Alan Eder & Friends……have been electrifying audiences with live performances throughout the Greater Los Angeles area for the past decade. They have been featured at most of L.A.’s high profile venues. A short list includes the Universal Amphitheater, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center, the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Skirball Cultural Center, REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex, California Institute of the Arts, Irvine’s Barclay Theater, and the Visions Theater in South Central. They have received performance grants from the Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Los Angeles, Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, the Jewish Federation, and the CalArts Community Arts Project. Events range from community building collaborations with sistered temple and A.M.E. churches to “informances” at local schools to purely musical performances. Members of Alan Eder & Friends past and present have also performed with No Doubt, Garbage, Ozomatli, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Macy Gray, Quetzal, the Wailing Souls, Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, Rocky Dawani, Zadonu African Music and Dance Company, the Fenians, and numerous other top musical ensembles. They have made several televised appearances including the Annual Holiday Special on KCET (Public Broadcasting System), the Phil Blazer Show, the Chabad Telethon, and the Celebrate Chanukah! special hosted by Fran Dresher currently in widespread rotation. Radio coverage has spanned a gamut from reggae and African music programs such as Pacifica Radio’s Reggae Central and Afrodisia to news programs (most notably NPR’s Morning Edition, with host Bob Edwards) and innumerable Jewish music programs. PERFORMANCE HISTORY REGGAE
PASSOVER Music
and Dance for the Temple
Beth Hillel This
event was co-presented by
Members of Alan Eder and Friends performed on the live telecast of this year's edition of the annual Chabad Telethon. The telethon aired Sunday, August 25, 2002 from 5:00 PM until midnight (Pacific Time). It was broadcast in the Greater Los Angeles area on KCAL channel 9, in New York on channel 55 and webcast at www.askmoses.com. €«¬«€«¬«€«¬«€«¬«€«¬«€«¬«€ Members
of Alan Eder and Friends performed in the opening
processional of "Hallelu," a Jewish music
extravaganza presented as part of the Synagogue 2000
program. "Hallelu," produced by Craig
Taubman of Craig 'n Co. fame, it took place
Sunday, October 20, 2002, at the Universal
Amphitheater REGGAE
CHANUKAH Sunday,
3 December 2000, 6:00 PM Thursday,
14 December 2000 Sunday,
December 17, The Posse took to the stage to perform Sunday, March 14 Sunday, March 21 , Sunday, March 28 The performances at Valley Beth Shalom and the Skirball Cultural Center are part of larger events at each institution. At Valley Beth Shalom the Posse will do an abbreviated set to close a concert which includes other Jewish artists. At the Skirball Cultural Center all of the Reggae Passover live material will be performed, divided into two one hour segments to conform with their days programming concerning Passover. The event at Temple Isaiah in collaboration with the First A.M.E. Church will be a continuous two hour happening featuring all of the live material (many of the songs sung with choirs from Temple Isaiah and A.M.E.) plus clergy and lay speakers representing various religious and ethnic backgrounds who will consider Passover's universal themes of freedom and redemption. This year, the Posse's version of Bob Marley's Redemption Song will make its Reggae Passover premiere. The Temple Isaiah event is FREE to the public (although seating in their sanctuary is limited) and is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
Reggae Passover When Alan Eder and Friends (aka the Pesach Posse) made their live performance debut in December, 1996 at L. A.'s Skirball Cultural Center, the group consisted of 13 artists: 4 lead vocalists and 9 instrumentalists. Since the live performance version debut of Reggae Passover at the California Institute of the Arts in the spring of 1997, the horn section and African dance troupe have been essential parts of the ensemble. That event also ushered in the Posse's signature arrangement of a medley of Bob Marley songs (led by Chava Mirel) opening the performance as a West African processional and then played as highlife featuring original choreography by Yeko Ladzekpo and our other African dancers. The ensemble developed a collaborative version of Reggae Passover which was co-presented by Temple Isaiah and the First A. M. E. Church in the spring of 1998, made possible, in part, by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. The material included all the music from the recording plus the Marley Medley and the World Premiere of Eliyahu, part II. This event featured choirs from both the church and the temple plus individuals from each congregation who introduced the songs with personal contemplations of Passover's universal themes of liberation, freedom from oppression, and what it means to go forth from slavery. For two uninterrupted hours, the overflow gathering of temple and church goers, reggae and African music lovers clapped, stomped, and swayed as they delighted to the sights and sounds of the Posse and this community-wide celebration of the Exodus experience. As intense as the entire event was, the pinnacle of thought, feeling, message and groove was reached when A.M.E.'s Senior Pastor, Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray, preached during the percussion breakdown in Go Down, Moses. Songs of Freedom During the fall of 1998, the Posse developed a program called Songs of Freedom which draws on the most universal favorites of their Chanukah and Passover material plus additional, well-known English-language songs of freedom, hope, and the universality of humankind. With its broad appeal, Songs of Freedom has been warmly received by audiences at such diverse events and venues as the International Family Festival at Westchester Park, the Art Builds Bridges Festival at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a benefit concert for the Ethiopian World Federation at the Visions Theater in L.A.'s Crenshaw District. Nyabinghi Skanukah Nyabinghi Skanukah: A Roots, Rock, and Reggae Chanukah Celebration (or Reggae Chanukah, as it's often referred to) was initially created for the inaugural-year Chanukah Celebration at the Skirball Cultural Center. Skirball Music Specialist Neal Brostoff noted that, "Mr. Eder and his ensemble were the 'stand-out' artists [of the day]. The unique fusion of Jewish music with the instrumental and rhythmic colors of West African and West Indian musical traditions captivated the audience, who continued smiling and talking about what they had heard long after the performance." The revised and expanded version of Reggae Chanukah, resplendent with horns and African dancers, recently premiered to a wildly enthusiastic sold-out crowd at the Gala Opening of L. A.'s 18th annual Festival of Jewish Artisans. Like Reggae Passover, Reggae Chanukah is a celebration of international unity from distinctly Jewish and African perspectives. Both works exude high production values, in-depth familiarity with the various musical influences at work, and feature heavy percussion, beautiful, soulful vocals in Hebrew and English, and electrifying West African dancing. Unlike Reggae Passover, Reggae Chanukah was conceived as a live performance piece and is drenched with the sweat of giving it all up to edify and entertain any audience that moves. Reggae Chanukah is slated for release on CD and cassette in the Fall of 1999.
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