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Şerefe (commonly spelled Sherefe, pronounced “Sheriff A”) is a group of musicians based in Boulder, CO, who play music from the Balkans and the Middle East. An ensemble varying in size from a trio to a small orchestra, they have been performing at concerts and dance parties in the western US since 1996 and are available for academic, corporate and government conferences, as well as weddings, festivals, and other public and private events. Book the band.
Sherefe played live on Youtube on April 17, 2021 as the inaugural concert of Alex’s Virtual Folk Art Series.
We (Sherefe +2 = Barbelfish) also published a Thank You video for Boulder International Folk Dancers and Ilana Baror for their support during the pandemic.
Şerefe is named after a Turkish drinking toast that strictly means “to your honor”, but is used in the “what happens here stays here” sense. We dearly love this music and devote significant time and energy the serious study of it. Our repertoire consists of large numbers of Greek, Turkish and Arabic songs, as well as smaller numbers of Bulgarian, Macedonian, Bosnian, Rom, Albanian, Hebrew, Persian and Armenian pieces. Şerefe plays mixed repertoire shows, but also frequently plays entire evenings of songs from just one of these cultures. Core members include James Hoskins on cello, gadulka, bouzouki, guitar, zurna and vocals,
Jesse Manno on bouzouki, baglama, ud, flutes, vocals and percussion, and Brett Bowen on percussion. We are most often joined by Julie Lancaster on vocals and accordion and Dexter Payne on clarinet and other reeds. When the stars align, we are joined by Beth Quist on vocals and santoor, and Paul Brown on bass. Members of Şerefe often perform in the Glendi Band and with touring artists from these musical cultures, such as Latif Bolat, Zevk Ensemble, and Rachid Halihal. To receive better notice of upcoming Şerefe activities please join our email list.
If you can’t wait, you can find our CD’s on Amazon or download from Magnatune, but if you want to actually support the band, please buy direct from us, just send us an email.
