Following a successful 30th-anniversary gala last November, Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley is planning a new event, “Uniting the Community Through Music.”
“We are living in a time of terrible anger and a great divide of ideas that separate us from each other. Kindness seems to have gone by the wayside. We would like to try to bridge this divide through music,” says Mike Finkelstein, BSTC membership chair and program committee chair.
The event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 2 p.m. at the Sahuarita Unified School District Auditorium. It will celebrate cultural diversity with four performers: Amber Norgaard, a nurse-turned-musician Natural Awakenings called “Tucson’s folk-rock goddess,” who tours nationally and has opened for Judy Collins, Michael McDonald, and Kenny Loggins; Ami Sarisvati, who embraces the healing properties of Native American style flute music; Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, an award-winning youth mariachi group; and Klezmerkaba, a local ensemble that brings the soulful, often joyous music of Eastern and Central European Jewish traditions to stages all over Southern Arizona.
“We love playing klezmer music and introducing it to people who haven’t heard it,” says Mark Ross, founder of Klezmerkaba.
Playing at events such as Tucson Meet Yourself, the Folk Festival, and the Tucson Festival of Books, “we’re able to spread the sound out to more than just Jewish people. This upcoming event is another opportunity for that,” says Ross, adding that Klezmerkaba especially likes to play at multicultural events such as “Uniting the Community Through Music.”
Marlys Fiterman, a member of the BSTC program committee, calls Klezmerkaba’s offerings “delightful, fast-moving, danceable music.”
She’s also looking forward to singer/songwriter Norgaard’s performance. “My guess is that she’s going to be doing music that talks about peace, and talks about togetherness,” Fiterman says. “And she’s coming in with her band of four guys.”
Sarisvati, who will take the stage following intermission, plays the Native American style flute as a teacher, ceremonial player, and therapeutic musician. She is the author of several books on the Native American style flute.
As a certified music practitioner, she has played bedside in hospital settings and facilitated numerous community music-making events. She has witnessed, time and again, the healing power of music for both individuals and communities.
Finkelstein notes that Sarisvati is also a certified labyrinth facilitator and held a program at the Temple Center’s labyrinth, which was completed in 2018.
The popular Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, which has shared the stage with Linda Ronstadt, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and world-renowned musicians such as Pink Martini and Rufus Wainwright, will provide a powerful finale to the concert.
Tickets are available here.
