New York City (New York), USA – In an e-mail sent to the media,
Michael Yaacobi explains why he decided to close
New York City‘s world music club, Satalla. The club is one of the best known
world music clubs in
New York City. It is closing its doors December 4th. You can read more here:
Satalla, World Music Club in New York City Closes.
Here is a transcript of Yaacobi’s letter:”A brief summary regarding my decision to sell/close Kavehaz and Satalla
My name is Michael Yaacobi, and I am the founder of Kavehaz (’95) and Satalla
(’03).
Kavehaz opened in 1995 in Soho where live Jazz by emerging musicians was made
accessible, with no cover and no age restrictions, in a comfortable and
beautiful surrounding. In addition to the music that was performed every night,
on the walls there were art exhibits that changed monthly, displaying over 100
art shows throughout the years.
Parallel to Kavehaz I opened Satalla, my longtime dream, a place with an
atmosphere that was lacking in NYC. A place where live music from around the
world was set in an environment that fosters an awareness of the world’s
cultures; where the beauty of music and the communication of diverse cultures is
all that is important. I created a venue where musicians were close to their
audiences, and in turn, the audience was within reach to the performers. Since
its opening in 2003, we had a total of 1500 shows with 8000 musicians from
around the globe perform at Satalla. I am fortunate to have met so many
interesting and high quality musicians and performers.
This success, however, was not easy to achieve – in the end, it was the hard
work around the clock that wore me out physically and emotionally. I came to a
situation where I asked myself which is more important: to keep running these
music clubs 7 days a week, 16 hours a day, or to save my own sanity.
I have decided to get my life back. I don’t know exactly what I am going to do –
I believe it will be connected to music, but on a different level. The first
thing I would like to do is travel the world, and listen to the music I have
heard over the past few years, in the artists’ original countries.
I would like to thank every one who was part of the Satalla/Kavehaz team for the
past 3 years. Special thanks to Steve Lurie our Music Director, Eva Dilmanian
our PR person, Aileen Taylor our Office Manager and of course many thanks to the
waitstaff, barstaff and kitchen people that ran the place every night. Also, I
would like to express my gratitude to all the patrons who have attended the
shows over the past years, and who have shared my dream with me.”
[Photo: Lila Downs at Satalla. Courtesy of Satalla].
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
