Advance tickets can be purchased in person at the Freight box office.

Join us for opening night of the 26th Jewish Music Festival as Israeli band Yemen Blues makes their North American debut with an exciting melding of ancient Ye- menite and Saharan melodies, blues, jazz, and funk, and modern composition.

Founder and composer Ravid Kahalani, born in Israel to a Temanim (Yemenite-Jewish) family of singers, learned the language and traditional chants of his ancestors. In adolescence he explored blues and West African soul, becoming enchanted with Serbian Orthodox church music and opera in his twenties. After touring with the Israeli musician, Idan Raichel's self-named project, a distinctive melange of electronic, traditional Hebrew texts, and Ethiopian music, Ravid joined forces with the exceptional bassist/oud player/composer Omer Avital, and together they assembled Yemen Blues, a supergroup of top musicians from New York, Israel, and Uruguay.

Other members of the ensemble include jazz trombonist Avi Lebovich, classical violist Galia Hal, and Middle Eastern percussionist Yohai Cohen. Ravid's percussion, lyrics, and vocals add to a com- plex musical score punctuated with raw emotion, rolling rhythms, and the variegated echoes of the desert. "Yemen is a language you will understand no matter where you come from", says Ravid, who considers the ensemble as the powerful outcome of his own musical journey.

Visit the Yemen Blues website

Visit the Jewish Music Festival website

Listen to a track from Yemen Blues: