ENCINITAS, California — The Center for Jewish Culture (CJC) in collaboration with the House of Israel and A Culture of Peace proudly presents Yemen Blues — with Ravid Kahalani in a San Diego premiere performance at La Paloma Theatre, Encinitas, Sunday, March 1, at 7:30 pm. The show is being sponsored by the Leichtag Foundation.
Hailed by Time Out Chicago as “one of the most exciting bands in world music right now,” Yemen Blues creates a joyous sound that mixes Yemenite, West African and jazz influences. Yemenite vocalist and composer Kahalani leads a rare combination of musicians from New York, Uruguay and Tel Aviv to produce thoroughly original music that ranges from blues to funk and mambo to African soul. Yemen Blues is about creating what Kahalani calls “moments of soul,” swooping from clear falsetto into a gravelly baritone, switching from Yemenite Arabic to Hebrew to Haitian Creole.
Ravid Kahalani was born in 1978 in Israel to a Yemenite family which originated from Kohlan near Sanaa district in Yemen. Coming from a Yemenite-Jewish culture which is well known for its singing talents, his family has a great history of singers. One of them was Zacharia Yitzhak, a traditional singer and cantor. Kahalani remembers himself singing at the age of 5, and as son of a conservative family, he used to sing liturgy in the Synagogue. After a brief foray into acting, Kahalani returned to music, immersing himself in the sounds and styles of various cultures. He eventually became the lead singer in Idan Raichel’s World Music Project before forming Yemen Blues.
Tickets for this one-time-only event are on sale now through the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. For ticket information, log on to www.sdcjc.org/pas, or call the JCC box office at (858) 362-1348. The La Paloma Theatre is not selling tickets for Yemen Blues. Tickets are $20 for JCC members and $25 for the general public.
La Paloma Theatre is located at 471 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas.
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Preceding provided by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture.