| The
Band:
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Band
Founder and Lead Vocalist
Sarah Aroeste
started attending music school at age 12. Sarah spent the next 10
years (including her 4 years at Yale University) training as a classical
singer. During that time she won several competitions and sang in
various international venues, most notably Tanglewood Music Festival
and the Israel Vocal Arts Institute. While singing in Israel in
1997, Sarah met Nico Castel, the world-renowned diction coach of
the Metropolitan Opera, and one of the world's leading experts on
Ladino, a form of Castillian Spanish and the language of Sarah's
Sephardic family. Sarah started studying Ladino music and culture
with Castel, and upon her return to America she began incorporating
Ladino into her concerts. In time, Sarah realized that very few
people in America were familiar with Ladino and Sephardic music,
so she founded her own music production company, Aroeste Music LLC,
to expose this geography of music and make it more accessible to
a new and wider audience. Combining the various influences that
have shaped her, Sarah has created a musical style that mixes traditional
Mediterranean Sephardic music with contemporary sensibilities such
as rock, funk, jazz and blues. In 2001 Aroeste launched the Sarah
Aroeste Band, the world's first (and as yet only) Ladino Rock band.
The Band has toured
extensively throughout America and abroad headlining
clubs and music festivals, and has garnered acclaimed national press
for their unique style and work in exposing new audiences to the
beauty and relevance of Ladino and Sephardic culture. |
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Piano,
Oud, Acoustic Guitar, Back-Up Vocals)
Yoel Ben-Simhon
was born in Israel of Moroccan Sephardic heritage and has committed
himself to researching the relationship between Jewish and Arabic
music. He moved to the United States in 1991 to pursue his studies
in music, concentrating in jazz piano, Middle-Eastern music, and
voice. Ben-Simhon attended the Mannes School of Music and received
his MFA in Music Composition from Hunter College in 1998. In addition
to working with the Sarah Aroeste Band, Ben-Simhon is also the founder
and composer of the Sultana Ensemble, a group comprised of musicians
and dancers from Arab, American and Israeli descent. Ben-Simhon
has also worked with various internationally known artists such
as Yair Dalal, the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra, Gerard Edery, Frank
London, and Howard Levi. |
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Electric
Guitar
Yaron Eilam
was born in Israel into a professional musical family. Eilam's rigorous
music education and unique vision led him to develop his own fusion
style, which celebrates jazz, rock, country and Middle Eastern music.
Today, Eilam records, performs, and teaches guitar and theory in
the New York area, and tours nationally and internationally. He
has collaborated with artists including Porter, Heather Hardy, Keba
Bobo Cissoko, and Alexis Booth. |
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Bass
Emmanuel Mann
was born in France and has been living in New York City since 1998.
He has spent much of his life living in Israel, where he is considered
one of Israel’s top bass players specializing in Middle-Eastern
music. He became a member of Israel’s first ethnic group,
Habrera Hativ’it, and later co-founded Bustan Abraham, an
internationally acclaimed Jewish and Arabic ensemble. He has worked
with Zakir Hussein, Omar Faruk, Glen Velez, Simon Shaheen, Noa,
Ishtar the Voice of Alabina, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Andy Statman,
Dudu Fisher, Uri Caine, and Matt Darriau among others. |
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Drums/Percussion
Liron Peled
was born in the Golan Heights, Israel. He started playing drums
at 10 years old and continued his studies of drum set, classical
percussion, xylophone and marimba at the Klor Conservatory in Israel.
Liron graduated from "Emek Hahula" School Of Music in 1997 and moved
to NY in 1998 where he began to play Middle-Eastern hand drums.
In NYC, Liron works as a drummer/percussionist and producer. He
is involved in numerous projects including the Middle-Eastern percussion
group Raquy and the Cavemen. Liron has played in venues such as
Lincoln Center (NYC), Prospect Park Band Shell (Brooklyn, NY), CIBC
Stage (Toronto) and Hangar 11 (Israel), and has appeared on Israeli
television and on NBC news. |
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Spanish
Guitar
Dan Nadel was born
in Israel, and moved to New York City in 1997 following a three
years compulsory army duty as the guitarist for the Israel Defense
Forces' Air Force Band. He is a graduate of the BFA jazz program
at the New School, and is proud to list among his world-class teachers
Billy Harper, Hal Galper, Jane Ira Bloom, Vic Juris, Armen Donelian,
and classical guitarist Virginia Luque. Nadel’s solo debut
album, Brooklyn Prayer, is a rich, introspective recording that
delivers a series of exciting Latin pieces interspersed with other
compositions bearing traces of Middle Eastern, flamenco and North
American influences.
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