YIDDISH SONG WORKSHOP
WITH A GLEZELE TEY

Join members of A Glezele Tey for an afternoon of singing Yiddish folk songs and learning about Ashkenazi music & culture, with live musical accompaniment! From old classics to newly written melodies, we will explore the breadth and depth of the Yiddish song movement and the current surge of creativity & cross-generational collaboration happening today! Songbooks will be provided, and participants will come away with the tools to continue singing and creating new interpretations, translations, and songs of their own. No prior knowledge of Yiddish needed—all are welcome!
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Ariel Shapiro (accordion, vocals) is a klezmer accordionist, composer, and cultural organizer based in so-called Northampton, Massachusetts. Ariel believes deeply in the transformative power of music and art that is centered around community and intergenerational relationship-building, rooted in culturally-informed history and artistic practices, and committed to justice and collective care work. Ariel is a founding member of klezmer bands A Glezele Tey and Burikes, and a core organizer of the People’s Puppet Parade, a community-devised spectacle theater production exploring radical histories and communal expressions of grief and joy. Ariel is also a core organizer of KlezCummington, an annual festival dedicated to the creation and deepening of Yiddish diasporic music and cultures. Drawing from old Yiddish prayers (tkhines) and Ashkenazic expressive cultures, Ariel composes new works to be sung in the streets, around kitchen tables, and anywhere they can help tear down systems of injustice to build a frayer velt—a freer world.

Rachel Leader (violin) is passionate about cultivating vibrant community-led spaces, and is a klezmer violinist, cultural organizer, and educator based in Northampton, MA. She is a founding member of the critically acclaimed klezmer quartet Mamaliga, performing and teaching internationally at Yiddish Summer Weimar, KlezKanada, and Yiddish New York. Rachel is also a founder, violinist, and producer of the Magid Ensemble’s “Shterna & The Lost Voice,” an immersive musical storytelling production that transports audiences into the rich world of Yiddish folklore. Rachel received the 2021 Klezmer New Leaders Fellowship from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and is a founding member of in-demand klezmer bands Burikes, A Glezele Tey, among other projects. She also regularly performs with Chaia (Kleztronica), blending house and techno grooves with electric fiddle and archival samples to create innovative soundscapes of Jewish diasporic identity. Rachel is the co-founder and director of KlezCummington, an annual klezmer festival dedicated to the creation and deepening of Yiddish diasporic music and cultures hosted on her family’s land in Cummington, MA.​

Richie Barshay (percussion, vocals) began drumming inside kitchen cabinets at an early age, and continues banging on things worldwide to this day. From his multi-percussion work with Herbie Hancock in the 2000s, to tours and recordings with Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, The Klezmatics, Fred Hersch, and Kenny Werner, he’s been dubbed “a major rhythm voice on the rise” by Downbeat magazine, and “a major innovator who also knows how to have fun” by The Guardian (UK). He’s also performed with Natalie Merchant, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Donald Harrison, Lionel Loueke, Julian Lage, the Curtis Brothers, Joey Weisenberg, Gabriel Kahane, Pete Seeger, and the Tony Award winning musical The Band’s Visit on Broadway and national tour. Since 2004 he’s traveled across 5 continents teaching and performing as an American Musical Envoy with the U.S. State Department, and can be heard on over 90 recordings including two self-produced albums: Sanctuary featuring Chick Corea (2014), and Homework featuring Herbie Hancock (2004). Based in Northampton, Massachusetts and New York City, he is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher helping performing artists and others regain more body-mind coordination and ease of movement.

Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes.