Tina Chancey (right) with Rachid Halihal and Daphna Mor. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller.
Actually, I met Tina Chancey back in 1983, when she played viola da gamba with the Washington Bach Consort (a group that I sang in at the time). Who would have thought that all of these year’s later, we would be making music together again?
Tina is the “bowed string” musician in Trio Sefardi (along with Howard Bass and Susan Gaeta) — they are featured in this year’s Christmas Revels. While Trio Sefardi is a fairly new group, Tina also directs HESPERUS, the world-traveled early/traditional music ensemble dedicated to bringing the past alive through collaborations between early music and film, theater, dance and world music–sounds a bit like Revels doesn’t it?
So… what does Tina play? She plays early and traditional bowed strings from rebec, Pontic lyra and vielle to viola da gamba and Old Time and Irish fiddle. And, on these instruments she plays roots music from Sephardic and blues to early music and jazz standards.
In this year’s show, Tina is not only playing… she has also arranged “Ocho Kandelikas,” (written by Sephardic singer, Flory Jagoda) for our chorus and brass (and, it has audience participation too), and wrote the fabulous brass arrangement for our “Eggplant” song (this one, you really have to experience in person!).
It has been a real joy for us to collaborate with Tina again this year during the development of this wonderful show (she last appeared with the Washington Revels in 1999 as part of our “Celestial Fools” show), and it will be a joy for all of you to experience her musical arrangements and to hear her play.
Susan Gaeta in her costume of many colors. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller.
Susan Gaeta is the vocalist/guitarist in Trio Sefardi, one of the two specialist music groups performing in this year’s Christmas Revels. Susan is an important member of a new generation of musicians who are exploring the rich and varied traditions of Sephardic music.
Originally from Connecticut, where her grandfather played clarinet in a Klezmer band and acted in Yiddish theater productions, Susan lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for eight years, where she performed classic jazz and traditional Argentine folk songs. After moving back to the United States, Susan continued her explorations in jazz, and has toured extensively with legendary Sephardic singer Flory Jagoda, a National Heritage Fellow.
She also sang with Colors of the Flame, a trio of musicians dedicated to preserving Sephardic songs. In 2002, Susan was selected to participate in The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities “Master-Apprentice” program. Her recording, From Her Nona’s Drawer, includes Susan’s interpretations of a dozen songs from the repertoire of Flory Jagoda.
In this year’s Christmas Revels, Susan will not only sing Sephardic music, but she will also be featured in several Spanish pieces, including the song that the Sevillanas is danced to, Algo se muere en el alma, cuando un amigo se va (or, “El adios”).
Howard Bass playing some flamenco guitar in this year's Christmas Revels. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller.
Howard plays lute and guitar and is part of Trio Sefardi–one of our specialist groups for this year’s Christmas Revels. Howard has studied guitar in Cleveland, Ohio, Washington, DC and Alicante, Spain! (he even played for the King and Queen of Spain at the Smithsonian Institute in 1976 and at the White House in 1978). Howard is not new to Sephardic music (although Trio Sefardi is actually a fairly new group); he was a founding member of La Rondinella, which has three recordings on the Dorian Discovery label, with a new retrospective recording just released this November — Sephardic Songs: An Anthology. For many years, Howard has also worked extensively with Sephardic singer/composer Flory Jagoda (whom he accompanied on her latest recording, Arvolika) and early music singer Barbara Hollinshead, with whom he recorded an album of Elizabethan lute songs and solos entitled Loves Lost… and Found; their new recording of 16th and 17th century French songs and lute solos will be released in early 2012.
In this year’s Christmas Revels, Howard will be playing both lute and guitar, and will be playing everything from Renaissance and Sephardic music to some Flamenco (for our Sevillanas dancers).
Rachid Halihal holding his Oud. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller
This year we are lucky to have two specialist music groups for our Christmas Revels show. The Arab Andalus group of musicians is named Layali El Andalus and is led by Rachid Halihal.
Rachid is a world-class musician who brings, to us, the true character and spirit of music from Andalusian Spain, the diverse regions of Morocco, and North Africa. As a child, growing up in Morocco, Rachid played the nei and sang, imitating the famous singers of the time. At age fourteen he entered “Dar Aadyil” the Conservatory of Music in Fez. At first he studied Western classical and Andalus music on piano and violin. He soon expanded to include a variety of other instruments in order to better express his native music. In addition to his voice, which is best featured in the Andalus style, his strongest instruments are the oud (similar to a lute without frets) and the violin, which he plays in both the classical manner and upright resting on the knee for Moroccan folkloric music.
Layali El Andalus rehearsing with Tina Chancey and Elisabeth Myers. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller
Rachid arrived this Friday evening (November 25th) from Colorado, where he was presenting workshops and concerts in Boulder and Denver. Soon after his arrival he began rehearsing with local musicians Tina Chancey (you’ll hear more about her soon) and Elisabeth Myers–Tina and Elisabeth will be joining Layali El Andalus on a few of their songs, and the Washington Revels chorus will be singing with the group as well.
Learn more about Rachid by visiting his Web site (rachidhalihalmusic.com). And, visit the Layali El Andalus band Web site to learn more about his group (ayalielandalus.com). We are so excited to have them as part of this year’s Christmas Revels.
Did you know that the hand clap is something of an “art form” in Spain? Indeed, palmas (hand clapping) is an essential ingredient to the musical accompaniment used for dances like the flamenco and sevillana. If you want to know just how important, try a Google search for “palmas clapping” and you will be amazed at the amount of tutorials, instructional videos, and examples that will come up (like the following instructional video from YouTube).
While this Christmas Revels will not have any flamenco dance in it, we will be dancing the sevillana, and, there will be palmas! In fact, you will hear palmas used in many of our musical numbers.
To explain the two distinct ways of hand-clapping, here is an excerpt from “Flamenco Compas for Alegrias Analysis of the 12-pulse palmas (clapping) rhythm and its relationship to the standard African bell pattern,” by Jerry Leake:
Palmas refers to the specific accompanying clapping pattern that is built within the compas structure. There are two types of palmas techniques: sordas and claras. Soft claps (sordas) are produced when the open palms strike together in a low, muted tone. Louder, higher-pitched claps (claras) are produced when the fingers of the strong hand land into the open palm of the weak hand.
David Giusti leads the Revels men in Abinu Malkeinu... notice how many of them have this piece memorized. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller
Each year, our amazing Washington Revels Chorus (adults and teen) and Children have to memorize their music. The process begins in September, as we learn each piece, but the actual memory crunch tends to occur sometime in November (like… now!). Some years our job is easier than others… like last year, when the music was almost all in English. But, this year, we are singing in Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, Judeo-Espagnol (also known as Ladino), Galician Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, and Catalan — this definitely makes the process of learning and memorizing more challenging!
With the exception of a few lucky folks (and yes, Greg Lewis, Washington Revels ED and song leader, is one of them), the memorizing process can be the most frustrating last step on the learning to performance continuum.
Have you ever had to memorize a poem, or some lines of text to repeat in front of an audience, or a class? This form of memorization only involves words… and, that alone can difficult. When you memorize music, there are many more details that become part of the process:
pitches (the actual notes that you sing)
rhythms (the amount of time each note gets)
expression (loud, soft, smooth, bouncy, etc.)
tuning and harmony (how does your part fit in with the other parts)
timing and rests (when do you sing? when do you breathe?)
text and pronunciation (what syllables go with what notes, and how do they sound)
As you see, this is a pretty complex set of variables to put together. And you have to do all of this while walking, interacting, dancing, carrying things, going up and down stairs, spinning around, messing with your costume, ringing bells, gathering children, etc. (and not standing next to someone who is singing the same part that you are singing). We spend a lot of rehearsal time really learning the music, and then each singer has to “lather, rinse and repeat” on their own, in order to develop the muscle memory needed to be able to perform all of this music in a typical Christmas Revels production! You are memorizing not only what the music sounds like, but what it feels like to perform it.
Here is a list of all of the songs that the chorus has to memorize for this year’s show (including the languages that each song is in):
1. Tan buen ganadico(Castilian Spanish) 2. A vint-i-cinc de desembre(Catalan) 3. Lamma bada yatathanna(Arabic) 4. Quando el rey Nimrod(Ladino) 5. Children’s Songs: Gatatumba (Spanish); Matesha, matesha (Ladino); Tafta Hindi (Arabic) 6. Pues que tanto bien tenemos(Spanish) 7. New Year’s Prayer (Ladino) 8. Rodrigo Martinez(Castilian Spanish) 9 Bain el bareh we’el youm(Arabic) 10. El desembre congelat(Catalan) 11. Riu Riu Chiu(Castilian Spanish) 12. Ay luna que reluces(Castilian Spanish) 13. Cantiga 185: Poder a Santa Maria(Galician Portuguese) 14. Abinu Malkenu(Judeo Espagnol) 15. Hanuka(Ladino) 16. Ocho Kandelikas(Ladino) 17. Shalom Chaverim/Assalam wa aleikum(Hebrew and Arabic) 18. Qum Tara(Arabaic) 19. Siete modos de guisar las berenjenas(Ladino) 20. Hoy comamos y bebamos(Castilian Spanish) 21. Convidando esta la noche(Spanish)
Washington Revels Brass in their "practice room" at the Washington Episcopal School... the "family reunion" begins! Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller
Well, it certainly was a big weekend in the life of this year’s Christmas Revels production — the full cast (adults, teens, children, musicians, and actors) finally has an opportunity to work through the entire show… in costume! The “November weekend” at the Washington Episcopal School is also notable because it is the first time that we get together each year with our wonderful brass quintet. As Music Director, I can tell you that we have THE BEST brass quintet! Not only are they great musicians, but they are family. In fact, they consider each Christmas Revels run (since they started with us in 1996) to be a “family reunion.”
Sharon Tiebert Maddox playing her french horn. By day, Sharon is the Director of Strategic Operations in the Office of the Vice President at Johns Hopkins University. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller
Led by Robert Posten (the guy with the beard, above, playing the bass trombone), this group has performed under many “names” over the years — Boar’s Head Brass (2007), Belsnickel Brass (2006), Royall Noyse Brass (2004), Trombadori i Firenze (2009), Puddletown Brass (2010), and more — I wonder what their name will be this year??? Other members of the group are Robert Birch (trumpet), David Cran (trumpet), Sharon Tiebert Maddox (french horn), and Ben Fritz (trombone).
Prior to their yearly gig with The Christmas Revels, these musicians were known as the Annapolis Brass Quintet (at least, most of them). America’s first full-time performing brass ensemble, this group spent twenty-two years (from 1971 to 1993) playing in all fifty states and throughout Europe, the Orient, the Middle East, Central America and Canada. Learn more about them at http://www.annapolisbrass.com/ (and you can even see some great photos of the group).
The next time we see the brass will be on Sunday at our run through at the Sidwell Friends School, and then we all move into Lisner Auditorium on Monday. I will be sure to get some candid shots of the group in their dressing room. There are two features that I look forward to each year: 1. A photo retrospective (group photo) from each year that they have performed in The Christmas Revels; and 2. Lots and lots of baked goods and chocolate treats… the brass room is a great place to get a little “nosh” during the show. Stay tuned …
Tonight at 7:30pm, Trio Sefardi will be presenting a special concert at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church. This will be Washington Revels’ second “salon-concert” presented in conjunction with the 2011 Christmas Revels show–offering a great opportunity to hear and interact with our guest musicians in a more intimate setting than Lisner Auditorium. Tickets are available online or at the door tonight.
Trio Sefardi
Performers Howard Bass, Tina Chancey and Susan Gaeta share a love of and a wide-ranging experience with Sephardic music. Its members have performed and recorded with La Rondinella, the Western Wind, and with NEA National Heritage Fellowship awardee Flory Jagoda, the renowned Sephardic singer and composer, who will be joining them tonight in this very special performance.
Trio Sefardi (Howard Bass, Susan Gaeta and Tina Chancey)
Trio Sefardi combines a respect for tradition with a creative approach to arranging and scoring to bring the vibrant past into the living present. After making their Washington-area debut on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in November 2010, the trio is now releasing their first recording, Sefardic Celebration this month! In fact, if you attend tonight’s salon-concert, you will have an opportunity to purchase one of the first copies of this new CD (Hear audio excerpts from their new CD online).
Learn more about the performers in tonight’s concert:
Flory Jagoda (from the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Web site)
Learn More
What is Sephardic Music?
Music of the Sephardic Jews, including traditional songs encompass ballads, romances and wedding songs that were passed on orally and sung originally in various Iberian languages (Castilian, Catalan, Galician, etc.), as well as Hebrew.
Who are the Sephardim (Sephardic Jews)?
Those Jews whose roots can be traced to the Iberian Peninsula where Jews first appeared in the early years following the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and exile from the Holy Land. There are references to a Jewish presence in Iberia from the time of Solomon, when Jewish adventurers sailed the Mediterranean Sea. The first notated date is 79 AD. Spanish Jews in Iberia lived in relatively good times under Moorish rule during the 10th and 11th centuries when Islamic power was at its zenith. Jewish physicians, advisors, diplomats and financiers were important participants in the Islamic Courts in Spain. They were classed as politically neutral and used as arbitrators in all disputes between Muslims and Christians.
Information on Sephardic culture excerpted from Susan Gaeta’s Web site (www.susangaeta.com)
Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!
Daphna Mor playing the Ney. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller
As I mentioned previously, we have two guest artist groups joining us for this year’s Christmas Revels show. Over the next few days, I would like to profile each separate musician so you all can learn a bit more about them and the many talents and skills they bring to our show.
Daphna Mor is originally from Tel Aviv, Israel, and began her music studies at the age of eight. She graduated as the valedictorian of her class in the Boston Conservatory of Music for recorder performance. She plays all size recorders from the sopranino to bass recorder. In other words, she is a master recorder player who specializes in early music of the Rennaissance and Baroque era. But, I guess that just wasn’t enough…
In that spirit, over the last several years she has also included in her wind collection, the snakecharming sounds of the crumbhorn, the turkish outdoor party instrument, the Zurna, the melodica, and has been specializing in the classical Arabic flute, called the ney. As part of Layali El Andalus, Daphna plays various neys and recorders.
When Daphna worked with the chorus on October 29 (with Rachid Halihal), she told us all about the ney. First of all, it is hard to play (really hard…) — you have to both blow into the mouthpiece as well as over the mouthpiece so that 50% of the air will go in and the other 50% out. This is why it is played from the side of the mouth. The ney is made of a hollow cane or reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. Daphna explained to us that she had a different ney for every key that she plays in (as evidenced in the bag of instruments shown below).
Daphna's bag of recorders and neys. Photo by Elizabeth Fulford Miller.
Daphna will be featured in the 2011 Christmas Revels, playing the ney, as part of the Layali El Andalus group. But, we are very lucky that Daphna is also a master recorder artist, and she will be featured in many of the Spanish Renaissance pieces in the show as well. Did I spark your interest? If so, here are some links to learn more:
