Special night of music planned to mark Israel’s 70th anniversary

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Arts Emanu-El will present a musical extravaganza, “Happy 70th Anniversary, Israel: Let’s Sing the Songs of Our People!” on May 6 at 7 p.m.

This joyous program, featuring two special guest musicians, celebrates the seven decades since a Jewish state was created. The program will focus on the founders’ dreams of a homeland for all our people, wherever they were scattered all over the world. 

The song list for “Happy 70th Anniversary, Israel” comes from our diverse cultural heritage, including music from the pioneers in Israel, the Jews of Eastern Europe who made aliyah to the new homeland and the Jews of the Middle East who left Arab nations and found refuge in the new state. 

Some of the songs were written in the 20th century and some go back centuries. They represent a variety of tonalities, harmonies and rhythms. 

Many talented people are coming together to make music for this celebration. Members of Temple Emanu-El’s choral groups, adults from Shir Emanu-El and teens from HaZamir will sing songs of the Eastern European and Israeli pioneers’ experiences. Special guest musicians Cantor George Mordecai and Prof. Hankis Netsky, along with eight band members, will perform songs in the Iraqi Jewish tradition.

Mordecai was born in Sydney, Australia, to Iraqi and Indian-Jewish immigrants. He worked as a cantor in Sydney, Philadelphia, Miami and Stamford, Connecticut, before becoming the cantor at Temple Israel Center, in White Plains, New York. 

He has performed Jewish liturgical music in concert halls and synagogues in England, Paris, Israel and various cities around the United States.  

Netsky is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and scholar who teaches improvisation and Jewish music. He is the founder of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, an internationally renowned Yiddish music ensemble. He has taught Jewish music at Hebrew College and Wesleyan University and has lectured throughout the United States, Canada and Europe  on klezmer music.

Netsky was a consultant, arranger and a featured performer for the international broadcast of “To Life! America Celebrates Israel’s 50th.” His film scores include “Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem” (2014), among many others.       

All are welcome at Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, on Sunday, May 6, at 7 p.m., for this program.

Call the temple at 401-331-1616 for a link for tickets, $15 in advance or $20 at the door. 

PAMELA HANZEL is chair of Arts Emanu-El at Temple Emanu-El in Providence.

Temple Emanu-El, Israel