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Berkshire Living Finalist for Six National Awards
One of only nine magazines in the nation to win six or more nominations
2.18.10
Community Radio Station Gets Full-Power License
WBCR to become regional powerhouse in three years
2.15.10
[Eagle Watch] Whoops! They did it again.
Berkshire Eagle headline contradicts story
2.11.10
FILM REVIEW: Crazy Heart
by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
1.20.10
The Filibuster Fiasco
The majority party must wield the reins of power delivered unto it by the people
1.14.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights 1.15-1.18
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
1.5.10
Yiddish Book Center receives 'transformative' $3 million bequest
[Press Release]
12.30.09
Emanuel Ax Plays for Mahaiwe, Lola Jaffe
Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010
12-30-09
FILM REVIEW: Up in the Air
Review by Seth Rogovoy of Berkshire Living Magazine
11.26.08
MASS MoCA DIRECTOR to BRING SOL LEWITT SOUTH
Rest of the Story event at the Triplex on Dec. 14
11.28.09
Taylor-King Tour to Reunite Original Musicians
Setlist to be based on 'Tapestry,' 'Sweet Baby James' albums
11.12.09
James Taylor and Carole King Reunite for World Tour
Will tour stop at Tanglewood?
11.4.09
An Original Joke
Did you hear the one about the funeral director?
10.31.09
The Return of Israel's Existential Dread
from the Wall Street Journal
10.23.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
10.23.09
Weekend Cultural Highlights
by Seth Rogovoy of BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
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[MUSIC REVIEW] Sarah Aroeste's neo-Ladino at Club Helsinki
2.18.08
SARAH AROESTE
Club Helsinki
February 17, 2008
Review by Seth Rogovoy, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
(Great Barrington, Mass., February 18, 2008) -- Last night at Club Helsinki, Sarah Aroeste demonstrated why Yiddish music's overlooked cousin, Ladino music, is getting short shrift and is worthy of as much attention as its Ashkenazic relative.
Stemming herself from a Sephardic family with roots in Greece (to where many Jews fled from the Spanish Inquisition), Aroeste and her acoustic trio took listeners on a journey through the Sephardic diaspora on a program of traditional folk songs and several original compositions.
Accompanied by the masterful Dan Nadel (flamenco guitar & oud) and Liron Peled (percussion), Aroeste boasted a lovely and alluring stage presence -- literally drawing listeners in with her subtly inviting gestures of her hands and swanlike arms.
But it was Aroeste's voice that kept the full-house crowd enraptured, as she utilized her classically trained instrument and her fluency in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and Spanish to cross linguistic barriers and paint a portrait of life in the Sephardic diaspora. She's like a funkier, hipper Joan Baez of the Ladino world.
Aroeste is still a relatively young, green performer, but she has all the tools -- in terms of performance and originality -- to revive interest in this wonderful tradition and to take it to the next step, much as groups like the Klezmatics have done with Yiddish music.
Seth Rogovoy is the author of THE ESSENTIAL KLEZMER: A MUSIC LOVER'S GUIDE TO JEWISH ROOTS AND SOUL MUSIC.
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