Sounds of the Old City festival
Sounds of the Old City festivalBen Bresky

The Sounds of the Old City Festival took place last week in Jerusalem. A variety of different groups performed traditional ethnic music in various outdoor historic spots throughout the Old City. Among the famous Israeli musicians were Kobi Oz, known for his rap/rock group Teapacks. Oz played traditional music in the Jewish Quarter, in front of the landmark Hurva Synagogue, from his latest album "Pslams for the Perplexed," a takeoff on Maimonides' philosophic work "Guide to the Perplexed."

Other musicians included the famous Israeli singer Ehud Banai and veteran performer Shlomo Gronich, who played with a relatively new band Marsh Dondurma.

Other groups included HaMadregot, The El-Arab Ensemble, the Sound and Soul Gospel Singers Terrace from Dimona, the Mark Eliyahu Ensemble, Wandrigs - A Journey of Libyan Liturgy, the Gulistan Duo, the Yerevan Ensemble, the Diwan Project, Amiran Dvir, Avrami Roth, Guy & Roy Zuarets singing "Ladino Songs and Prayers of our Fathers", The Biladi Group, Carmi Shimron, the Perach Adom Group singing "From Salonika to Jerusalem", and others.

Large colored lights decorated the Old City. Performances were held outdoors in historic locations such as Kishle Square, the Tower of David, Jaffa Gate, the Cardo, the Rova, and other locales.

All photos by Ben Bresky.

Ben Bresky is a music journalist living in Jerusalem. He hosts The Israel Beat Jewish Music Podcast interviewing a wide range of Jewish and Israeli musicians from Carlebach to klezmer, from hassidic to trance. For mp3 archives click here. For Facebookclick here. For Twitter click here