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E Promo Portfolio
bio | audio | reviews | photos | venues | presskit
Here you will find press info, band bio, audio clips and hi-res photos all in one place. To explore the different aspects of Asefa, please visit the pages on this website by following the menu to the left.
download full presskit
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Asefa Bio:
Asefa was founded in 2001 by bandleader and composer Samuel R Thomas. From the Hebrew word for an assembly or collective, Asefa brings together diverse worlds in the spirit of gathering and community. The music is a blend of North African grooves and song traditions with passionate and innovative composition and improvisation. This is Mitteleuropean proto-blues. This is music that honors both ritual and experimentation, reminding us of the vitality and variety within the Jewish tradition -- a tradition that is, given the Diaspora, everyone's to a degree. Listen and trace your own roots, whatever they are.
The core collective includes Samuel R Thomas: winds, percussion, voice and composition; Noah Jarrett: bass and guimbri (sentir); Yoshie Fruchter: oud and guitar; Richard Stein: Middle Eastern and African percussion; Eric Platz: drums and percussion.
Asefa creates a fresh sound that moves your mind, body and spirit. One might call this a musical journey, but that's too mushy. Anthropological? Too dry. Asefa celebrates a living and indomitable music that pops up everywhere, on various continents, in rural and cosmopolitan forms. This is alt-country like you've never heard it. This is jazz from unexpected contexts.
Reviews:
Jerusalem Post | Klezmershack | NYC Jewish Music
Hi-Res Photos:
Click the thumbnails to download high resolution photos for printing.
Audio:
 Halleluyah
Largo
Rabat Vermont
Djemaa El Fnaa (Extended)
Archive of Venues:
BAM Cafe www.bam.org
The Blue Note www.bluenote.net | Listen...
Brooklyn Arab Music Festival 2008 www.brooklynartscouncil.org
Brooklyn Historical Society - Roundtable: Arab Music Traditions and Their History in Brooklyn Listen...
Sha'abi Shake Down @ Sultana, Williamsburg
Sephardic Music Festival Sephardic Scholarship Series www.sephardicmusicfestival.com
Indiana University, Bloomington Opening concert for the Sephardic Initiative and class visit to Jewish Studies
Laila Lounge Bridging the Divide Benefit Concert
Center for Jewish History Moroccan Dream-weavers
Temple Beth Torah (Board of Jewish Education)
Makor
Congregation Beth Shalom JATM workshop
Jewish Music Cafe www.jewishmusiccafe.com
Southpaw www.spsounds.com
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