Two Tribes (Laurie Lippin – Jewish, on accordion, Chris Eccles– Irish, on mandolin) are an instrumental duo that enjoy playing Klezmer and Irish music as part of their cultural heritage. Realizing the power of the accordion-mandolin combination they’ve branched out to include Italian, French, Mexican and other tunes that reflect our interconnected world. And for that theme, this year Two Tribes & Friends adds Gus Garelick on fiddle and Satchel Forester on clarinet.
Gus Garelick grew up in a Russian/Jewish household in Detroit. At an early age, he was surrounded by traditional Jewish music, American folk music, classical music and more. He began playing the violin at age 7 (and he’s still learning!). Gus has been a part of the Sonoma County music scene for nearly 40 years, and played with the late Jim Boggio at the very first Cotati Accordion Festival. He is active in the Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble, the Lake County Symphony, Les Amis Zydeco band, and many other bands.
Satchel Forrester (clarinet) is a labor organizer from San Francisco who has been moonlighting as a klezmer clarinetist for the past 2 years. He hopes to strengthen a diasporic Jewish identity by carrying on the tradition of klezmer music. He is also active in the band Doikayts.
