Sometimes someone puts a script or text in your hands and you feel it breathing as you breathe, quaking in your hands and imploring: “You, and only you, can breathe life into me!” When you discover two different spirits coming together in the right place at the right time with so many affinities, all other considerations go out the window. The art becomes organic human magic, draws crowds wherever it goes and fills your spirit like nothing else I know.

The presentation event for David Unger’s book Ni chicha ni limonada on March 3, 2010, at Americas Society in New York City, turned into just such an occasion. The story begins years ago, when David, a Guatemalan translator, writer and the Guadalajara International Book Fair Representative in New York, presented me with his first novel, Life in the Damn Tropics, for translation into Spanish. That completed in 2007, I went on to read the Spanish audiobook version for Recorded Books. Some time later when David mentioned Ni chicha ni limonada, I didn’t have the time to translate the entire book, but did contribute several short stories. He then approached me in 2009 to read for the official presentation. The date drew near and the thought began stirring in me: why just a conventional book presentation? Here we were, two Central American New York Jews on a second successful venture together at a time in our lives when we can make a bit of a splash, I hadn’t been on stage in a while and Americas Society is such an attractive venue. The formula seemed right for a bit of magic.

The actor in me sprung alive: We’ll put on a show! David’s work has cinematic, character-based storylines and dialogue spiked with ribaldry and irony… (I read the Spanish audiobook for Recorded Books, too, so I know his style). That led me to stage the presentation event for Ni chicha ni limonada at Americas Society in New York City. My friend Hossein came out to direct; a team of theater, film, sound and gastronomy professionals stepped up; and Gerard Edery, world-class authority on Sephardic Jewish music, signed on to perform live. Press releases went out to Ladino-speaking Sephardic communities all over the world, to New York’s theater, film and literary community. Chef McKenzie, María Padilla and support staff prepared a Middle Eastern/Guatemalan banquet. Danta Chocolate and Asociación Vivamos Mejor in Guatemala sent specialty and artisanal chocolates. Haberdasher Rudy Volcano in Queens donated the Sololá jacket with a European designer touch. Everything lined up perfectly.

The Americas Society found itself full to overflow, which staff told us doesn’t often happen at book readings. They had to open up additional space with a live video feed on the third floor. Friends in the United States, Europe and Latin America saw the webcast and responded enthusiatstically afterward.

For a brief hour and a half, the Simón Bolívar Room at the Americas Society became a wealthy Guatemalan Jewish family’s mountain finca estate room, alive with the cadences of David’s prose and the strains of Gerard’s Sephardic music.

Special thanks: Nancy Green, David Unger, Dan Shapiro, José Negroni, Ambassador German Róchez, Rabbi Joshua Saltzman, José María Antolín, Chef Brenton McKenzie, Hossein Fassa, José Rodríguez, Joel Morais, María Padilla, Suyapa Fiallos, Max Flores, Aníbal Lleras, Laysha Durán, Mo Krochmal.

Attending Audiences: R.S.V.P. online only from March 1st for non-members 

or follow links to March 3 event in the current Literature series at www.americas-society.org 

Webcast: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ni-chicha-ni-limonada

Dramatic reading in Spanish by Walter Krochmal (Actor and Translator)

Accompaniment by Gerard Edery, Master of Sephardic Music

Voice-Overs by Adriana Sananes 

New York, New York, February 25th, 2010. –Ni chicha ni limonada, acclaimed work written by David Unger about a Guatemalan business dynasty founded by Syrian and Egyptian Jews, announces its official presentation with a performance and live Sephardic musical accompaniment this March 3rd at Americas Society on 68th Street and Park Avenue.

The work, published in Spanish by the independent F&G Editores de Guatemala revolves around the Eltalephs, who we met in Unger’s previous Life in the Damn Tropics. As he navigates the family’s unusual landscape with its Arab-Jewish, Turkish, European and Latin American accents, Unger finds a delicate balance pf caustic irony, bittersweet nostalgia and side-splitting humor. His dialogue and characters crackle with life and definite cinematic qualities. He is New York Representative for the Guadalajara International Book Fair and an acclaimed translator in his own right.

The evening culminates in a collaboration between Walter Krochmal, Honduran actor/translator, and Gerard Edery, Master of Sephardic Music. These two artists join talents to breathe life into “Shabbat Shalom,” one of three stories Krochmal translated for Ni chicha ni limonada. He also translated Life in the Damn Tropics (Vivir en el maldito trópico) and read both Spanish audiobook versions for Recorded Books. He works in film, voice-overs, media and translation, and was at Festival de Cannes 2009 for Norman Normal: A Modern Metamorphosis. Gerard Edery is a virtuoso vocalist, composer, guitarist and cantorial soloist, recognized as a world authority on the musical of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry. He leads an active international touring and recording schedule.

Webcast: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ni-chicha-ni-limonada

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Ni chicha ni limonada