Music

Banjo Bela Brings It On

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So, Bela Fleck, when you throw down your heart, does it always come up with a banjo riff? "Absolutely," says the legendary picker and pick of the Grammy Award committee innumerable times for his musical musings -- including the 2011 Best Contemporary World Music Album, "Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions, Part 2: Unreleased Tracks." Indeed, the instrument releases an...

Music

Fool's Gold Band Takes a Shine to Blend of Israeli Afropop

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Mordechai Shinefield, JE Feature

The first time Jews and Afropop met in popular culture, Paul Simon was flying out to South Africa to lay down some tracks with the male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo about visiting Elvis Presley's mansion in Graceland. Like Simon, Fool's Gold has done a bit of globetrotting as well, playng New York and Paris, and now they're heading to...

Music

The Dark Knight of Night Terrors?

By:

Michael Elkin

Bucks County troubadour of trauma? True to the tradition of using music as muse as a storyteller's medium, Carversville's Alec Gross has carved out a nice niche for himself as singer/songwriter with a backpack of imagery that begs to be heard. His music travels well; just give a listen to the blues-infused "Strip the Lanterns: The Night Terrors of Mr...

Music

Camping Out at the Kimmel

By:

Michael Elkin

Give these girls some oboe room; they need it to showcase their considerable musical talent. Oboists Michele Ozer, 18, and Hannah Cohen, 14, will get just that this Friday at noon, performing along with three-score other musicians especially selected for the Kimmel Center's ninth annual Teen Summer Arts Chamber Music Camp. Seventy-six trombones have nothing on the 62 instruments about...

Music

Rush to Judgment? Hear for Yourself

By:

Michael Elkin

When your name is Rush, why wait? Because it was a great job, says Devyn Rush of her work as a singing server, waiting tables at Ellen's Stardust Diner in New York. Well, not everyone could wait; indeed, the diner's management couldn't, firing the 21-year-old for taking time off. But this was not idle time but "Idol" time as New...