This Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., Congregation Adath Israel presents "A Jewish A Cappella Concert" featuring Magevet (Yale) and Shir Appeal (Tufts). Both groups have a long history of performing on campus, in Congregations and concert halls in the United States and around the world. The concert takes place in the small sanctuary on the first floor of the synagogue. If you look closely at the poster above, you'll see that the concert is being billed as "Elephants and Towels" - read on.
Shir Appeal (pictured above) was founded in 1995 and is the only mixed-gender vocal group on the Tufts campus. They perform a wide range of material, from Israeli classics (such as "Yerushalayam Shel Zahav" to Sabbath prayers ("Lecha Dodi") to contemporary songs ("Like The Dawn" by The Oh Hellos) by arranged by members and former members of the ensemble. The mix of voices, harmonies, beats, and more makes Shir Appeal's music attractive to listeners of all ages and faiths. The ensemble has issued 10 CDs with the latest being 2016's "Perspective." To find out more, go to www.shirappeal.com. Tufts University mascot is Jumbo the Elephant - go to www.tufts.edu/about/jumbo to find out more about the monicker and the story behind it.
Magevet (above) has also been in existence since the mid-1990s, one of many vocal groups on the Yale campus. Their repertoire also ranges from liturgical melodies to contemporary Israeli pop songs to pieces sung in Ladino (a combination of Spanish and Portuguese with Hebrew, Aramaic, Ottoman Turkish languages) to Yiddish classics. Various versions of Magevet, (a Hebrew word that translates to "towel" - maybe they will explain - well, they better), have recorded eight albums since 1995, the latest being "Naveh Katan (a Small Oasis)" released in late 2016. For more information, go to magevet.weebly.com.
The concert is free and open to the public. Thanks goes to the Edythe and Arthur Director Family Music Fund for sponsoring the concert. The goal of the Fund is to provide members of the Adath Israel community as well as the Greater Middletown community access to entertainment from around the world, artists and performers who work to illustrate the great scope of Jewish culture.
Parking directly behind Adath Israel, 8 Broad Street, is not allowed but there is plenty of free on-street parking as well as several parking lots in the area (for instance, the lot behind the former Wesleyan bookstore on William Street or several lots off of Church Street).
For more information, call the Synagogue office at 860-346-4709.
I was glad to read another article from Richard Kamins. I used to read his weekly arts column when he wrote for The Hartford Courant. Plus, I like his weekly radio shows on WLIS/WMRD. I like when he pretends to his his head on the air during Ed Henry's Polish Melodies show. Still very funny.
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