8:30pm.
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Jonathan Barahal - drums,
Josh Harlow - piano,
Jaribu Shahid - bass,
Jason Stein - bass clarinet
Chicago pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit percussionist Jonathan Barahal founded Teiku around the concept of using their respective families’ unique Passover melodies as conduits for new forms of spontaneous musical expression. Their self-titled 2024 debut was a meditation on their shared history and a tribute to the ancestral melodies that they grew up singing. Sophomore album Klang expands on this reinterpretation of traditional sounds by drawing source material from the wider community, rare manuscripts, voice recordings, and memories of late-night ritualistic chants. Five of Klang’s six tracks represent the same Passover song/liturgical text, with each becoming a completely distinctive and unique melody when filtered through regional and family variations.
Reflecting on the intention behind Teiku, bandleaders Harlow and Barahal said, “The process of reframing our ancestral melodies to make this music reminds us to keep searching and imagining. As Jews we embrace our spiritual and cultural heritage of care and community, of rituals and questions. We reject all forms of state violence that have become associated with that heritage by power crazed genocidal nationalists. To that end we dedicate this set of music to the Palestinian people and all suffering people.”
Teiku is made complete by bass clarinetist Jason Stein (Natural Information Society, Hearts and Minds) and bassist Jaribu Shahid (Sun Ra Arkestra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Griot Galaxy), and the group moves fluidly between frenetic density, subtle timbral explorations, electronic processing, and complex mixed meter, among other stylistic territories. The interplay between the quartet is masterful and effortless, locking into a spontaneous group consensus that reflects deep contemplation and raw expression. Throughout Klang, unique family Passover melodies become vehicles for deeper discovery and ultimately, transformation. The melodies are transfigured, deconstructed, and reframed, but their essence— that of gathering, collective power, and remembrance — remains.
teikumusic.com
instagram.com/teikumusic
facebook.com/TeikuMusic
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Emma Blau, "Tromblau", is a Chicago-based trombonist, composer, Vinyl DJ, and Jewish Educator born and raised in New York City. In May 2022, Tromblau created Tromblau &Friends, a collective playing Tromblau’s original compositions, inspired by Black American Music as well as Jewish music and liturgy (avodah).
Her compositions combine freedom, prayer, and play to ignite alternate realities that seek to protest the mundanity of oppression and suppression. Tromblau & Friends includes collaborators Carmani Edwards, Indigo, Dakarai Barclay, Max Lazarus, Jonah Lazarus, and Julius Tucker.
Tromblau & Friends performs regularly around Chicagoland and has been featured in The Chicago Jazz Festival, Chicago’s MCA Tuesday on The Terrace, Hey Nonny’s Women in Jazz Festival, The Edgewater Music Festival as well as Marvin Tate’s Y Theater
