My idea of a great place to live has always included the idea of connectedness — church suppers, local fairs.
This Saturday, Warwick Arts Council and Wooden Fender are creating community with dinner and dancing at Warwick Town Hall, 12 Athol Road, Warwick, starting at 6 p.m. with a super-duper Souper Supper.
The Warwick Arts Council is a volunteer non-profit organization sponsoring arts events in the town of Warwick, and Wooden Fender is a committee within the arts council whose mission is to keep alive the tradition of live music events in town.
The meal includes a choice of nine different homemade soups and chili, homemade breads and desserts — your only difficult part will be deciding which soup pot to visit for a second helping. Enjoy this warmly satisfying and delicious dinner with family, friends and musicians, then join them upstairs for an evening of fine music and dancing to The Gaslight Tinkers. Adults $6, children $3, music and dancing $5 suggested donation.
The Gaslight Tinkers play African, Caribbean, funk, reggae and Latin grooves melded with traditional fiddle music. The blend of global rhythms creates a joyously dance-able sound around a core of traditional New England old time and Celtic fiddle music, merging boundless positive energy with melody and song. Their shows are packed with delightful surprises, elated crowds and exuberant musicianship.
Once-monthly Mt. Toby Concerts are presented by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of the Mt. Toby Friends Meeting; they feature singer-songwriters of music for social change, in service of the committee’s mission of working for social, economic and environmental justice.
The music series has a goal of creating hope for a peaceful future — most currently with the third event in its Quaker/Jewish Relationship Study, a performance by Yosl Kurland, “A Jewish Perspective on Social Justice: Songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and English,” on Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at Mount Toby Friends Meeting, 194 Long Plain Road, Route 63, Leverett.
Many Yiddish poets wrote songs calling for social justice, based on biblical commandments to care for the poor and the stranger, and the Yiddish song repertoire includes much in that vein. Kurland will perform songs by these “sweatshop” poets as well as his own compositions that reflect the Jewish experience in calling for justice for both workers and refugees. Yiddish songs will have translations projected for the audience. Aaron Bousel will accompany on accordion.
Vocalist and educator Kurland, a founding member of the Wholesale Klezmer Band since 1982, performs and writes Yiddish songs and synagogue music. With his band he performed widely for weddings, bar mitzvahs and concerts, including at Carnegie Hall with Pete Seeger, and has taught workshops at elementary, middle and high schools on Yiddish music, dance, literature. He teaches adult ed classes on Yiddish literature and klezmer music and is a cantor for Temple Israel of Greenfield.
Wholesale Klezmer Band accordionist Aaron Bousel began playing the instrument at age 10, though it wasn’t until 1995 that he began to play klezmer. He has participated in workshops at Klez Kanada in Quebec and Yidstock at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. Soon after moving to Amherst in 1997, he became accordionist for the band Hu Tsa Tsa with which he has played at many weddings and local synagogue functions. He is also accordionist for the Yiddishkeit Klezmer ensemble and has accompanied Mak’hela, the Jewish chorus of western Massachusetts.
The suggested donation is $10 to $30. More info and reservations at
mttobyconcerts.wordpress.com.
— Brenda Nelson