Shira u'tfila

Artist Information

Biography

Founded by vocalist and oud player Stefan Sablic, Shira u’tfila brings together a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional ensemble that draws its inspiration from the diversity and richness of Judeo-Spanish, Ottoman-Turkish, Arabic and Balkan musical traditions.

Shira u’tfila has released seven CDs, toured a dozen countries and collaborated on various research and production projects involving Sephardic music from the Balkans, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. The band passionately blends its knowledge of classical traditions and dedication to their preservation with a flair for improvisation and a talent for fusion.Its distinct sound brings a modern twist to an historical legacy.

video links:

Adios Granada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdeVLhsOySU
Siete modos de guizados en la berenjena
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDdzYCt_rC0
El komer de la manana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF9ULlFg-NM
La muerte de Duque de Gandia / Hicaz Macedoni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snp-udjH94Q
Hicaz Raks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBWQNSkFp0
Hasapiko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVRVb_6kHLc
Pizmon para purim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0GMmu9H57s

Instrumentation

Stefan Sablic - vocal, oud; Filip Krumes - violin; Akash Bhatt-percussions; Srdjan Djordjevic - doublebass; Ariel Qassis- qanun;Zdravko Pancev- Clarinet, Caval

Discography

BIVIENDO EN KANTANDO (2010)
Life as a song
Published by Music & Words (The Netherlands)

THE SEPHARDIC SONGS FROM THE BALKANS (2008)
Published by Orange World Records (Poland)

HERITAGE (2008)
Published by JCCA (Serbia)

KANTE ENKANTANTE (2008)
The Magic of the song
Published by Ethnica Sounds (Serbia)

DONDE TIYENES OJOS? (2007)
WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE EYES?
Published by Spanish Ministry of Culture (Spain)

BISHARAYIH YERUSHALAIM (2004) Published by PGP RTS
AT THY GATES, O, JERUSALEM

NAGILA ALELUYA (2001)
LET US BE JOYOUS AND PRAISE GOD
Jewish Community Centre Belgrade

SINGLE
Serbia Sounds Global all stars (2008)
Published by B92

Official Website

http://www.shirautfila.com

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace

Audio

• Adios Granada
  Listen   Download
• Alevanta Jako
  Listen   Download
• Siete modos de guizados en la berenjena
  Listen   Download
• La muerte del Duque da Gan
  Listen   Download
• Salgash madre
  Listen   Download

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Songs and Prayers [+ Show ]
  

  “They are one of the most interesting bands on the Sephardic live music scene, exploring a little-kn...“They are one of the most interesting bands on the Sephardic live music scene, exploring a little-known musical repertoire on the fringes of Ottoman and Habsburg Empire. Recently they performed in the Sephardic Spring season in Geneva, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and one of the best centres of world music in Europe, Rasa in Utrecht.”
  
  
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• “Top of the World” album selection [+ Show ]
  

  “…The main disc is a triumph. Stefan Sablic, the lead volacist has a reedy authenticity and his supp...“…The main disc is a triumph. Stefan Sablic, the lead volacist has a reedy authenticity and his supporting musicians are all virtuosos.”

• Reviving the Jewish Balkan music tradition [+ Show ]
  

  "This group has the clear mission of reviving the Jewish Balkan music tradition, a goal that is defi..."This group has the clear mission of reviving the Jewish Balkan music tradition, a goal that is definitely approached with tremendous seriousness. In spite of that, their totally modern improvisation includes not only a punk-rockabilly double bass and the passionate contributions of Filip Krumes on violin, but also the unambiguous and unique sound of qanun played by the renowned musician from Israel, Elad Gabbay.
  But, exactly somewhere, in between this area filled with ferments of the chemistry of the 21th century, which also satisfies the wide range of the urban generation, you are suddenly struck by the ancient spirit of the Orient, whose deep melancholy and ecstasy finds its place in the vital harmony of the autonomous branch of eternal reality. Sensual, intoxicating and beautiful, but truly."
  
  

• Diasporic Jewish music from an unlikely source [+ Show ]
  

  "...It's refreshing to encounter a group who come mostly from the former Yugoslavia. Led by Stefan S..."...It's refreshing to encounter a group who come mostly from the former Yugoslavia. Led by Stefan Sablic, a serbian, they have an eclectic and accomplished performing style, spiced up by an Indian percussionist. The mainly Balkan backing group adds a wealth of Mediterranean instruments including darabuka, kaval, qanun and riq. Try the heady mix of sacred and profane in the first four tracks on this disc I dare you disagree."

• Shira - Donde Tiyenes Ojos? [+ Show ]
  

  Cantor of the Belgrade Synagogue Stefan Sablic is involved with a host of side projects. His 2006 mu...Cantor of the Belgrade Synagogue Stefan Sablic is involved with a host of side projects. His 2006 musical theater piece, Blonde Jewish Girl, which sets the archetypal Romeo and Juliet feud in early-1900s Bosnia, continues to perform throughout the region, while his prolific Balkan-Turkish Jewish roots ensemble Shira U'tfila is now on tour in Greece. A few months ago, he celebrated the release of Donde Tiyenes Ojos? (Where did you get those eyes?) at Belgrade's Jewish Center for Culture and Art, a vibrant, multi-disciplinary performance space which he founded and continues to lead.
  
  Distributed internationally via cdbaby.com, Ojos is a joint project of Shira U'tfila and Judeo-Spanish musicologist Drita Tutunovic, who learned the disc's various wedding-, birth- and lullaby-themed folk songs from her ancestors. The album is reminiscent of what Israeli post-Balkan jammers Boom Bam would sound like if they didn't have a punky edge. It is at once nostalgic and alive.
  
  Hand percussion rhythms drive the opening song "The Bride is Coming Down," while Tutunovic's own creatively accented oud improvisations close out "The Birth is Approaching."
  The title song, a sparse treatment featuring not much more than Tutunovic's vocal and a violin part, provides contrast to tracks like the tongue-in-cheek dowry negotiations of "You Don't Give Her Enough, My Mother-in-Law" and the long-distance love of "In Foreign Land," both essentially group chants.
  But the song cycle's strongest presentations take place in the closing act, including the guitar-picked waltz duet of "In Your High Palace" and the mood of intoxicated longing, heightened by a bow-stroked bassline in "Go to Sleep, My Fair Maiden."
  
  Ben Jacobson
  
  

Setlist

Each set is about 1 hour and 30 min or it can be divided into two times 45-50 min. with pause between.

Sets:

1. Sephardic Balkan musical tradition. (Set of love songs, romances, lullabies,wedding songs, song for birth etc. sung by the Sephardim of the Balkans.)

2. Tribute to Haim Effendi (based on historical recordings of this early twentieh-century Sephardi troubadour

3. Coplas de Yosef Hatzadik - revival of biblical poem in ladino based on melodies adapted from the Hebrew-Ottoman mystical poems (Maftirim)

4. Piyutim - Musical tradition of the mustarabi Sephardim, the Arabic-speaking Jews of the Middle East.

Basic Requirements

Calendar