Teslim: The 7 Decades Project

Teslim (tes-LEEM) consists of three composers—violinist Kaila Flexer, multi-instrumental string wizard Gari Hegedus, and Elana Brutman on Cretan lyra with sympathetic strings—who share a common love of modal music from Turkey and Greece. Joined by percussionist Joshua Mellinger, the group presents the 7 Decades Project, which features original compositions by Flexer in honor of her parents, Abe and Bobbie.

Flexer’s parents met when they were just 11 years old. Now 83, the two have been together for over seven decades and continue to be madly in love. Over the years, Flexer has written many compositions for birthdays and anniversaries, and more recently pieces about Bobbie’s diagnosis (two years ago) and treatment of Grey Zone Lymphoma. Bobbie has been doing very well for the past year on an experimental drug. Flexer has been honing these pieces and collaboratively arranging them with the ensemble, and they are thrilled to be sharing these compositions, as well as works by Brutman and Hegedus.
 
FEATURING:
Kaila Flexer – violin, tarhui
Gari Hegedus – oud, mandocello, saz, tarhu
Elana Brutman – Cretan lyra with sympathetic strings
Josh Mellinger – percussion
 
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Kaila Flexer is a violinist, composer, music educator, teacher, producer, mother, and plant lover. She has recorded three albums with her groups Third Ear, Next Village, and Teslim. Between 1989 and 2013, Flexer founded and produced Jewish music events Klezmer Mania! and Pomegranates & Figs: A Feast of Jewish Music, as well as smaller music events. Over the years, she has performed with various groups including Club Foot Orchestra and Kitka, as well as with artists such as Shira Kammen, Ross Daly, Kelly Thoma, Hamed Nikpay, and Hollis Taylor. Flexer can be found teaching and composing in her Oakland studio.

Gari Hegedus plays violin, viola, and a variety of lutes from Greece and Turkey, including laouto, oud, and saz. Along with playing in Teslim, he also performs with global music group Stellamara, as well as Bay Area groups Janam and The Helladelics. Hegedus has studied with oud master Naseer Shamma and has studied, recorded, and performed with Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma. He has toured with the Mevlevi Dervish Order of America and continues to participate in Turkish ceremonial and devotional gatherings around the country. In addition to being a composer and performer, Hegedus is a talented luthier, repairing stringed instruments of every variety; coaxing sound from sazes, violins, and rebabs; restoring lutes and lyras; making bows; and finding ingenious ways to allow the true voice of an instrument to come forth.

Elana Brutman has dedicated the last several years of her life to the intensive study of the lyra with sympathetic strings, an instrument which is based on the Cretan lyra and incorporates elements of the Byzantine lyra and Indian sarangi. She has spent the last five summers traveling to Greece to study at Labyrinth, Ross Daly’s center for modal music instruction and practice, where she studied with Kelly Thoma and many other master musicians from Greece, Turkey, and Iran.

 
Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. Ticket availability at the door is limited and contingent on online sales.
Purchase advance tickets for this event:

RSVP to the Facebook event:

Volunteer for this event!