Event
13th Annual Herdeljezi Roma Festival May 1st & 2nd 2009
13th Annual Herdeljezi Roma Festival
May 1 & 2, Downtown Sebastopol, California
HERDELJEZI is a traditional Romani (Gypsy) neighborhood celebration announcing the end of the cold indoor season and the beginning of the warmer season of movement and outdoor life. Survival from the winter and the seasonal renewal of life is celebrated through the sharing of music, dance, food and community.
Romani musicians and dancers from around the world will be in Northern California to take part in the traditional Romani cultural arts festival Herdeljezi on Friday evening, May 1st and Saturday daytime and nighttime programs May 2nd in downtown Sebastopol.
Celebrated for centuries by the Roma world-wide, Voice of Roma brings Herdeljezi to a much broader audience. The Festival presents the music, dance, arts, and food of Europes largest ethnic minority whose roots reach back to 12th century Punjab (India).
Drawing upwards of 1,200 attendees (Roma and non-Roma alike) from across the country, the celebration begins Friday May 1 with music and dance workshops and a screening of Romani films with discussion at the Vets Hall in Sebastopol. Events May 2 include a daylong festival at Ives Park that concludes with a time-honored music and dance procession that replicates Mahala (the act of gathering the entire local community) to Sebastopols Hopmonk Tavern for an evening concert of Romani music.
Master artists range from workshop instructors, such as drummer, Rumen Sali Shopov, dancer, Sani Rafiti and singer and professor of cultural anthropology, Carol Silverman, to internationally renowned festival and Hopmonk Tavern headliners, including Rumen Shopov (percussion, tambura) from Bulgaria, Chris Bajmakovich (accordion) (Macedonian Rom) from Chicago, and Ismail Lumanovski (clarinet) (Macedonian Rom) from New York. Also highlighted at this year's festival will be two of the Bay Area's very popular bands, Brass Menazeri and Edessa, and Severdjan Klepac Amzoski, Nesat Ajvazi, La Fibi, the Sonoma Academy Balkan Ensemble, and Vadim Kolpakov who has just finished touring with Madonna will be performing with VIA Romen . Dancer-performer Amy Luna will MC the daytime program in the park.
Other event highlights include an exhibit and sale of embroidery and crochet work through Voice of Romas The Threads That Connect Us project. This micro-enterprise project features the products of refugee Romani craftswomen of Kosovo and Macedonia. Also wonderful children's activities including a roving magician, children's dance workshops, Romani storytelling, silk and face painting and more.
The festival, produced by Voice of Roma, an educational and charitable non-profit organization established in 1996 to promote and present Romani cultural arts and traditions, is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.
Cost for the festival is $12, $10 for film festival, $15--$25 workshops, and $10 for the Hopmonk Tavern concert. For information, call 707-823-7941 or visit voiceofroma.com. VIP tickets (includes all events, 1 meal, 2 drink tickets) - $50.
May 1:
4pm 5 pm Childrens Romani Dance Workshop
5:30 pm 8:30 pm Romani Music Instrumental & Vocal Workshops
7 pm - 11 pm. Romani Films with Discussion
Meza plate, desserts, and beverages sold separately
Sebastopol Veterans Memorial Building
282 High Street
May 2:
11am 12:30pm Romani Music Instrumental & Vocal Workshops
12:30pm 1:30pm Romani Dance Workshop
1:00pm 8:00pm Festival Daytime Program
Ives Park, 7400 Willow
9 pm 1:00 a.m. Festival Nighttime Program
Hopmonk Tavern
230 Sebastopol Avenue
Note: Rom (Gypsy), Roma (Gypsies), Romani (adjective)
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LocationIves Park
7400 Willow St.
Sebastopol, CA 95473
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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