Who’s fiddling around?
I live between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough NC, near Durham and the RTP. I have two donkeys, ten chickens, and two kids. I play fiddle, concertina, piano, and sometimes viola with two bands you can see and listen to at Wedding Music in North Carolina...
One is Mappamundi, which means "Map of the World" and which plays popular wedding music of Western and Eastern Europe, Jewish traditions (klezmer, yiddish, hebrew, israeli, sephardic, songs in Ladino) and American swing tunes for dancing and a little bit of Hispanic music as well.
The other is the Pratie Heads, a duo specializing in music of the British Isles (Celtic, Irish, Scottish, English) and early America - but recently branching out into many other traditions as well!
Author Archives: chapelhillfiddler
Klezmer music workshop for amateurs: play in a klezmer cabaret orchestra in July! Durham, NC
Listen to a simple klez tune played by Mappamundi: Baym Rebns Sude – if you play violin / strings, clarinet / woodwinds, trumpet / brass, guitar or flute or anything but banjo or bagpipe, you can join our klezmer camp. … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish music, Yiddish theater songs
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Digging up old musical treasures: the “Newest Yiddish Theater Songs of Warsaw” project
I’ve been engaged in a scavenger hunt, tracking down the 130 songs chosen by book-and-record-shop owner Itzik Zielonek to be included in this little booklets of Yiddish lyrics to theater and folk songs popular 1929-1934 in Warsaw, Poland. He printed … Continue reading
Romantic songs from the British Isles for Valentine’s Day
Celtic music is so popular for weddings that my bands, Mappamundi and the Pratie Heads, have accumulated loads of beautiful love songs from Ireland, Scotland, and England (which is not a Celtic nation but provides a lot of gorgeous songs … Continue reading
Beautiful Jewish love songs for Valentine’s Day (or any day)
As I’ve been working and working on my newest project, a book of the songs of Itzik Zhelonek (see the Polish Jewish Cabaret website) I’ve been falling in love all over again with the romantic Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino/Sephardic songs … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish music
Tagged Hebrew love songs, Ladino love songs, Valentine's Day, Yiddish love songs
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Krampus and the Laily Worm: worse than the Grinch for cranky Christmas festivity
Not everybody is all “sweetness and light” about Christmas. There’s quite a fan-club for Krampus, an imaginary Christmas-time beast from the Alpines who was invoked to make children behave well – he would snatch bad children, stuff them in his … Continue reading
Posted in Holiday music, Uncategorized
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The demise of albums has changed what music gets recorded
I got thinking about this recently when I realized that my new album – my new cd – was conceived of as an album and is probably not going to make much sense on a track-by-track basis. In the old … Continue reading
Posted in Hanukkah music, Holiday music, Jewish music
Tagged Chanukah, Hannukah, Hanukah, Hanukkah Music, Holiday Music, Jewish Music
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Brand new Hanukkah music for 2012: Mrs Maccabee’s Kitchen
I was director of the Triangle Jewish Chorale in Durham NC for 14 years and must admit I got dead sick of the relatively small list of Hannukah songs available for us to perform. Then I started performing Jewish music … Continue reading
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What’s happening in Durham NC June 2? Cabaret Warsaw concert cd/release
My world band Mappamundi just spent a year putting together a program of music from Warsaw, Poland between the World Wars. In the interwar period this sophisticated city was full of nightclubs, theaters, kleynkunst revi-teaters, and hordes of enthusiastic fans! … Continue reading
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A site reviewing wedding venues and vendors in North Carolina: weddingsinnc.com
I don’t think I’ve ever linked to the blog I started when my daughter was getting married in 2010: Weddings in North Carolina. As we researched venues and vendors, I put the information we found up on the site. It … Continue reading
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St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Durham NC: the Pratie Heads 30th anniversary concert
If you’re in the RDU Chapel Hill – Research Triangle area in North Carolina, come on out to our concert Saturday night at the Shared Visions Retreat center at 3717 Murphey School Road in Durham. This building is actually the … Continue reading
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