An Innovative CD, “TWO FAITHS, ONE VOICE,” blending Sephardic and Eastern European folk traditions is being released in May. There will also be a March concert in Vilnius, Lithuania which will mark a world premiere.

Sefarad Records, a contemporary musical enterprise that produces recordings
and concerts of ethnic folk music spanning many centuries and cultures, is
releasing “Two Faiths, One Voice,” an acoustic album that uncovers surprising
synergies between Christian and Jewish musical traditions. Featuring singer and
folklorist Maria Krupoves and the singer and virtuoso guitarist Gerard Edery,
“Two Faiths, One Voice” world premieres in Eastern Europe (at the Bernardine
Church in Vilnius, the site of many ecumenical concerts, on March 24) prior to
its U.S. premiere and CD release which take place in New York at Drom, 85
Avenue A, on Tuesday May 27 at 8pm.

Tracing the nomadic wanderings of Sephardic music over the centuries — from
Medieval Spain to modern Eastern Europe — “Two Faiths, One Voice” reveals
multiple, deep-rooted parallels between Eastern-European (Jewish and Christian)
and Middle-Eastern (Jewish and Arabic) musical faiths.

The product of a two-and-a-half-year collaboration between Edery, based in
New York and the founder of Sefarad Records, and Krupoves, a specialist in
Central and Eastern European folksongs, “Two Faiths, One Voice” is notable for its
curatorial insight as well as its musical virtuosity. Edery, a master player
in multiple languages and styles (he sings in fifteen languages and speaks
four fluently), is renowned for assembling world music instrumentalists, dancers
and folklorists in unique and highly acclaimed cross-cultural concerts and
recordings. Krupoves, who is a professor at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute at
Vilnius University in Lithuania, sings in twelve languages and dialects, and is
fluent in seven. A woman of Christian heritage, she is a specialist of a wide
array of Jewish music, singing in Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and even Karaim (an
off-shoot of Judaism from 8th century Babylon). She is credited with
preserving important portions of Jewish folk tradition, particularly songs from
isolated, so-called stateless Jewish communities.

Edery and Krupoves have performed in concert together in over a dozen major
European and American cities. “Our upcoming ‘Two Faiths, One Voice’ concerts
come at a particularly meaningful time,” says Edery. “Incidents of
anti-Semitism are a constant problem in the former Soviet Union. At the same time efforts
to promote understanding through the arts are also gaining strength. We are
deeply honored to premiere this concert in Vilnius, once a leading center of
Jewish culture.”

Interpreting songs in Ladino, Hebrew, Yiddish, Turkish, Galician-Portuguese,
Tartar and Gypsy (among others), Krupoves and Edery revel in the shared
stories, lyrics and melodies of people separated for centuries by ethnic and
religious hatreds. “There are connections between the cultures and overlap, which
prove the fluidity of oral and musical traditions,” Edery observes. “Our art
reminds us that the boundaries that often separate us can be easily and
magically bridged.” For more information visit www.sefaradrecords.com