The annual cross-cultural celebration of the cultures of the Fertile Crescent, Genesis at the Crossroads celebreates the commonalties of Jewish, Persian, Arab, Armenian, Iraqi, Turkish and other middle-eastern cultures. This year’s festival was a 2 day outdoor festival at Block 37 about 2 weeks ago. You remember, during the torrential rains? Well, those rains sadly kept people away for at least one of the 2 days of this event. It was lightly attended when I was there, but I managed to catch Sarah Aroeste whose Ladino Rock was typically great, a fantastic Armenian act and a few others. I’ll update this with some more details, but interestingly, WBEZ’s Passport covered it nicely, playing pieces from qanun player Hicham Chami and Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, both of whom participated in GATC, along with a lovely selection from Oi Va Voi, who didn’t. That’s a change for Chris Heim, who rarely plays the Jew music on her program… ‘Shkoyach to Dr. Wendy Sternberg for her work.
