Shalom in Szeroka - Krakow Jewish Culture Festival 2013 Finale (06.07)

Shalom in Szeroka street is an annual marathon of music, a feast of love that ends the biggest Jewish Culture Festival in the world. Thousands of people every year come to this open air concert to celebrate, dance, sing together, no matter the age, sex, color of skin, place of birth or religion.

The evening was created for the most part by the same groups that played during the week in the Tempel Synagogue. The festival's scope is to show the Jewish culture as diversified, as modern and as alive as possible. Seven concerts of Jewish music and no klezmer music whatsoever. Instead you get a band like DeLeon from Mexico city, a psychodelic indie group whose music is rooted in the ancient sephardic tradition.

Later in the evening the power trio Boom Pam takes you on the wild surf session as hard rock guitar rides the wave of powerful and heavy bass drum beats and the  and tuba riffs. Boom Pam participates in the guitar rock revival but distinguishes itself from many other bands with the surprising instrumentation and eastern flavour.

But the most most inspiring and quite symbolic performance of the night, was given by the Diwan Saz. A group which embodies the ideals of the Festival - diversity and mutual respect. Diwan Saz marries together two great traditions that coexist in the Holy Land - that of jewish and muslim music (persian, kurdish, turkish and many others). 

The songs are sung together by the rabbi David Menachem and muezzin Saead Tarbiye, whose powerful voice, rising above the instruments, demands almost undivided attention. That same singer, the night before, along with the crazy baritoninst Zach Mayer led a couple hours long hypnotic groove marathon during the midnite jam session at Alchemia. 

A true music of peace and harmony. To see a rabbi and muezzin dance together on stage, that's as good a miracle as you can witness.

I invite you yet another time to check the festival's web video player (I've no idea how much longer it will be available) and you can check as well the energetic, ethno-fusion music of Ensemble Yaman as well as Jon Madof's Zion80 band that merges the melodies of Shlomo Carlebach with the arrangaments in the style of Fela Kuti. The last band to play, joined for the emotional finale by all the artists of the festival.

I'd like to thank all the artists, volunteers, organizers, technicians, staff members and participants of Jewish Culture Festival 2013 - to all the people involved in any sort of a way in making this festival a reality - it was a beautiful time.


Shalom at Szeroka Street. Krakow Jewish Festival. 06.07.2013.
among the groups:
DeLeon: Daniel Saks (voice, banjo), Fausto Palma (guitar), Dante Pimentel (bass), Rodrigo Barbosa (percussion), Cynthia Martinez (cello), Marina de Ita (accordion).

Boom Pam: Uri Brauner Kinrot (guitar, voice), Itamar Levi (drums), Yuval Zolotov (tuba); guest : Kutiman (keyboards, percussion)

Diwan SazL Yochai Barak (saz, baglama; msucial director), Udi Ben Knaan (oud, saz), Itzhak Ventura (ney, clarinet), Tzipora El Rei (voice), Aviv Bahar (kopuz, guitar), Eyal Lumen (kanun, percussion), Rani Lorentz (bass guitar), Rabin David Menachem (voice), Said Tarabiyeh (voice)