By Cindy Mindell

Last Chanukah, a band of Israeli musicians was sent by the Office of the Prime Minister to perform in Ukraine and Belarus. The group played in Minsk before an audience of 700, accompanied by the Israeli ambassador to Belarus, who then took the musicians to dinner at a nearby tavern.

“There was a small stage there and an accordion on the stage and just before we left, we decided to play a few songs,” recalls Yoni Avital. “We finished, said ‘Thank you very much, goodnight,’ and some guy shouted up from the audience, ‘Hava Nagila!’ So we played it. And the whole place, whether people knew the words or were just improvising, was singing along with us. The Israeli ambassador was blown away – he and his family are living a high-security kind of life, and here they are in a restaurant in Minsk, where my family left 105 years ago, surrounded by Hebrew singing. Afterwards, some people came up and hugged us and someone yelled, ‘Belarus loves Israel!’”

That’s what a perfect moment feels like for Yoni Avital, co-creator and musical director of The Shuk, an Israeli world-music group that will be performing in Westport on Sunday, May 26.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Avital grew up in Kfar Shmuel in central Israel until age nine, when his family returned to the U.S. He earned BA degrees from Rutgers University in music and clinical psychology, and worked as director of music at Camp Ramah in the Poconos and as program coordinator and field supervisor with Taglit-Birthright Israel before making aliyah in 2009 to Kibbutz Ga’aton.

Avital started The Shuk in 2008 with fellow musician Ami Yares as part of the annual Project Incubator of Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden. “We thought about creating not just a band, but something with more substance that engages people of all backgrounds and uses music to share cultures and heritages,” Avital says. They named the initiative “The Shuk,” Hebrew for an open-air market or bazaar. If a shuk is where goods are exchanged, “The Shuk” trades in music and ideas.

Over the last five years, The Shuk has performed and led workshops for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences in 30 countries, at festivals, conventions, universities, concert halls, and lifecycle events.

“The Shuk is trying to break the wall between all cultures by providing world music from a Jewish and Israeli perspective,” Avital says. “Our repertoire is quite diverse and eclectic: world Jewish music – Ladino, Yiddish, Arabic – contemporary, traditional, folk, Middle Eastern. At one concert, you’ll hear a whole lot of different genres.”

The Shuk reflects the multicultural trend in Israeli popular music over the last 20 years. “You hear a lot of fusion, a mixing of different cultures,” Avital says. “We’ll take a traditional song like ‘Shalom Aleichem’ and infuse it with different cultures and rhythms – Arabic, flamenco – playing a modern twist on a traditional song.”

The Shuk presents other programs, including academic lectures at universities around the world, and Shlomo Carlebach-inspired Kabbalat Shabbat services throughout Israel and beyond.

“The foundation of what I do is bringing people together; creating community is a spiritual moment for me,” Avital says. “Whether in an 800-person theater or at a 20-person Kabbalat Shabbat service or a wedding celebration, we’re always creating a sense of ‘b’yachad,’ togetherness.”

Avital is also a cantor who has led High Holiday services at the Flemington Jewish Community Center in N.J. for the past decade.

The Shuk began performing internationally at music festivals in the countries of the Former Soviet Union, and they continue to do so today. “These events are phenomenal, whether they draw a Jewish or a non-Jewish audience, because they provide a platform for people in this part of the world,” Avital says. “Communism fell more than 20 years ago, but it’s still in their culture: people still don’t feel so confident in declaring their religion. When we perform, the audience feels comfortable to express themselves and even if they’re not Jewish, they feel comfortable to say, ‘I’m interested in the culture.’ I see how easily music breaks down barriers: it’s magic, it takes us back to our youth and to a focus on how a shared love of music can bring us all together.”

Celebrate Israel@65 featuring an Israeli musical experience with The Shuk: Sunday, May 26, 5 p.m., The Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport | Info: UJA/Federation Westport Weston Wilton Norwalk, (203) 226-8197 / www.ujafederation.org | A shuk of Israel crafts, products, and food opens at 2 p.m.

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.