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Arts & Entertainment

A World of Music Comes to Bloomfield for the Holiday Season

Robin Greenstein and Cecilia Kirtland perform a culturally rich repertoire of holiday music at the Bloomfield Public Library.

 

The customary greeting for this time of year has become “Happy Holidays” because holidays mean much more than just Christmas. 

For over a decade, Robin Greenstein and Cecilia Kirtland have been performing “Songs of the Season”, a multi-cultural holiday music show that celebrates all the holidays, not just the tradtional Christmas.  This Saturday they brought their show to the Bloomfield public library.

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The pair said they met originally at the Guitar Workshop in Roslyn, New York when they were teenagers.  They went on to become teachers and put together a concert program based on their holiday traditions (Greenstein is Jewish and Kirtland is half-Chilean).  In 2000, "Songs of the Season" was born.

For their performance at the library, the duo put together a wonderful combination of time-honored carols with folksy roots as well as international songs to celebrate the holidays.  They began with “Deck the Halls” which, they informed the audience, got its “fa-la-la-la-la” refrain because singers would improvise lyrics and needed time in between to think of the next verse.  They also explained to the crowd that reindeer, evergreens and the “Yule Elf” are all rooted in Scandanavian traditions.  Before performing “O Tannenbaum,” Greenstein explained that having a Christmas tree indoors was a custom that came to England by way of German Prince Albert’s marriage to Queen Victoria. The idea caught on after a picture was printed of the royal family decorating their tree.

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Americans have become familiar with songs from different cultures  that have become widely known and loved, such as “Feliz Navidad”, “Dreydl.”  Greenstein and Kirtland included some real gems from other parts of the world as well. They sang “Mele Kalikimaka” from Hawaii, “Odun De (Babatundi Olatunji)” a song for Kwanzaa, and “Celebrate Hanukkah,” an original song by Greenstein.  They even found a song that combined their cultural backgrounds in “Ocho Candelikas”, a Ladino Hanukkah song from Spain and the highlight of the show.  (The Ladino language, a mixture of Hebrew and Spanish.)

“I thought it was very, very nice. The Ladino and learning about the ancestry of the Jews who came from Spain.  And I liked that music. It was very nice,” said Voncille Wratee, one of the attendees.

“I was so delighted. I learned a few things and it was great. I happened to have a little time so I thought I would come and enjoy the show, which I really did.  All of it was so delightful. They were just fantastic,” said another audience member, Francis Myrill.

 

For more information on the music of Robin Greenstein and Cecilia Kirtland, go to: www.songsoftheseason.info

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