Aleynu. New Video From LENKA LICHTENBERG Is Upon Us!

'Aleynu' is a Hebrew prayer that concludes most Jewish services. The word itself means "it is upon us". Now, this sacred ancient liturgy is set to a stunning new video, which unites the visionary music of award-winning Canadian world-roots soprano Lenka Lichtenberg with the visual talents of Toronto-based videography agency Unikron.

Directed by Sergio Lasky of Unikron, with cinematography and editing by the award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Danilo Baracho, the ‘Aleynu' video is given a powerful visual gravitas by three distinctive locations: Kiever Synagogue in Kensington Market, which is the oldest standing synagogue in Toronto and also the very first building of Jewish significance to receive designation by the province of Ontario as a historical site; the sanctuary of Lenka's own home synagogue, Darchei Noam; and one of Toronto's great natural treasures, the Scarborough Bluffs on the shores of Lake Ontario.

"This is the first full video treatment of one of my original compositions," according to Lichtenberg. "My goal was for us to create a contemporary yet spiritual visual tableau that would complement my song and do this sacred prayer justice. I am immensely proud of this video, and so grateful to everyone involved from Unikron to my band for realizing its fruition."

The song ‘Aleynu' is one of the many highlights from Embrace, Lichtenberg's globally acclaimed 2013 album with her band Fray, which features some of the most luminous global music talents in Canada.

Fray is:
Lenka Lichtenberg -vocals, composition & arrangements
Alan Hetherington - drums & percussion,
Ravi Naimpally - tabla
Chris Gartner - bass
John Gzowski - guitar
Ernie Tollar - woodwinds

with special guests:
Hugh Marsh - violin
Roula Said - qanun

About Lenka Lichtenberg:
Vocalist & composer Lenka Lichtenberg shines as one of the most ambitious and visionary artistic builders in a nation that proudly defines its human identity as a multicultural mosaic. The Prague-born soprano's voice soars in no less than six languages -- Yiddish, English, Czech, French, Russian, and Hebrew -- in collaboration with leading world-roots instrumentalists and vocalists from the global diaspora. Her eight albums to date are far more than mere recordings in sequence; each one is its own groundbreaking idea, carefully manifested from the selection of songs and performers, to the recording environments, to the form and shape in which they are presented to the world. From her inspirational roots in Jewish liturgy and Yiddish poetry, Lichtenberg has branched out to become a bona fide world-roots troubairitz.

Lichtenberg's stunning most recent contribution to the world-roots canon, in the company of her ensemble Fray (Yiddish for "Free"), is Embrace. Continuing in the tradition of the ensemble's eponymous 2010 debut album, Embrace boldly forges uncharted terrain in new Yiddish music -- drawing on traditional songs and contemporary Yiddish poetry. Lichtenberg blends the tradition and language of Eastern European Jewish culture with unexpected sounds from Middle Eastern, Brazilian and North Indian music, expertly animated by Canada's leading Indo-Canadian and world fusion artists, including: Alan Hetherington (musical co-director, drums, pandeiro, percussion), Ravi Naimpally (tabla, darbuka), Ernie Tollar (flutes, saxophones), John Gzowski (guitars, oud), and Chris Gartner (bass). It was officially released in April 2013 at one of Canada's signature performance venues, the Canadian Broadcasting Company's Glenn Gould Studio.

Her newest collaboration is Lullabies from Exile, with world-renowned Iraqi-Jewish violinist, oud master and vocalist Yair Dalal. Released in September 2014, Lullabies was recorded on three continents over a two-year span. The project intertwines Babylonian and Yiddish traditional music -- two branches of a tree that, while born from the same roots and trunk, grew in separate ways for over two millennia. She is also working on a collection of remixes from her extensive catalogue with Canada's top global-fusion producers Andrew McPherson, who has remixed the likes of Transglobal Underground and Vieux Farka Toure, and Delhi 2 Dublin and leads the 2-time Juno nominated band Eccodek.

Lenka's links:
Website
Facebook
YouTube
Mobile App
SoundCloud
Bandcamp
ReverbNation
Twitter

For publicity & media requests:
Sebastian Cook
Music & Politics (Toronto)
416.573-8055

Artist management:
Ian Menzies
Menzies Mixed Media

http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=181997

Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) Pop-Rock World Fusion

That's right: Feminist rock in Ladino. The Judeo-Spanish language born in the Middle Ages is the perfect vehicle for articulating an utterly contemporary sensuality, defiance, wisdom, and love. It's a living language, a lively tradition heard in a generation of new voices from New York to Jerusalem.

One voice leads them: American-born Ladino singer and songwriter Sarah Aroeste, who has spent a decade expanding the possibilities of contemporary Ladino song. The classically trained, pop-savvy vocalist channels generations of poets and wild women in slow-burning, passionately produced original works on Gracia (Aroeste Music; Release Date - May 22, 2012). Backed by flickers of flamenco and gorgeous pan-Mediterranean melodies, by lush strings and purring guitars, Aroeste's airy, potent voice and intense engagement with her lyrics invigorate age-old wedding songs, hot love ballads, and tributes to history's unsung heroines.

Gracia is Sarah Aroeste's third album in Ladino, and includes many of her own original Ladino songs. In the title track ("Gracia"), Aroeste tells the neglected story of Dona Gracia Naci, a 15th-century Spanish answer to Harriet Tubman, who boldly saved Jewish families from the Inquisition and who epitomizes the strength and courage of our foremothers. In another song, Aroeste reimagines the wanderings of her Sephardic ancestors through the eyes of the traditional figure of the morena, the dark-eyed nomad girl, traveling for centuries and drained of her beauty by a harsh world ("Chika Morena"). Using a variety of eclectic source material throughout the album, Aroeste writes a song encouraging one to harness strength in the face of all odds ("El Leon Ferido"), which takes its inspiration from Samuel Ha-Nagid, an 11th Century Judeo-Spanish poet who was facing adversity in his own time. And yet another song is based on a contemporary feminist hip-hop poem, Wild Women, and calls out to the world to embrace women in all their wonderful complexity ("La Comida La Manana"). Complementing these songs are others of universal themes such as family, marriage, loss, facing demons, holding on to hope and more.

Produced with Shai Bachar (Ishtar Alabina, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Sheila Jordan), and recorded in NY and Tel Aviv, the 11 songs on Gracia (both the original ones and a few radically reinterpreted classic Ladino folksongs as well), are a mix of feminist, experimental, raw, rock-beat, energetic, empowering, electronic, retro-chic, Mediterranean-infused and fine-crafted, detailed sounds. In addition to a 16-piece string ensemble highlighted on many of the tracks, there are also special guest voices and featured artists including Vanessa Hidary (the Hebrew Mamita), Amos Hoffman (Avishai Cohen band), Roni Ivrin and Mark Kakon (Idan Raichel Band), Nir Graf (Noa, Rita, Shalom Hanoch), Oz Noy (Cyndi Lauper, Phoebe Snow, Bill Evans), Samuel Torres (Lila Downs, Arturo Sandoval) and many more.

Altogether, Gracia is Aroeste's most daring album yet and brings Ladino music one more step forward from the past into today. Determined to prove that Ladino is not a dead language, Aroeste shows through Gracia that Ladino is, indeed, very much still alive.

Email: music@saraharoeste.com