Sat., 11/7: From Pulpit to Pop Charts with Galeet Dardashti

On Shabbat morning, November 14, Iranian-descended vocalist and anthropologist Galeet Dardashti will join us for a dynamic Sephardi/Mizrahi Torah service with beautiful melodies from a range of Middle Eastern/North African Jewish communities. Following Shabbat lunch, Dr. Dardashti will offer an interactive presentation on Jewish Middle Eastern and North African sacred song traditions, explaining the recent craze for these songs in Israeli pop and rock music today. Dardashti will be joined by musician Zafer Tawil on qanun, oud, and percussion both during services and following services for her presentation.

Vocalist and scholar, Galeet Dardashti, is the first woman to continue her family’s tradition of distinguished Persian and Jewish musicianship. She has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative performers of Jewish music today with her internationally renowned all-female musical group, Divahn, and her two commissioned acclaimed multi-disciplinary projects, The Naming, and Monajat. Dr. Dardashti also has significant cantorial experience and holds a Ph.D. in anthropology, specializing in cultural politics and contemporary Mizrahi music and media in Israel. She was recently Reitman Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University’s Jewish Studies Department and is currently a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Taub Center for Israel Studies.

A Middle Eastern-themed kiddush will follow services.