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Pre-Festival Events
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Mondays, September 10-October 8, 6-8PM
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco |
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Discover Jazz dives into the colorful mythology and history of jazz, swinging right into the music’s key figures, recordings, forms, and ideas. Each class hits upon essential concepts that, when taken as a complete series, give any fan the ability to hear between the lines of great jazz performances.Presented at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, by SFJAZZ’s Director of Education, Cory Combs, the Discover Jazz series is your bridge to a deeper understanding of jazz—its history, musicians, and enduring culture. |
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"Coltrane: The Story of a Sound"
Tuesday, September 18, 6PM
Great American Music Hall |
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Influential N.Y. Times critic Ratliff celebrates the publication date of his new book, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, in this fascinating SFJAZZ Members–only evening of discussion and guided listening. Ratliff delves into both the music and the mystique that have made the name “Coltrane” synonymous with modern jazz. |
Festival Preview Concert
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“Electric Guitar Spotlight”
Saturday, September 22, 8PM
Masonic Center |
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“His speed, stamina, profound lyricism and his very presence in sound—all of this is wrought through his sublime mastery of the guitar.”—DownBeat (on McLaughlin)
For nearly 40 years, McLaughlin has earned near-godlike status on the guitar—especially the electric guitar—from Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew band to his own Mahavishnu Orchestra and beyond. He appears in fully electrified style, as on his powerful new CD, Industrial Zen. Guitarist and Tonight Show Music Director Kevin Eubanks opens the show with his own scintillating quartet. |
Week 1
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“Sacred Space”
Wednesday, October 17, 7:30PM
Grace Cathedral |
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“Probably the best tenor player in the world.”—Ornette Coleman
In the perfect marriage of artistry and ambience, living legend and Coltrane veteran Sanders reprises his sold-out 2006 “Sacred Space” performance, filling the majestic Grace nave with his “impossibly sweet and full tenor saxophone sound” (The Independent, London). |
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“Brazilian Moods”
Thursday, October 18, 7:30PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“The fountainhead of the modern jazz harmonica” – Boston Globe
From his standard “Bluesette” to the end-theme from Sesame Street, Thielemans’ harmonica has delighted generations. “An extraordinary improviser who can make the harmonica sing like Bird” (SF Chronicle), he returns with his now-classic guitar-and-piano trio, premiered at the 2000 Festival. |
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“Red Earth: A Malian Journey”
Friday, October 19, 8PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“Exuberant, ebullient, exhilarating.”—NPR
Hailed as “the most charismatic and accomplished jazz vocalist on the scene” (San Jose Mercury News), Grammy- and Tony Award-winner Bridgewater unites the sounds of jazz and the music of Mali, as on her spellbinding new CD Red Earth, “an astounding masterwork” (All Music Guide). |
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“New Work Showcase”
Friday, October 19, 8PM
Great American Music Hall |
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Two of the Bay Area’s most accomplished composer-performers present new works inspired by powerful women. Bassist Shelby’s “epic oratorio” (S.F. Chronicle) “Harriet Tubman: Bound for the Promised Land” celebrates the great abolitionist, while pianist Jang’s “Unbound Chinatown: A Musical Tribute to Alice Fong Yu” honors Yu, a groundbreaking Chinese American teacher in San Francisco. |
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“Cuban Dance Party”
Saturday, October 20, 8 & 10:30PM
Bimbo’s 365 Club (Ages 21+ only) |
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“The King of Cuban Cool” – The New York Times
The dance floor at Bimbo’s will be blazing as renowned Cuban singer Delgado unleashes his hard-swinging timba sound. A founding member of timba’s seminal group, NG La Banda, Delgado is famed for “innovation, improvisation, high musicianship and hard Afro-Cuban funk” (New York Times). |
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“New Sounds of Cape Verde”
Sunday, October 21, 2PM
Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor |
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“Tavares' voice is filled with sunshine and light”—LA Times
An instant worldwide sensation following the release of her 2006 debut CD, Balancê, singer-songwriter Tavares is “one of the most gifted of a new generation of artists building a contemporary Cape Verdean music that nonetheless remains firmly in touch with its roots” (Los Angeles Times). |
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“Piano Jazz Legend”
Sunday, October 21, 7PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“The most exciting, creative keyboard artist living.” – Melody Maker (UK)
A chief architect of the modern piano trio and a formative influence on no less a master than Miles Davis, Jamal is one of the last living giants of jazz’s “Golden Era.” In the Village Voice’s words: “No musician has had a more profound effect on the orchestral approach to small groups in the last 35 years than Ahmad Jamal.” |
Week 2
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“Monk’s Music”
Wednesday, October 24, 8PM
Great American Music Hall |
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“[T.S. Monk is] a first-rate drummer, unquenchably driving.”—Variety
The Festival salutes the timeless music of Thelonious Monk in this double-bill starring Monk’s son and namesake, the acclaimed drummer T.S. Monk, and SF’s own Monk’s Music Trio, “Monk acolytes, scholars and interpreters of the first order” (JazzTimes). |
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“New Work: World Premiere”
Thursday, October 25, 7:30PM | Friday, October 26, 8PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“Thought-provoking, ear-opening and just plain beautiful” – Seattle Times
Grammy-winning New Music pioneers Kronos Quartet are joined onstage by Wilco drummer and composer Glenn Kotche for the World Premiere of Kotche’s “Anomaly.” Plus: New works and guest appearances by multi-instrumentalist Walter Kitundu (in homage to Charles Mingus) and South Korean singer/dancer Dohee Lee. |
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“Downtown NYC Rising Star”
Saturday, October 27, 2PM
Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor |
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“An improviser with gusto.” – The New York Times
Hailed as “#1 Rising Star Clarinetist” in DownBeat’s 2007 Critics Poll, Cohen has established herself as one of the most versatile young multi-reedists on New York’s ever-inventive “Downtown” scene, combining jazz, Brazilian choro, Afro-Cuban styles, Argentinean tango, classical music, and more. |
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“Beacon Award Winner”
Saturday, October 27, 3PM Family
Matinee
Herbst Theatre |
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This shorter discount-priced matinee—designed especially for young attention spans— draws on the same repertoire as the evening show (see next box). |
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“SFJAZZ Beacon Award Concert”
Saturday, October 27, 8PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“A bandleader unlimited by musical styles.” – Modern Drummer
SFJAZZ salutes a stellar career: A virtuoso percussionist, Herbie Hancock and Santana veteran, and Latin music patriarch (father of Sheila E., Juan, and Peter Michael Escovedo), Escovedo is joined onstage by some of his most eminent colleagues.
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“New Orleans on Nob Hill”
Saturday, October 27, 8PM
Masonic Center |
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The “N’awlins” party of the year, with spicy gumbo in the lobby and three sets of Big Easy music legends onstage! Starring the immortal “Night Tripper,” Dr. John; the world-renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band; and NOLA’s greatest Mardi Gras Indian tribe, the Wild Magnolias. |
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“SFJAZZ Members-Only Concert”
SFJAZZ Members Only Event Become a Member
Sunday, October 28, 2PM
Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor |
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“Brilliant and spontaneous.” – The New York Times
Two-time Grammy nominee Terrasson makes his long-overdue Festival return in the wake of a new solo piano album, Mirror, “a self-portrait of the artist in full maturity” (Jazz, France)—a rare opportunity for SFJAZZ Members to catch this world-renowned artist in a jewel-box setting. |
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“The Master Maverick”
Sunday, October 28, 7PM
Masonic Center |
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“Nothing in jazz is more moving than the purity of Coleman’s sound and conception” –Village Voice
Fresh from a 2007 Pulitzer Prize (for his CD Sound Grammar) and a Lifetime Grammy, alto sax titan and lifelong trailblazer Coleman returns to the Festival with his Sound Grammar colleagues, bassist Tony Falanga and drummer (and son) Denardo, along with Wynton Marsalis alum Charnett Moffett, and Prime Time veteran Al McDowell. |
Week 3
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“Live Jazz + Silent Film: Faust”
Wednesday, October 31, 8pm
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre |
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“One of the tightest ensembles around.”—All About Jazz
F. W. Murnau's Faust (1926), which tells the classic and chilling tale of a sorcerer who sells his soul to the Devil for knowledge, is one of the greatest silent films in history — a wildly imaginative classic of German Expressionism. SFJAZZ presents a special Halloween showing of this rarely-screened classic, with live jazz accompaniment by the acclaimed Willem Breuker Kollektief. |
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“Two Sides of Hersch”
Thursday, November 1, 7:30PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“A master who plays it his way.” – The New York Times
Witness two distinct sides (in two sets) of this “poet of a pianist” (The New Yorker): one set featuring Hersch’s acclaimed trio (bassist Ben Street and drummer Nasheet Waits); the other his equally lauded quintet featuring saxophonist Tony Malaby and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. |
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“SFJAZZ Commission Concert: 'In My Mind: Monk at Town Hall 1959'”
Friday, November 2, 8PM
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre |
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“One of jazz’s greatest new artists” – The New York Times
Acclaimed pianist/composer Moran takes his exploration of Thelonious Monk’s music (begun at SFJAZZ this spring) to extraordinary new heights with “In My Mind,” a multi-media work drawing on Monk archival rarities, co-commissioned by SFJAZZ and Duke University. |
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“Sitar Dynasty”
Friday, November 2, 8PM
Masonic Center |
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“The greatest living master of the sitar” – The New York Times
“Able to coax jaw-dropping beauty from his sitar” (The New Yorker), the great Ravi Shankar takes the stage with daughter and next-generation virtuoso Anoushka, an international rising star in her own right—a collaboration immortalized on the Grammy-winning Full Circle: Live at Carnegie Hall. |
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“The Third Quartet”
Saturday, November 3, 2PM
Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor |
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“Abercrombie continues to carve out a trend-free niche all his own.” – JazzTimes
A pioneer of the ethereal ECM Records sound, guitarist Abercrombie plays the genre-crossing repertoire from his new CD, Third Quartet, with an all-star band. All About Jazz calls the release "
an album of extraordinary transcendence that defies glib categorization; such is the supreme appeal of his music." |
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“New Brazil”CéU SOLD OUT*
Saturday, November 3, 8PM
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre |
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“CéU is the future of Brazilian Popular Music” – Jornal do Brasil
Nominated as “Best New Artist” at the 2006 Latin Grammys, Brazil’s CéU “traverses the rich musical terrain of her country while updating it with hip-hop and electronic touches” (Billboard), and is the first international artist in Starbucks/Hear Music’s “Debut CD” series. |
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“Vocal Rising Stars”
Saturday, November 3, 8PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“Naylor is the new voice of jazz-pop.”—Vogue
“Day continues to gleefully defy categorization”—SF Chronicle
Two of the most exciting and inventive new singers anywhere, from right here in the Bay Area: Naylor “smashes” pop, jazz, and rock into a genre all her own. Day, SF Weekly’s “Crooner of the Year,” conjures his own unique sound from classic jazz, modern pop, cabaret, and more. |
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“Art of the Trio”
Sunday, November 4, 2PM
Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor |
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“Original music that is soulful, meditative, and eccentric.” – DownBeat
Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen returns to the US behind his third ECM album, Being There. Stereophile Magazine called Gustavsen’s debut release, Changing Places, “an instant classic…the least grandstanding great jazz album since Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue.” |
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“Le Jazz Hot: The Music of Django Reinhardt”
(Note:
Paquito D’Rivera will not perform in 3pm show)
Sunday, November 4, 3PM Family
Matinee
Herbst Theatre |
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This shorter discount-priced matinee—designed especially for young attention spans— draws on the same repertoire as the evening show (see next box). |
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“Le Jazz Hot: The Music of Django Reinhardt”
Sunday, November 4, 7PM
Herbst Theatre |
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Guitar virtuoso Schmitt leads the swinging “gypsy jazz” group heard at the famed Django festival at NYC’s Birdland—joined, in this very special evening, by Grammy-winning clarinetist D’Rivera, “one of the premier reed stylists of the last 30 years” (JazzTimes). |
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“Desert Guitar Summit”
Sunday, November 4, 7PM
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre |
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“The best-known musical export from the Saharan desert.” – Guardian (UK) on Tinariwen
Gritty, soulful guitar riffs direct from the Sahara: World music rising stars Tinariwen fuse North African rhythms with raucous electric blues, as on their new CD, Aman Iman. Vieux Farka Touré, son of the late Malian guitar legend Ali, appears supporting a “nearly flawless” (Boston Globe) debut CD. |
Week 4
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“New Discoveries”
Wednesday, November 7, 8PM
Great American Music Hall |
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“Razor sharp soloing, whirlwind intensity and bountiful storylines.”
– All About Jazz on Happy Apple
Blurring the distinctions between genres, cutting-edge groups Happy Apple (Bad Plus drummer Dave King’s first band) and Kneebody merge indie rock, funk, blues, and jazz together with instrumental virtuosity.
Both come to the Festival behind powerful new albums, Happy Apple Back on Top and Kneebody's Low Electrical Worker. |
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“‘Collective’ Quartets”
Thursday, November 8, 7:30PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“One of the greatest musicians in jazz history.” – The New York Times on Lovano
Two SFJAZZ Collective members lead their own world-class bands! A musician of equal parts fire and grace, saxman Lovano has earned multiple DownBeat poll “Best Jazz Artist” honors. Rosnes is “one of the most imaginative and soulful pianists of modern jazz” (All About Jazz). |
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“Ritmo Latino”
Friday, November 9, 8PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“An unrivaled percussive triumvirate.” – Rhythm Magazine
Experience “the visceral appeal of drumming and the exotic rhythms at the heart of the Latin-jazz experience” (All About Jazz) with this trio of legendary congueros—“Hidalgo lightning fast, Candido…rock solid and muscular, Patato a minimalist with an unerring ear” (DownBeat). |
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“Generations of Jazz Piano”
Saturday, November 10, 8PM
Masonic Center |
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“One of the supreme lyricists of the modern jazz keyboard.” – The New York Times on Hancock
From Miles Davis’ ’60s quintet to his own jazz-funk Headhunters and beyond, Hancock has sculpted the sound of modern jazz. He also helped introduce the world to the “prodigious technique” (DownBeat) of Rubalcaba, who appears in a solo set and guests with Hancock. |
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“Vocal Mastery”
Saturday, November 10, 8PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“A hard-swinging, head-tripping, scat-singing jazz poet.” – Chicago Tribune on Kurt Elling
Two of jazz’s greatest voices, one unforgettable evening: DownBeat 2007 “Male Vocalist of the Year” Elling appears fresh from Nightmoves, “the most playful album of his career” (Variety). “Singer’s singer” King boasts “indefatigable scat chops and remarkably elastic range” (The Oregonian).
She appears with master pianist and melodica player Steve Christofferson. |
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“Premiere: ‘Traditions in Transition’”
Sunday, November 11, 3PM
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre |
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“[Santos is] the Latin music renaissance man” – San Francisco Chronicle
Percussion powerhouse and Bay Area Latin jazz legend Santos premieres his major work “Traditions in Transition”—a suite exploring the past, present, and future of Afro-Latin music—created in collaboration with arranger John Calloway and SFJAZZ’s own High School All-Stars, and joined by special guests. . |
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“World Voices: Portugal”
Sunday, November 11, 7PM
Palace of Fine Arts Theatre |
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“Portugal's eminent fado chanteuse” – Time International star Branco appears on the heels of a new live CD, infusing the nostalgia and longing of Portuguese fado with modern drama and glamour. “Even when she sings of desolation, Branco's delivery seems animated by the pleasure of recovering something lost” (Time). |
Week 5
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“World Voices: Brazil”
Saturday, November 17, 8PM
Masonic Center |
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“One of the greatest songwriters of the [20th] century” – The New York Times
Grammy-winner and world music superstar Veloso’s first Festival performance since his sold-out 2004 show! A founder of Brazil’s genre-crossing Tropicália movement in the ’60s, he continues to blend new styles in the 21st century—as heard on his rock-inflected new CD, Cê. |
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“World Voices: Senegal”
Friday, November 30, 8PM
Masonic Center |
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“One of the world’s greatest singers”—New York Times
His clarion voice “a supple weapon deployed with prophetic authority” (New York Times), N’Dour gained early worldwide fame singing on Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Now a giant of world music, he unites Senegalese, Afro-Cuban, and other musics in an exhilarating mix. |
Special Winter Concerts
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“World Voices: Israel”
Sunday, December 9, 7PM
Herbst Theatre |
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“The leading female singer in Israel, with a voice full of tenderness”—New York Times
Singer/songwriter Alberstein is a living legend in her homeland, with a career spanning 40 years and 50 albums—many of them “platinum.” Her music “pays homage to the past while engaging with the present, [evoking] both a bygone Eastern European universe and modern Israel” (Billboard). |
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