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The New Shul rings in the holiday of Shavuot on June 1st with the fifth annual edition of the Kumah: Rise Up Festival with a marathon evening of faith, politics, art, activism and live music at Theater For The New City (155 First Ave, Manhattan).
Curated by artistic directors Frank London (GRAMMY Award-winning Composer/Trumpeter of The Klezmatics) and Daphna Mor (leader of award winning Sephardic music ensemble East of the River), the festival will present over 50 musicians, artists and speakers from different faiths and backgrounds on one stage. These musicians represent diverse styles and traditions from around the world, ranging from klezmer to jazz to gnawa and more, including Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, Daphna Mor, Saha Gnawa, Mireya Ramos, Basya Schechter + Shaul Magid’s Kabbalachia, Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir, Zafer Tawil, Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane’s BirdHeart, Jeremiah Lockwood, Raquy Danziger, The AC Rose Band, Impress, Diana Jones, Rabbi Misha Shulman and New Shul Band, and more.
"This is truly a dream come true", Daphna Mor explains. "Assembling a lineup of inspiring artists who we have admired for many years. Original voices at the highest artistic level who are also ambassadors of spiritual and social messages. Whether you join us for few hours or for an entire night of music, action, and learning, I know you will feel part of the collective and movement for change and hope!
"At its heart, this year’s Kumah Festival is a one-night music festival featuring artists who represent a wide range of musical traditions," Frank London adds, "American song, Broadway cabaret, Mariachi, Moroccan Gnawa, Yiddish Klezmer, singing and drumming. Music with heart and spirit. Artists unified in their commitment to using their music as a tool for protest, for celebration, for solace, for building community. We hope that you will join us on June 1st for the Kumah Festival “Rise Up’, an unforgettable night. Come early or late, stay into the wee hours, wander in and out as you like. It’s a Conscious Party!"
The evening, co-hosted by Jenny Romaine and Baba Israel, will also feature speakers including Rabbi Abby Stein, Rabbi Shaul Magid, and Rabbi Misha Shulman, visual artists, including photographers Gili Getz and Itamar Dotan Katz and protest art by Julie Peppito; dance works by Amanda Treiber + Co and Kanon Sugino; and such community groups as Israelis for Peace, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), Partners for Progressive Israel, and more.
The Kumah: Rise Up Festival celebrates the holiday of Shavuot, which marks receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, and includes a Kabbalistic tradition of staying up all night studying Torah. The New Shul adapts this tradition into making music and art late into the night - primarily Jewish and other spiritual music - while inspiring work toward peace and resistance.
The New Shul’s Rabbi Misha Shulman explains the inspiration for this year’s edition of the festival: “We who see our faith world as a creative endeavor of compassion and care are in a war over the definition of our respective traditions. Like the many Israelis and Palestinians who feel as though their religious traditions have been kidnapped by extremists, many New Yorkers look at America and feel the same. This year’s Kumah Festival provides an opportunity for us to assert the vision of brotherhood and sisterhood at the heart of our faith traditions, through the connective power of music. Stop the war on Gaza. Stop the war on immigrants. Let the ancestral rhythms and the blazing horns stir us to action and love.”