FA_TSS_Galeet Dardashti in performance_color
The Sweetest Song Festival (TSS), 12 concerts and 8 singing master classes to be held at various Brooklyn venues in Spring 2014, explores a range of singing traditions as practiced and performed in Brooklyn immigrant and diaspora communities. TSS is designed to engage a diverse audience of New Yorkers in a creative, cross-cultural exchange with some of the finest traditional singers living in Brooklyn.Singing is at the center of traditional family and community life for Brooklynites of all backgrounds. It is the art form perhaps most widely practiced and appreciated within community, and yet traditional songs—from Georgian table songs and Dominican salves to Carnatic Hindu devotional songs and Balkan laments—are rarely shared across cultures or with the general public. TSS fills this gap, creating an unprecedented opportunity for audiences to learn about a wide range of song traditions continued by their Brooklyn neighbors.Songs will be presented by masters of culturally-specific song traditions, such as Winston “Jeggae” Hoppie, a leading performer of Guyanese kweh-kweh songs, Eva Primack, the renowned singer of Balkan music, and Jose Ortiz, an acclaimed Puerto Rican bombero. Most TSS concerts afford the opportunity for audiences to learn a bit of a song and sing it together. Brooklyn singers can sign up for master classes, to be held at the Brooklyn Music School, taught by some our TSS performing artists.Every culture claims “the sweetest song” is theirs, but in Brooklyn, the sweetest song is ours!The Sweet Song FestivalApril 26 through May 27, 2014.Brooklyn’s Sweetest Songs: A Traditional Song Sampler Saturday, April 26, 2014, 4-5:30pm Brooklyn Public Library, Central, Dweck Auditorium. 10 Grand Army PlazaEncounter with Hindu Devotional Singing Sunday, April 27, 9-11pm Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St., West Village, Manhattan *No admission fee for the show but the café charges a $10 minimum on food/drink.Singing the Gods: Songs of Devotion, Praise and Invocation Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 11am-12:30pm Brooklyn College, Woody Tanger Auditorium inside Brooklyn College Library; enter at Campus Road and Hillel PlaceYoung Traditionalists: Rocking Their Roots. Pete Seeger Tribute Concert Friday, May 2, 7-9:30pm Brooklyn Music School Auditorium Theater, Brooklyn Music School, 126 St Felix StPakastani Encounter: Midwood’s Master Ghazal and Thumri Singers Saturday, May 3, 2014, 7:30-10:30pm Royal Catering Hall, 818 Coney Island Avenue * Food + Music inclusive at $20Ballads, Blues, and Banana Boat Songs Thursday, May 8, 2014, 6:30-8:30pm Jalopy Music Theatre, 315 Columbia St. (Red Hook)Persian and Balkan Break-out! Brooklyn Singers Expanding Traditions Saturday, May 10, 2014, 9-10:30pm BAM Café at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette AveMothersongs: Traditional Singing by, for, and about Mothers Sunday, May 11, 2014, 1-3 pm Actors Fund Arts Center,160 Schermerhorn St.Haitian Encounter: Traditional Vodou Songs Collected by Georges Vilson Wednesday, May 14, 7-9pm City Lore Performance Space, 56 East First St.Sung Among Friends: Intimate Georgian and Yiddish Singing Traditions Thursday, May 15, 7-9pm City Lore Performance Space, 56 East First St.Brooklyn Masters of Traditional Song Saturday, May 17, 2014, 4-5:30pm Brooklyn Public Library, Central, Dweck Auditorium. 10 Grand Army PlazaSinger-to-Singer Master Classes Tuesday evenings May 6, May 13, May 20, and May 27 from 6:30-9pm Two classes per night (6:30-7:15pm and 7:30-8:45pm) Brooklyn Music School, 126 St Felix St **This programs was curated by former BAC Folk Arts Director, Dr. Kay Turner.**