When she performs in Israel, singer Shalva Berti has seen people “forget everything” as they sing and dance. She believes that “music opens the heart of people” and brings them together.
Berti is known as an “ambassador to peace” for her travels all over the world. She said she is looking forward to “bringing hope and a message of love from Jerusalem” to Milwaukee as the main performer of a diversity concert, to be held at Shorewood High School on Monday, March 27, 7 p.m.
The concert aims to bring different ethnic groups together for music and dancing. Co-sponsored by organizations and agencies throughout the Jewish and general community, it is the first project of Nubian Productions, a company recently formed by friends William Alomepe and Mona Lee Corrigan.
The goal of Nubian Productions, said Alomepe, is to celebrate the differences between people by learning about each other’s music, art, and culture together.
A native of Bamenda, Cameroon, Alomepe said that because there are so many languages and tribes there, “diversity is a natural thing for me.”
He moved to Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1991.
Since then he has wanted to find a way to bring all of the local cultures together for similar understanding.
It was coincidence that brought Berti to the concert, according to concert chair, Cheryl Baraty. Baraty, an attorney, was doing legal work for Nubian Productions, when she learned about the concert plans.
Baraty had seen Berti perform in the 1990s at a Yom Ha’Atzmaut event at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, and knew she would soon be coming back to America on tour. She told Alomepe and Corrigan about her and played them some of Berti’s music.
“They were blown away,” Baraty said. And “it just took off from there.”
The music “was so sensational,” Alomepe said. “I was so impressed.”
Alomepe understands that sometimes it is “hard to accept” different types of music, and in the case of Berti, music with Hebrew words. But by listening, “maybe they will try to learn Hebrew … or want to know about Shalva and where she is from.”
“It is important to embrace who you are,” said Corrigan, but at the same time, “you want to surprise people with their enjoyment of different cultures and different music,” she said.
So far the concert has received “a lot of positive play,” Corrigan said. “The activity around it is a testament to the need.”
Baraty was amazed that they were able to secure sponsors “from all over the Milwaukee community…. We did not expect it to be as easy as it was.”
Additional concert performers will include a Sudanese dance group, the B-Boy Dancers from the Latino Community Center, Blackyard (hip-hop) and King Kumanzi (reggae). Other performers are still being added.
During Berti’s visit, there will be other events, including a listening party and Israeli wine tasting at Yaffa Restaurant and Lounge, 106 W. Wells St., on Saturday, March 25, from 8 p.m. to midnight, and another at the Art Bar, 722 E. Burleigh St., at 7 p.m. the next evening.
Berti, who lives in Netanya, will be on tour in the U.S. for about a month, making stops in other cities, including New York, Miami Beach, and Atlanta.
Sponsors for the concert include the JCC, the Israel Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, the Milwaukee Jewish Committee on Scouting, America’s Black Holocaust Museum, Concours BMW, Kiwanis Club of North Shore Milwaukee, Latino Community Center, Milwaukee County Council, Boy Scouts of America, and United African Communities of Wisconsin, Inc.
The concert is dedicated to the memory of Marty Stein.
Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for general admission. Children under 10 are admitted free. Tickets are available through Nubian Productions, by calling Alomepe, 414-202-1715, or may be purchased at the door.
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