Welcome to the 2007 Jewish Music Festival

Basya Schechter

Basya Schechter appears in...

Blending psychedelic sensibility and pan-Mediterranean sensuality, Basya Schechter leads her New York band, Pharaoh’s Daughter through Hasidic chants and Mizrachi and Sephardi folk-rock, filtered through percussion, flute, strings and electronica.

Schechter’s Hasidic music background and travel to the Middle East, Africa, Israel, Egypt, Central Africa, Turkey, Greece and Kurdistan inspired a retuning of her guitar to sound like a cross between an Arabic oud and a Turkish saz. The result lends itself to the harmonic minor melodies and odd time signatures that create her unique sound. She has recorded four albums, three with Pharaoh’s Daughter and one instrumental exploration with Persian santur player, Alan Kushan. The band also appears on three Tzadik label compilations: Voices in the Wilderness: the ten year anniversary of John Zorn’s Masada compositions, a collection of Sasha Argov music, and the music of Brazilian Jewish composer Jacob Du Bandolim, one of the founders of Brazil’s choro style.

• Aires de Sefarad
• Avi Avital
• Community Music Day
• Diaspora Blues
• Ensemble Lucidarium
• Klezmer Buenos Aires - Lerner Moguilevsky Duo
• Noa
• Opening Night: Musical Fortunes
• Pharaoh’s Daughter
• Poetry Slam on the theme of Diaspora

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