The Guy Mendilow Band

Valley Folk is teaming up with the Jewish Center and Federation of the Twin Tiers and others* to bring The Guy Mendilow Band to Elmira on September 17th at 8:00 pm in the Congregation Shomray Hadath Auditorium, 1008 W. Water St., Elmira, NY.

Through inventive arrangements and wildly creative instrumentation, the Guy Mendilow Band transports audiences on a vibrant journey to the places Mendilow has called home "from Israel and South Africa to Mexico, Brazil and the United States" as well as a few destinations that exist only in the group's imagination.

A bow, made with car tire wire, a branch and a gourd transforms into a full drum kit in Mendilow's hands, as he playfully reinvents age-old instruments. Alongside lush vocal harmonies, woodwinds and strings, the five members of the Guy Mendilow Band create intricate textures with berimbaus, percussion, jaw harps that would make any beat-boxer's jaw drop, an electrified thumb piano and Mendilow's award-winning overtone singing. Ancient Sephardic romanceros meld with Brazilian bossa and Middle Eastern inflections. Audiences are captivated by the rare sounds drawn from the musical languages with which Mendilow has grown up, tickled by the group's down-to-earth humour, and moved by compositions and arrangements that convey experiences shared despite peoples' differences.

The group's message is coming through loud and clear. The Guy Mendilow Band performs in theaters such as New York's Tribeca Performing Arts Center and at some of the nation's most established festivals like Musikfest and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Mendilow's innovative workshops, residencies and teacher trainings, focusing on improvisation as a tool for communication, have led to ongoing collaborations with cutting-edge international social justice organizations like Seeds of Peace and to invitations to present at schools and conferences across the United States and Brazil.

"Mendilow is no dilettante--he learned the music of these countries by living and working there--so when he sings about a massacre by paramilitaries in Chiapas, he knows what he's talking about." -- Boston Phoenix

"The glory of what [Mendilow] does is finding a common ground among different cultures. And that's what makes his music so exciting." -- Jewish Advocate

"This is, to folk, what Bela Fleck is to Foggy Mountain Breakdown. This is unusual and exciting." -- Philadelphia Folk Song Society

"Gorgeous, enchanting sound and technically rich music wrapped up in a fun, playful atmosphere. The Guy Mendilow Band in concert is a night of pure musical magic." -- Bay Windows

Visit the Guy Mendilow's site at: www.guymendilow.com

* Other organizations collaborating to make this event possible are 171 Cedar Arts of Corning, Corning West High, Parley Coburn School in Elmira. We sincerely thank all the people in the organizations involved. Without everyone's cooperation and community spirit, this amazing concert would not have been possible.