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Meet Susan Gaeta

Susan Gaeta in her costume of many colors.
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”).

Learn more about Susan Gaeta by visitng her Web site.

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Ocho Kandelas Para Mi

Trio Sefardi and Flory Jagoda perform. Photo: Helen Fields

Last night at the Trio Sefardi concert we had the privilege of hearing Flory Jagoda sing her song “Ocho Kandelikas.” Trio Sefardi are playing in this year’s Christmas Revels; they’re the specialists in Sephardic music.

The members of Trio Sefardi all learned from Flory, a wonderfully talented musician who lives here in the D.C. area. Flory was born in Bosnia in the 1920s and came to the U.S. after the Second World War. She’s not joining us for the exhausting weeks of rehearsals and performances we have coming up, so this was a special occasion.

For about half of the concert, Flory sang, played guitar and percussion, and told stories about her childhood in Bosnia. Like the one about the aunts who knitted sweaters; one of them always made the sleeves too short and one made the sleeves too long. So if you met someone with a new sweater, you could tell which aunt made it.

“Ocho Kandelikas” is a counting song about the eight candles of Hanukkah. A “kandela” is a candle, so a “kandelika” is a little candle. The chorus goes “Una kandelika, dos kandelikas, tres kandelikas….” We’ve learned a version arranged by Trio Sefardi member Tina Chancey, so it was so exciting to hear Flory singing her composition tonight.

You may wish to study, because this is one of the times when the audience gets to sing along.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!

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Sefardic Celebration!

Sefardic Celebration CD Cover
Sefardic Celebration CD Cover (Trio Sefardi)

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
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:

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!

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Greetings from Music Land

Rachid Halihal and Daphna Mor of Layali El Andalus working with the Washington Revels adults and teens
Rachid Halihal and Daphna Mor of Layali El Andalus working with the Washington Revels adults and teens

One month from now, we will be opening The Christmas Revels in Lisner Auditorium!  Whoa…

Over here in “music land,” there are lots of moving parts this year.  First, there is the chorus — made up of adults and teens, and numbering about 55.  We have been learning music in Spanish, Catalan, Judeo-Spanish (otherwise, known as Ladino), and Arabic.  We have been rehearsing since the beginning of September, but things are really picking up now!  This year, we have two groups of specialist musicians (in addition to the fabulous Washington Revels brass), and we have already gotten to work with both of them.

Last weekend, Layali El Andalus came down from New York City to  teach us their music, and then they performed in a salon-concert that evening.  You can learn more about them at http://revelsdc.org/revels2011/layalielandalus.html.  They are fantastic musicians and really great teachers.  We had lots of fun learning their music.

Last night, we had a visit from Trio Sefardi (Howard Bass, Tina Chancey and Susan Gaeta).  They specialize in Sephardic music (music of the Spanish Jews).  Howard plays lute and guitar, Susan sings and plays guitar, and Tina… well, she plays just about everything (there will be more about her later).  Learn more about these great musicians here: http://revelsdc.org/revels2011/triosefardi.html.  They will be presenting a salon-concert with Sephardic singer, Flory Jagoda, on November 17.

Meanwhile, we have an amazing group of children, busily learning their music — and guess what, they sing in Spanish, Catalan, Ladino, and Arabic too!  And we have lots of guitars (who happen to be members of our chorus), and some fiddlers, and a recorder player… so, stay tuned for lots more about this year’s music.

Want more information on the show or to buy tickets? Click here!