Mizrah to Maghreb: Songs of Brooklyn’s Sephardim

Hazzan Yohai Cohen, accompanied by the New York Andalus Ensemble, performs piyyutim (sacred poems) from the Middle East and North Africa. Piyyutim focus on the relationship between humanity and the Divine and serve as the primary texts of the classical musical traditions of Jewish groups from this region. Cohen, of Tunisian and Iraqi background and a native of Beit Shean, Israel, lives and works in Brooklyn's Sephardi community as a prayer leader and singer. Members of the New York Andalus Ensemble will be performing with him on oud (lute), violin, qanun (zither), nay (flute), darbuka and riq (percussion). Additional vocalists will join him for the Maghrebi portion of the concert. Curated by ethnomusicologist and bandleader Samuel R. Thomas for the City of the World series.

The City of the World series is supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation’s Good Neighbor Committee.