CENTURIES OF INSPIRATION

By Jeff Bahr | Posted: Thursday, March 6, 2014 7:12 am

If you go see an Israeli music group Saturday in Sisseton, you won’t hear just the music of Israel. Audience members also will hear music carried to Israel from Spain, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Arabic countries. Those influences have been absorbed by Israeli culture over many centuries.

The sounds will be performed at 7 p.m. by Baladino, a Mediterranean folk group consisting of five natives of Israel, at the Sisseton Performing Arts Center, which seats 675 people.

The concert, which is free, wraps up Baladino’s week-long residency in Sisseton, courtesy of Arts Midwest World Fest.

Sisseton is one of nine Midwestern cities to host the 2013-2015 cycle of Arts Midwest World Fest and the only South Dakota community selected for the series of four-week-long residencies by international music groups. Le Vent du Nord from Quebec kicked off the series in November.

Saturday’s audience will hear Ladino music from the Sephardic Jews who lived in Spain until the 15th century. Ladino is Judeo-Spanish culture, which was retained after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. The audience will also hear Klezmer music from the Yiddish culture of Eastern Europe.

Those who attend a Baladino program find it interesting to learn “where the Jewish people have lived over the last 2,000 years and the influences they’ve picked up,” said Jane Rasmussen, director of the Sisseton Arts Council.

“Baladino’s music was born from Jews exiled from Spain and Portugal, traveling through the former Ottoman lands, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Morocco,” according to a press release.

Baladino earlier toured the U.S. in November, visiting Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The group traveled to Sisseton from Rice Lake, Wis.

In a phone interview, Baladino string player Tomer Moked said people in smaller cities need visits by international music groups more than big cities do. In New York or even Minneapolis, people can find a band that plays this type of music at least occasionally, he said.

Band members report they love the reaction they get at American schools, universities and nursing homes.

“(It’s) the best experience you can have as a musician,” said Moked, pointing out that many fans keep in touch with the band via Facebook.

Even though Baladino plays traditional music, the band uses arrangements and styles suitable for contemporary audiences. The musicians’ influences include Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Radiohead and jazz artists, Moked said.

Moked and multiwind instrumentalist Yonnie Dror have known each other a long time. But Baladino didn’t really take off, Moked said, until the arrival of singer Yael Badash. On her grandmother’s side, Badash has roots to the old city of Jerusalem, going back seven generations, Moked said.

The musicians have had a busy week. On Monday and Tuesday, Baladino visited the Sisseton Wahpeton College Auditorium and the Tiospa Zina Tribal School, both in Agency Village. Elementary, middle and high school students, along with Enemy Swim Day School, attended Tuesday performances.

On Wednesday, the group performed for students from Sisseton, New Effington and Browns Valley, Minn. Today, the group travels to Wilmot and the Tekakwitha Nursing Center in Sisseton.

The Sisseton Performing Arts Center, a $4 million structure that opened in 2010, is adjacent to Sisseton High School.