VIDEOS:
Recap video of the festival in LA: https://www.youtube.com/watch
Ovation TV profile on the festival (Teaser): http://youtu.be/2xailXHLqyw
SMF Promo clip: http://youtu.be/O95V1vfseWY
ALBUMS:
Here are volume 1 & 2 of the SMF compilations, which include songs from everyone from Matisyahu, Yasmin Levy to Axum and Watcha Clan.
SELECTED QUOTES:
“This Hanukkah fest wants to school us in Jewish music—and not just your grandpa’s klez.” – Time Out NY
“eclectic lineup of traditional and contemporary artists, including many dedicated to fusing disparate sounds or bridging new and old.” – The NY Times
“Thanks to events like the Sephardic Music Festival, the sounds of Sephardic Jewry are at last beginning to get their due.” – The Forward
“For most New Yorkers, “Jewish music” means klezmer: plaintive fiddles, wailing clarinets and other vestiges of a largely vanished Eastern European culture. But at the Sephardic Music Festival, a New York City tradition…, the world of Jewish music gets explored from an entirely different angle, focusing on the aural legacy of Jewish communities from Spain and the Muslim world.” – The Jerusalem Post
“Our Hannukkah-side suggestion is the annual Sephardic Music Festival…look at this festival as the un-Ashkenazi festival.” – National Public Radio, WNYC
“In 1942, Columbus sailed the ocean blue – and Spain and Portugal cast out their native Jews, now known as Sepharadim. Some of those exiled folks picked up Balkan rhythms and Middle Eastern percussion in their new homes, adding global influence to existing Sephardic sounds. This five-day fest focuses on that musical tradition and history, with a concert that fuses Iberian staples with tango, a story slam invoking diasporic trials and dozens of international bands and solo performers reinterpreting centuries-old folk tunes.” – Time Out
SELECTED PRESS: (click publication name to view article)
THE NY TIMES feature on the Sephardic Music Festival & Erez Safar
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL feature on the Sephardic Music Festival & Erez Safar
LA WEEKLY feature on the Sephardic Music Festival with Producer, Erez Safar a.k.a. Diwon on the cover of its event section
JEWISH JOURNAL feature story and interview on the Sephardic Music Festival
TIME OUT LA feature on the Sephardic Music Festival Teaser
TIME OUT NY feature on the Sephardic Music Festival
YNET, ISRAEL’S NEWSWIRE writes a feature on SMF and its CD Compilation (click here)
BROOKLYN VEGAN feature on the festival, its opening night with Moshav and the music video we produced with Moshav and Matisyahu!
TIMES OF ISRAEL feature on SMF founder, Erez Safar
NPR/WNYC feature on Nuriya Sephardic Music Festvial’s opening night headliner
CHANNEL 11 Morning Show with Kosha Dillz freestylin about SMF