 Good evening everybody and welcome. This is going to be a wonderful wonderful event Tonight's concert is sponsored by the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies in celebration of the Daniel Pearl World Music Days an International network of concerts that since this network was established by the Pearl family in 2002 has come to include almost 14,000 musical performances in in this year a hundred and forty different countries These performances use the power of music to affirm our commitment to the promotion of cross cultural understanding reminding people of all countries races and religions that we share a common humanity as Many of you here know Daniel Pearl was a Wall Street journalist Kidnapped tortured and beheaded in January of 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan by Muslim terrorists in 2007 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed an alleged Al Qaeda operative Reported to be third in command under Osama bin Laden Claimed responsibility for the murder of Danny Pearl The three and a half minute tape of Danny during the last minutes of his life Was made by his captors and shown several weeks later Throughout much of the world and again, maybe many of you here saw that tape as I did This three and a half minute tape shows his mutilated body has his captors giving several Demands to the US government and it ends with Danny Pearl's last words and he said the following My name is Daniel Pearl. I am a Jewish American from Encino, California My father's Jewish my mother's Jewish. I am Jewish This year the Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert held here at Fairfield University Will be performed by Dan Sacks Singer Musician and the driving force behind the Sephardic rock band de Leon This band is named for the 12th century Jewish mystical philosopher Moses de Leon and Named as well for Dan's great-grandfather Giorgio de Leon His group de Leon has recently released their third CD Tremora Phantasma Which was recorded in Mexico City and that as well as one of his other CDs and some other merchandise Will be for sale back at the desk where all of you checked in following this evening's performance With him tonight is musicians songwriter and vocalist Amy Crawford Who was one of the original members of the group de Leon? Tonight's concert is dedicated to Daniel Pearl His life was brutally taken away by those who bow to the gods of hate fanaticism and bigotry He is missed by all of us who believe that goodness and courage Can overcome injustice I'm grateful to Dan and to Amy for being with us Please join me in welcoming to Fairfield University Dan Sacks I'm just gonna tune it and I'll talk to you guys We've got some songs some Sephardic songs some Sephardic stories and some stories That I'm gonna talk to you guys about tonight Anybody here familiar with Sephardic music Sephardic folk songs a fair smattering any Ladino speakers Okay, just okay I was You know, I'm not sure if I if it's okay for me to fudge any of the Ladino words that I might have forgotten But I feel like maybe I I'll do my best. It's called Yodukha Rai Onai. It was written by Rabbi Israel Najara in the 1500s in spot And there are literally chapters Written on the history of this melody. I mean it is it's been traveling back and forth across the world for Centuries and has intertwined with Jewish music at various points in that time It was a popular a klezmer song in New York in the 20s And much earlier as the piece moan that I'm all I'll sing for you in a moment Now we don't know if the melody was combined with the poem by Najara He may have heard it in the coffee houses of Damascus at the time it's possible or it could have been added by Turkish Jews much later the two could have been combined Here's how it goes Here's another version of that song This one was recorded in 1958 by Gloria Levy who maybe some of you have heard of she's a popular Sephardic American folk singer She learned it from her mother who was from Alexandria, Egypt And she learned it from her mother who is from Asia Minor modern-day Turkey and the lyrics more or less they tell the same story as the old the old Turkish folk song Uskudara Which is all we've also recorded we've recorded three versions of this melody. That's why I'm playing it for so long right now This one this version called fell Shara has lyrics in French Italian English and Arabic And it was probably performed as a sort of jokey song In you know having fun with all the multi-lingual households because they had come from different lands into these Sephardic communities See see if you can spot some different languages Boulevard Come and la luna de la sué facia qui acclérée les boulevards I'll rush out to meet me because your father y'en repense à mon bonsoir The consul umbrella repense à mon bonsoir Perquet my dear Tedra beanie When do I allude and who can't get it? He's not allude and who can't get it? Oh I need to I needed some help from the lyrics for that one because Yeah, how many language was anybody counting how many languages I garbled there several I think All right, this next one called is called Buena Semana Which maybe you can translate it Have a good week This one was would traditionally be sung by Sephardic families in the Balkans, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria At the end of Abdullah the end of Shabbat interesting factored about this song and about Ladino the language of Sephardic diaspora in general is The lyric is Buena Semana Mus del Dios and the Spanish word for God is Dios But ever on the forefront of monotheism the Jews said, you know what? I know that means God singular, but it's got an S and I feel kind of that makes me feel a little bit funny So let's just make it Dio. So the Ladino word for God is just Dio You'll hear that all throughout, you know, Ladino folk music and And this religious music as well This is this is Sephardic beverage This was drank by my ancestors before they came to this land and consequently after they arrived Buena Semana Mus del Dios Buena Semana Mus del Dios Buena Semana Mus del Dios Salud y Vida Buena Semana Mus del Dios Salud y Vida Que mis fijos vengan al cal Que mis fijos vengan al cal Para mal dar la tora Salud y Vida Para mal dar la tora Salud y Vida Para mal dar con tal asim para tal Dar con tal asim con la trayella Los tefilins Salud y Vida Para trayella los tefilins Salud y Vida Buena Semana Mus del Dios Buena Semana Mus del Dios Buena Semana Mus del Dios Buena Semana Mus del Dios Salud y Vida Buena Semana Mus del Dios Salud y Vida It's truly an African instrument. It's changed a little bit since it came here, but the banjo is an African instrument. So if you've ever been to Turkey or the Balkans, then you may know what this song is about. It's called La Vida do Por El Rocky. I would give my life for Rocky. Has anyone here had Rocky? Yeah, you have. Yeah, it's a drink, alright. Is that a drink, he says? He knows. Me? No. Yeah, it's like Anaset. It's that type of flavor. It's very popular over there, and apparently it was very popular with the author of this song. This is a timeless alcoholics anthem. I think it's up there with all for me, Grog, or the piano has been drinking, not me. And this was one of the first songs that I arranged for Deleon. And I knew the song from this canter in the D.C. area named Ramon Tassat, who's extraordinary. And I had been working in a restaurant and I was the only person in the restaurant who wasn't from Mexico and they had Norteño music on in the kitchen all the time. So I was just kind of like, I don't know, immersed in this Norteño. Which is also, a lot of those songs are drinking songs. And I just thought that this was basically a Norteño song that had lost its way somehow through history, but it should have ended up in northern Mexico, but instead ended up in Turkey or the Balkans. These things happen with songs, but then they find their ways and then they're in Fairfield and it's like, how did I get here? And from here it'll go somewhere else, I don't know. La vida yo por el Rocky No puedo yo dejarlo Debebe nunca me hartí de tanto amor Debebe nunca, cuando está en el barrio Cuando me hago que orca en el Me hago baños de ludo La vida yo por el Rocky No puedo yo dejarlo Debebe nunca me hartí de tanto amor Debebe nunca me hartí de tanto amor Llamas hace devozar Casamientos de oro La vida yo quiero pasar Con risas y cañas La vida yo por el Rocky No puedo yo dejarlo Debebe nunca me hartí de tanto amor Debebe nunca y yo varón Me siento yo el primario Sin tener lira en el caso Me siento un milion La vida yo por el No puedo yo dejarlo No bebe nunca me hartí de tanto amor Debebe nunca me hartí de tanto amor Just to give you some of the English for that one Tell me if this was not written by an alcoholic Who really understood all the highs and lows of the profession I'd give my life for Rocky, I can't leave it alone I never have enough of it because I love it so When it's in the barrel, it doesn't say a word When I get drunk, I go roll in the mud It makes you want a divorce from even the happiest marriage It helps you pass your life away with laughter and with tears I feel like a nobleman I feel like a champion Without a lira in my drawer I feel like a millionaire Equal parts, owed and lament So we're going to do a song called La Serena Which was the first single off our first record We made a pretty trippy video for it It's an extended metaphor The song tells the story of a young lover's quest To save a girl who is locked in a tower Surrounded by a sea of milk And then there's boats made of cinnamon And it's a metaphor I'm guessing But in the video we took it literally And she was... A crab Yeah, and we went further And you turned into a crab I don't know, ask the director But anyway, I haven't figured out what all the metaphors are But there's one thing that gives it away in the second verse At least I think what the essence of the song is So if the sea were made of milk And the boats were made of cinnamon I would stain myself completely to save my flag Like I would swim through that messy ocean to save my flag And it's an ode to the nostalgic homeland Of those in the diasporous Spain And that is what I believe the song is about And I've read other people sort of come to the same conclusion It's one of these songs that has different versions And ours is off the map As far as different versions We've added some stuff at the end in the middle But it's mostly... It's a straight translation We do it in English and Ladino We'll get to hear more of her singing on this next one Luckily This one is a duet It's called Porque Yorah Blanca Niña Which means, why do you cry, white girl? Which to me was just too kind of greater for translation To leave it in the Ladino So we went with that And what it is, it's an argument Back and forth between a husband and wife The husband is a sea merchant So he spends a lot of his time out on the sea Earning not a lot of money I think is the implication of the song So he's away a lot And he's not bringing home much money And so they're kind of bickering And they have kids too Which makes it more complicated And then the argument comes to an abrupt ending When his mother chimes in That she's so ashamed of him That she hopes he dies It was tough back then Most of these songs And this is... I don't know, maybe this says too much about me But most of these songs are about murder Or alcoholism Yeah And this one's... This one too Why do you cry? Ask for Into my pocket And I'll give to you 100 gold Who it's enough For wine or for Girl, if that Is not enough For Apple City When his mother heard this She cursed him She said, may all the ships of the world Sail and return in peace She said, may all the ships Of the world sail And return in peace But the ship of my son Never Let's add adultery to the blend I don't know if this is... It's not fair to say this is what all Sephardic music is about It's just one reason or another This is what I was drawn to When we were choosing songs for the record Though not exclusively There's also songs of praise And Buena Samana, that's have a good week This one's about adultery and murder This one's based on L. Ray For Muncha Madruga It's in English, but I'll just paint you the picture It's... The queen is getting ready She's looking in the mirror She's combing her hair And the king walks in And she doesn't turn around And she mistakenly refers to him as Angelino Presumably her lover from LA I need a rim shot, no? Just kidding, but anyway, yeah Her lover Angelino And then when she realizes that she made a mistake That this is actually the king, her husband She says... I was... So this is the dream I had last night About this guy Angelino And I was just kind of telling you about that dream And the king's like, don't worry about it Here, and then in the song they say Here's a gift of a white gown and a red necklace And I'm pretty sure that she's buried in the white gown After they've cut off her head and the red necklace And so I'm not 100% sure what... Well, we also... I added some stuff at the end About the kids She stares at her own precious eyes The king reaches out and just to caress her Wants to undress her but gets a surprise Be still Angelino I have two sons Found as an accessory Staying on your collar We'll call it a necklace Or red and expensive It costs us our marriage Your life I dispense with this gift You can share it Angelino Beware If I meet this first lover I have a gift for him Two beneath the sole of my shoe And a matching ensemble of chokers and brooches To pin to your chest and poison your oceans Oh, don't miss my present Call me your tailor A little stitch here Which reminds me I owe a gift To each of my sons Thank you so much This one's called Yo Manamere Yo Manamere Dun Aire I fell in love With the breeze of a woman With the scent of a woman And it's a lament for beginning A romantic relationship Without the proper lighting So, yeah, yeah, yeah I fell in love with the breeze of a woman A woman so pretty, dearer to me than my heart I fell in love during the night The moon deceived me If it were day I would not have found love If I ever fall in love again I'll do it in the daylight I guess indoor lighting wasn't such a big thing The next one in my notes all I wrote is Poland's story I was living in Mexico City for a few years We recorded the last record And while I was living there I put together An ensemble of all local musicians So I could play shows regularly While I was down there with that Flying the New York crew And we, I don't know We put together a really solid 45-minute set Because that's basically what we were playing At different clubs around Mexico And then we got invited to play this Jewish music festival in Krakow And it's a huge thing, it's like a week long And we were invited to play The closing stage ceremony Or concert closing main stage As one of the bands on the bill My wife says I always do that If I'm continuing a thought while I'm drinking I go, hmm Now I think about it every time It's the worst So we do this tour We land in Berlin And then we kind of make our way over to Krakow And it's, you know, we're playing this 45-minute set kind of every night And we're just, you know, we feel tight We feel good and we get to The main stage, you know, it's our set And there's 12,000 people there It's a huge show, it's televised Nationally across Poland There's these big swooping TV cranes That are like, you know, kind of They're all up in your guitar solo And it's, you know, it's very exciting And it's interesting, it's 12,000 people there I think maybe 12 Jews tops In that whole crowd for a Jewish music festival It's very surreal, you know Yeah, Krakow It's an interesting place And so we play our set And we do great We feel real good about it The crowd loves it We are walking offstage Unplugging our stuff, high-fiving And the producer of the concert Runs over and he's like, you guys have 15 minutes left And I say, no, we don't You told us 45 minutes, we did our 45 We did great, like Pat's on the back Let's go have a beer backstage and relax And he's like, no, we're live on TV I need you to do 15 more minutes We don't have any more songs, right? Because that band has just, I've just formed them To kind of play this set And so we, I'm just like, all right guys I'll do another song And so I kind of walk very slowly Out to the front of the stage I'm just like in my head, just like What should I do? Should I do like a Rolling Stone song? Like what do I know by heart? And so I thought of this This song which is off of our first record Which I hadn't played probably in I don't know, I mean a couple years And with Ladino It's like, it's in there But you know, I like to practice a little bit Before I perform for 12,000 people And so I'm just kind of like Reciting the words to this song really fast In my head as I'm walking out What are the chords? I think it's in B minor And I pick up the guitar and I play this song Slower than I've ever played it before Not quite 15 minutes We ended up then, we all I brought everybody back out and we played our first song Again, hoping maybe a few new people hadn't seen it yet And we're just like Barely made it out of there But anyway, this song is called A la una yo nací And the words are A la una yo nací At two I grew up At las tres to mi amante At three I took a lover At four I got married Because back then They didn't have as long life span So things progressed very quickly And by four years old they were already married I'm not an expert, you can ask Dr. Ellen later if that adds up But I'm just A la una yo nací At two I grew up At three I took a lover At four I got married Because back then They didn't have as long life span So things progressed very quickly And by four years old they were already married Because back then They didn't have as long life span So things progressed very quickly And by four years old they were already married So things progressed very quickly And by four years old they were already married I didn't forget the words when I was doing this in front of all those guys, but in front of you guys make me nervous. After that whole story I forget one of the verses, it just makes a lot of sense, it's fine. This next one's called Barming On, I don't know, maybe you guys can help out, can you say Barming On? Yeah, that's it. There was actually, this was kind of a funny thing, an inside joke in the Mexico band, used to be a bar in Mexico City called Barming On, this song's not about this, this is an expression that means something equivalent to like heaven forbid or God forbid, it's an exclamation, not a bar in Mexico. This one's, it's from Salonica and it's a series of short vignettes sung in Ladino, Greek and Turkish, and the refrain Barming On follows each line. And it's a great example of a song that has probably had many verses come and go over the years, the folks would sit around in a cafe or in a house and kind of improvise verses on the spot about something unseemly in their lives or something that they're displeased with and everyone would respond, Barming On. So I know an example, a modern day example would be like, today I went to the deli, Barming On, I ordered a pastrami on rye, Barming On, when they brought me my sandwich, Barming On, there was no pickle on the side, there was no pickle on the side, there was no pickle on the side, Barming On, yeah, you can see that. That's the idea, that's my equivalent of, you know, something terrible that could happen. We ate it, we got some good sandwiches from one of your local delis today, what was that, the firehouse? Yeah, that's a strong sandwich, thanks. It's good to live in a town with the decent deli, isn't it guys? This is how you win over people at a Jewish music event. You guys like deli, yeah? Also, I'll give you a little quote from Pete Seeger, who's a big hero of mine, and I was reading a book that's kind of, it's a collection of different letters that he wrote over his lifetime, and there's this paragraph in there which I thought was like a really kind of beautiful way of talking about folk music, which is essentially what we're playing, even though we've kind of put our own spin on it. These are old songs, these are folk songs, and he said, a song is ever moving and changing. A folk song in a book is like a picture of a bird in mid-flight printed in a bird book. The bird was moving before the picture was taken and continued flying afterwards. It is valuable for a scientific record to know when and where the picture was taken, but no one is so foolish as to think that the picture is the bird. And I kind of think the same way about, you know, you get something on a recording or in a book with the verses. That's a photograph of that song at that moment. That's not the song. The song has gone before and continues afterwards. There's one verse from this one which was added by Greek Jews on the lower east side, which is in English, the girls from Rivington Street, presumably this is some, I like to picture somebody like standing between the Streitz-Mazza factory, which is sadly I think closing down or just closed down. And the Greek synagogue that's on Broom Street, I want to say. And so there's just standing outside, I don't know, eating Mazza or whatever. And they say the girls from Rivington Street have brought us a new style. When they walk down the street, they wiggle and shake their hips. And you know, maybe it's a little bit admiring, but it's also a little scolding. Barminan, these girls today with the wiggling. They've got perfect pitch. Or imperfect. You got it at the end. Let's do it one more time. Ready? Oh, just kidding. I mean, I feel like anyone who's working with Sephardic folk music, they do this song. And it's a great song, but it's sort of, it's like an archetypal, sad breakup song, so sad. But also kind of like, it's got a rock and roll element to it. It's Adil Kerrida. I hope somebody got it. You got a free CD. And the melody actually comes from Verdi's Aria La Traviata. I've read. I didn't figure that out by myself. And anyway, after this, we're going to have a little question and answer. If you guys have some questions, keep them easy. Don't be easy on me, all right? And we do have CDs and shirts and these little like jogging shorts, you know, if anybody's needs jogging shorts, then we also have those. You would all look great in them. And if you get those in a CD, then there's a discount. So you got that. Hanukkah's coming up. Thank you so very much. And thank you to Dr. Ellen for inviting us and Rachel for all her hard work. It's been so nice singing and talking to you guys. Thank you. Thank you for having us. What a treat. Usually we've got like a drummer and a trumpet player and a bass player and they're making all this ruckus. It's really nice to just sit here with Amy and do our thing. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. You're phenomenal. I mean that. My mother is Italian Jewish. They are on that side as best as I understand it. We got inquisitioned to Italy and we got World War II to Connecticut actually. They're from New Haven and now we're just like fingers crossed like we can stay here on the East Coast for, you know, as long as we want to. No more moving, dude, epic tragedies. But on my dad's side, my dad's a rabbi, but he is Ashkenazi. His family is Litvak. There you go. That's the best. Is that the best? Jesus, that's the best. What? Number one. Litvak. Are you Litvak, sir? I do love my dad, so I'll agree. And Amy and I, we met, I don't know, this is the 10th year that De Leon has existed. He's just added up backstage and said, whoa, we should do like a 10-year thing. But by the time we get it together, we'll probably have missed it anyway. But this is our 10-year anniversary show, guys. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. It's great. We met through a mutual friend in the New York City music scene when I was assembling this band. The band, we actually had a record deal with J-Dub Records, which is like an alternative Jewish music label. They had Matas Yahu and Balkan Beatbox and Golem and bands like that. And so I had given them a demo and they loved this stuff. And then they booked us a show at Bowery Ballroom, which is like a big, beautiful venue in New York. And I, you know, I need a keyboardist, I need a trumpet player. And we were lucky enough that we got Amy, who can do so very many things well. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? I grew up with a little bit of it in the house. Not that my mother was singing like Sephardic lullabies to me, though there are some. We've recorded some. But one, this canter named Ramon Tassat, I grew up in the D.C. area. And my parents listened to his stuff and I was exposed to his stuff and saw him a few times and I was like, man, this stuff is so beautiful. And then when I was reading through some of the translations of the lyrics and a lot of it really just, it just felt easy to connect to. Not only because they're songs about adultery and murder and alcoholism. But they just, they sounded to me like Johnny Cash songs or Nick Cave songs or just like rock songs that I kind of already was listening to and enjoying. And so just as an experiment, I recorded a few by myself at home, sort of trying to imagine that they were songs that had gotten lost along the way and always were meant to be rock songs written in Brooklyn in 2006 or whatever. And I thought that they came out good. The first one we did was Lanere, Belief Samim, I think was the first one. And then Adio Carrita. And I really liked the way it came out. I thought I had something and so I shared it with some friends and they were like, yeah, do some more of this. And it kind of grew and grew and grew from that. We do. You know, we keep our Facebook page the most updated as far as when we have events coming up. Huh? What do we do? Oh, good question. It's facebook.com slash, I love Deleon. I make you type, I love Deleon. And Deleon is the name of the full, the project. Hey, how you doing? Sure. I feel like that's, like, thank you for that. I also play in a group with actually some Fairfieldians, a guy named Dave Schneider, he and I and some other guys. We have a kids group, kind of secular Jewish music for kids, kind of bagels and cradlebirds. Good stuff. Called the Macaroons. Yeah. You love it. It makes great Hanukkah gifts for kids. And then I have another group called the Leaves, which is specifically Hanukkah oriented band we only play during Hanukkah, and that's also with Dave and this guy, Adam, from Guster and another amazing musician named Sean. And I recently actually, there's one more. God, this list is getting long. I gotta do, I gotta, yeah. So I just got a small grant to create a new project. It's a musically experimental Jewish humanist chanting event. And we just did it for the first time a couple weeks ago at a storefront in Crown Heights and just got a bunch of people together and sang some chants together, really, with me and a group of really wonderful musicians and stuff based on liturgical words and stuff like that. It was really nice just to get people together and sing something. That one's called Segulale Lo. Come to that Q&A and I'll explain why that, explain that, yes, great. As far as we can tell, he's an ancestor of ours. There's a direct lineage between him and so my family name up until a couple, my great grandfather was Giorgio Deleon and it was a way, using that name for the band was a way of paying homage to both sides of the family tree, like a distant branch on the tree and a more contemporary one. Plus, Deleon means from León, presumably that's where my family was in Spain before the Inquisition. So it was also a way of kind of a tip of the hat to the direct roots of the music. So my family went to Italy, yeah, a lot of them were still there and then some went to Israel and some came here. But yeah, my grandmother was in hiding there throughout the war and then came here afterwards. Yes, in the back. What does indie mean? That's cool speak for like independent. So it's a loaded term in question, which I won't get into all of the implications, but independent historically means not on a major record label, Columbia Records Atlantic and it implies that a band is doing something alternative of the mainstream. Nowadays, almost everybody's indie because all the major labels have pretty much, you know, have gone under. But it still kind of implies a certain type of sound that's not mainstream radio. And I, you know, I think I knew when I was getting into Sephardic Rock that mainstream radio was not the direction that we were going in. So indie, it's a little redundant to call it indie, but, you know, maybe I mean they have a Jewish station, I think. I believe we've gotten, we get played on there and you can find it on Spotify, et cetera, if you guys. You know, next week I solo am doing something at the Jewish Museum on 92nd Street. I was asked to choose something in the museum and then there's like a walking tour and when people get to that item, I have like a, I don't know, a presentation, some kind of musical thing that happens. That's the next thing that's scheduled. And then, I don't know, the band, I know we have something in D.C. in a few months. The things pop up all the time. Yes. Yeah, well, we can just do this. We'll just do the set from the top. It's no big deal. It took us three and a half hours to get here from New York. So it's possible also to come not that far and still spend a long time getting here. But yeah, to answer your question, there is live stuff on YouTube. There's, I think, a video from that show. Well, you weren't here for this story, but in Cracow that we played, that we'll have some very cool camera angles. And then we have some music videos and other live things. If you do Deleon Sephardic, you'll find us. I think if you just do Deleon, you'll get some guy named Deleon. That's YouTube. I saw you every night. I see somebody's just, it's like their chair is just like, I find them. We usually come to a full band show and it's a full on dance party. We played a wedding last weekend and we don't usually do weddings, but these were fans and they made like kind of a strong pitch. Like please, like I think it'll be perfect for a wedding and we did it. And it was great and people loved dancing and it was it was it was a lot of fun for all the great questions and for being with us. Thank everyone for coming this evening and especially thank Dan, thank Amy. Really, we hope we'll see you.