If you are in NYC this week for Chanukah, be sure to catch the MCs of Shemspeed playing Live at Best Buy in Union Square! We are talking live performances by Kosha Dillz, Y-Love, DeScribe, Eprhyme, Diwon and guests all part of this years Sephardic Music Festival.

You know what else is part of the fest? TONIGHT (12/16) – Pharaoh’s Daughter, DeLeon, & Eytan with Dreams in Static at the new Knitting Factory. Then Tomorrow night at Joe’s Pub by Electro Morocco and Diwon and Saturday night is the party of the century – the massive Balagan Boogaloo Warehouse Party from 10:30pm – 6am!!! Only 5 bucks with an rsvp, (email [email protected])

This and more as part of 2009’s Sephardic Music Festival!

Visit www.sephardicmusicfestival.com/events for all details.

ck’s note: I just had to add in this sweet, sweet video from the Sephardic Music Festival. It’s Yair Dalal performing “Ya Ribon Olam” – awesome! The SMF is not just about rappers apparently!

Once again let me list all the local and national Jewish Community Sponsors of the SMF so that we can thank them for their generous support of this amazing Festival which incorporates traditional and contemporary expressions of Sephardic music from a wide variety of artists and attracts a diverse and growing Jewish audience year after year:
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Yeah. Thanks for nothing. What do Ashkenazim call that again? Oh yeah. A fucking shonda.

About the author

Shemspeed

Founded by Erez Safar, Shemspeed is an independent recording label & promotional agency devoted to producing and developing dynamic multi-cultural artists and interactive media.
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5 Comments

  • Go get a job shlimazel.
    If the music was great you wouldn’t need a sponsor.

    BTW Normally I wouldn’t mind but making this a race issue makes my blood boil.
    You might want to consider that it’s not that you’re being fucked over because you’re not Ashkenazi, maybe you’re being ignored because you suck…

  • After hearing that clip, it’s hard to make the claim that he “sucks” or that the music sucks. It’s true that it isn’t commercial, but it doesn’t suck.

    Second, he didn’t say anything about “race,” although it is a fair question to ask whether the Sephardic activities receive support similar to non-Sephardic activities.

    Third, there are many, many, many activities in the Jewish community that require subsidies, including popular ones such as Jewish film festivals and music festivals. In fact, if you think about it, there are many non-Jewish musical public activities that may be of cultural but not popular interest which receive subsidies from corporations and private benefactors so the show can go on.

    So…the problem isn’t sucking or not, it’s that in this case a worthwhile project is left without support while all kinds of far less worthy projects (like, say, the ADL) are funded up the wazoo.

  • Mike! Please make sure to specify that your response is directed at me. I made the comment about support and Ashkenazim and all that crap, not Erez. Now that it’s been unequivocally determined that nothing about the SMF sucks, allow me to agree the points made by my learned colleague TM about the market and support for deserving cultural projects from philanthropic entities. Do you really want the market to be the sole determinant of the content of our cultural lives? As an artist do you think that’s wise? Wouldn’t that tend to skew in favor of lowest common denominator cultural expressions at the expense of challenging and innovative art? Do you really want to be the guy that favors Bougereaux over Matisse? Governments, Corporations and Philanthropists often support completely non-commercial cultural endeavors because in doing so they encourage forces that allow us to expand and evolve and this is a good thing. How much Andrew Lloyd Webber can any society handle before it inevitably collapses from sheer cheesiness? Do you really want the big-hair ladies from New Jersey with the applique sweat shirts to determine what is and isn’t culturally sound? No. No you don’t. So spare me this myopic Archie Bunker boo’shit, and pay homage and give props to the force of nature that is Erez and his gang at Shemspeed.

  • That Yair Dalal video was shuh-WEET!

    Is that an oud he’s playing? It looks like one, but a bit different at the same time.

  • so not to interrupt the required Jewish arguments down here, but does anyone have a good suggestion for which album to buy from Yair Dalal. this clip was awesome and this ashkenaz would like to support and enjoy good music.