Doors at 8pm ~ Performance at 8:30pm
New Year’s Eve at Ashkenaz is traditionally a night of Balkan music and dance hosted by Edessa, in honor of the late Ashkenaz founder David Nadel and the music he first featured at his world dance club. It has been known to go into the wee hours. This year’s event includes the "Balkan and Beyond" folk music of Édessa followed by the return of the wild brass band Fanfare Zambaleta, plus True Life Trio! For those still standing, the champagne toast (an ancient Balkan tradition) is included!
For many years one of the Bay Area’s premier Balkan dance bands, Édessa is comprised of musicians who have devoted decades to the study and performance of the rich cultural expressions of the southern Balkans. They play with a deep understanding of the connection between dance and music. Using both traditional and modern instruments, they perform in a variety of styles, featuring long sets that interweave melodies, improvisation and a beat with dancers in mind. The music comes from Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Armenia, and Turkey, and Balkan Roma (Gypsy). The group and its members have long participated in and taught at Balkan camps across the country, and Édessa was the first band to take Balkan music to Japan.
Fanfare Zambaleta (roughly meaning crazy street party with brass) is an 8 piece Balkan Brass band specializing in spirited music of the Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Greek and especially the Romani people. They got their start in 2012 as an offshoot of the SF Music and Dance school Zambaleta and have been rocking clubs, weddings, and dance halls ever since! Combining a love of the classic brass bands of the past with the modern sounds coming out of the Balkans, Fanfare Zambaleta brings an irresistible blend of old and new to get you dancing! They've learned from some of the greats including Demiran Ćerimović , Džambo Aguševi Orkestar and Nizo Alimov (of Kočani Orkestar) and have more recently embarked on a new journey to add original tunes inspired by their deep love of the music.
True Life Trio’s music is all about harmony. The fiery voices of these three women spin and interweave, traveling from Ukrainian village tunes, to Greek polyphony to Louisiana two-steps. Bulgaria to the Bayou. On paper, it’s an unlikely combination but in person, it feels just right.
Like the rugged mountains, tangled love and legends about which they sing, TLT shows are full of stories and passion. Interspersed with gorgeous vocal performances are tales of their travels and song collecting that bring immediacy to each tune and envelop their audiences in a knowing, warm embrace. You don’t have to speak all of the myriad languages in which TLT sings to be transported to other worlds with them–they bring you right along.