Poland
Posted Jul 17, 12:05 PM by Brian Garrick
Festival Director Ellie Shapiro is currently at the 19th Jewish Cultural Festival in Krakow, Poland and then goes on to Lublin and Ukraine with the 2008 JMF Ark Project. She is periodically sending back reports to share with friends of the Jewish Music Festival. Read on!.
Catch some YouTube action of the JMF’s very own Ark Project on tour in Eastern Europe this summer. The group began as the JMF’s first artist residency two years ago and has now blossomed into an international powerhouse. The Ark Project consists of nine of the best artists in Jewish music. They are:
Aaron Alexander – drums (New York)
Avi Avital – mandolin (Israel/Italy)
Stu Brotman – bass (SF Bay Area)
Jewlia Eisenberg – vocals (SF Bay Area, in abstentia here)
Glenn Hartman – keyboards, accordion (New Orleans Diaspora)
Jessie Ivry – cello (SF Bay Area)
Frank London – trumpet, bandleader (New York)
Marjana Sadowska – vocals, harmonium (Ukraine)
John Schott – guitar (SF Bay Area)
This footage is from their concert in Lublin, Poland. Lublin was one of the major centers of East European Jewry before the Holocaust. Today it is Poland’s ninth largest city, but the specter of what has been lost seems all too present. I was struck by bandleader Frank London’s query: “I wonder if the people who live here feel the absence of their former neighbors the way that I feel it at every moment being here.” My hope is that bringing Jewish music back to this place will bring about some understanding and healing.
Enjoy the music!
-Brian Garrick, Associate Director
Opening Meeting: Love-the Alchemy of Reconciliation - Monday, June 29, 2009 JMF Commissioned Artist Eric Kupers in New York Times