Welcome from the Festival Director

A nightingale alights in its nest. A Fender guitar nestles in its case. An iPod sails into its docking station. But where do we humans come home to? Roofs, walls and floors—our houses, as we saw this year, can sometimes be all-too-fragile canopies of peace. In a world where these shelters do not always live up to our hopes of unshakable stability, we may perhaps find a lifeline in the musical expressions of an especially old and well-traveled culture. The diverse sounds of Jewish music—whether New Orleans-style klezmer or Yemenite world beats, experimental jazz with Senegalese drumming or Hebrew chants with Indian percussion—can transport us thousands of miles away and bring us closer to home. 

No matter where you are "en route," come blaze a path with us toward creativity and interconnection in our larger home, here in the nation’s capital.

See you soon,

Sarah Beller