MEDIA CONTACT: Terri Berns
561-297-1164, tberns@fau.edu

FAU Libraries Presents "Go Down Moses: Klezmer, Blues,
Blacks, and Jews," a Multicultural Musical and Narrative Event

BOCA RATON, FL (December 20, 2005) - Florida Atlantic University Libraries presents "Go Down Moses: Klezmer, Blues, Blacks and Jews," a multicultural musical and narrative event. The presentation explores the special relationship between African Americans and American Jews through words and music, and features the unique collaboration of Kitty Oliver, singer, author and oral historian, and Aaron Kula, music director of the Klezmer Company Orchestra and FAU Libraries' director of music collections. One of the highlights of the Libraries' Kultur series, this event, with performance by members of the Klezmer Company Orchestra, is scheduled for Wednesday, January 4, 2006, at 3 p.m., in FAU's Grand Palm Room at the University Center, Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.

The performance partnership of Oliver, who is Black, and Kula, who is Jewish, offers a retrospective view of life experiences and common struggles shared by both cultures. It will focus on various themes such as love, hate, family and faith as well as slavery, persecution, injustice and freedom. The themes are combined with humor, poignancy and lyrical language, and include a sense of joy, celebration and peace.

Oliver's readings of oral histories - first-hand interviews of histories of living persons, and from her personal memoirs, are augmented by the Klezmer Company quartet, playing Negro Spirituals and Yiddish songs selected from the FAU Libraries Music Collections. The nine segments of narration and songs include excerpts from speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King and Rep. John Lewis of Georgia. Songs by Rumshinsky, Olshanetsky, and Warshafsky feature My Yiddish Momme, Oif' n Pripocheck, Go down Moses and closing with Oseh Shalom.

"The juxtaposition of these different cultures through narration and music tells a powerful story of shared human experiences," said Kula.

Oliver, a writing professor and veteran South Florida journalist, specializes in cultural diversity and race relations issues. "Every family has its maverick, the one who runs counter to the herd, and I played that role in mine…" notes Oliver. "My journey was from the 'old world' to the 'new world,' from the ghetto to a larger world." Her materials are used widely in the public schools, and her "Race and Change Project," oral history interviews with Florida residents, are archived in the Special Collections of the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Kula joined the FAU faculty in 1997. In the fall of 2003, he was appointed director of music collections at FAU Libraries. His activities include research, archiving, lecturing and performing. As director of the Klezmer Company Orchestra, FAU Libraries professional ensemble-in-residence, Kula arranges and orchestrates old and new Jewish music for numerous performances each year. He has served on the faculty at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he has been conducting orchestras since 1986.

For information, call the FAU Libraries Information Hotline at 561-297-2116 or www.library.fau.edu/news/events.htm.

-FAU-