Retired Tucson woman puts twist on Sephardic roots with mariachi music – Jewish Post
Posted By richards on July 6, 2017
Koreen Johannessen, 70, had some difficulty retiring. She first announced that she would step down from her clinical social worker position at the University of Arizona Campus Health Service in 2000. Johannessen had been working with U A students with mental health issues throughout the 1990s. It became clear to me that many of the students health issues were often related to alcohol and other substance abuse. With some grant money we could establish a program to interview students, compile data and present the findings. We hoped to use the results to set up preventative programs, which of course needed more grant funding.
To ensure that the preventative programs would continue to move forward after her retirement, Johannessen returned to Campus Health Service as a consultant for grant writing and administration. Through that work, the mental health programs expanded to include nutrition, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and sexual assault prevention as well as alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs.
Concurrent with her work at the UA in the 1990s and the early 2000s, Johannessen served as a volunteer in the Jewish community in several capacities. She was on the UA Hillel Foundation board, where she was president from 1991-1994 a role that earned her a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Woman of Valor award in 1995. She also served on the board of trustees of the Jewish Community Foundation up through 2003.
With the Campus Health Service programs in good shape, Johannessen declared her definitive retirement in 2007.
It was then that I had the time to seriously fool around, she says. While I had been working on campus, I took a mariachi class offered at the U of A and I really enjoyed it. So I dusted off my violin and started a musical group. Though that group doesnt meet regularly to perform anymore, Johannessen says when opportunities arise, she still enjoys playing with the other musicians. She tries to practice at least an hour a day and takes weekly lessons from Tucson Symphony Orchestra violinist and teacher, David Rife. Because I really like the local flavor, I continue to take a class on campus with Mariachi Arizona, the University of Arizonas mariachi organization.
When Johannessen plays in public with Mariachi Arizona, she says, people from the audience tend to approach her to talk about the music or ask for a particular song. Because Im clearly the oldest person in the group, the assumption is that Im in charge. Folks come to me speaking in Spanish and, not being fluent in the language, I run quickly to find the leader and let him do the talking. Sometimes I think that the group doesnt quite know what to do with me, but Im happy just being able to play. I admit that it must look a little strange that this 70-year-old Jewish gringa who doesnt speak Spanish is playing mariachi.
But the reality, Johannessen explains, is that she does have some familiarity with Spanish as her maternal grandparents were Sephardim from Turkey and she grew up hearing Ladino spoken within their small Sephardic community in the Bronx. So I can pick up some Spanish easily, but generally its household talk and especially kitchen talk that I remember from when I grew up listening to my mom and her parents.
The kitchen is another place where Johannessen spends her time seriously fooling around in her retirement. Just not her own kitchen. For some years I had my elderly mom living with me here in Tucson, and she just loved going over to Roma Imports to have a meal and visit with Lillian Spieth, who is the proprietor. Roma Imports is an Italian grocery and deli in Tucsons Barrio San Antonio. Not only does Johannessen know Spieth from the restaurant, they live nearly next-door to each other, so theyve become close.
I started by just hanging out at Roma with my mom who just loved the place. And now Ive been helping out several days a week there for about seven years now, explains Johannessen. Twice a year, in March and October, Lillian has an event called Feast where they serve a three-course, prix-fixe meal where customers can choose from around 16 different dishes. Each feast features a different regional cuisine of Italy. Some years back Volker, who is Lillians husband, suggested that it would be good to have some entertainment between the courses. So thats how Ive ended up playing music with a violin partner, Diane Ransdell, at the feast events.
Not only has Johannessen been helping out behind the counter and on her violin at Roma Imports, she says that shes become proficient at taking good-looking pictures of food for the stores website and she maintains Romas social media platforms as well.
In search of other opportunities to play music, Johannessen became a member of the Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra about two years ago. The Foothills Philharmonic is an all-volunteer, intergenerational orchestra that performs twice yearly in the Catalina Foothills High School concert hall. Johannessen appreciates the diversity of her musical experiences. While to be a successful mariachi, she explains, you have to have hundreds of songs in your head, playing in an orchestra provides the chance to sit down and have the music on a stand in front of you. Either way, this actively engaged lady seems to know the score.
Renee Claire is a freelance writer in Tucson.
Read more:
Retired Tucson woman puts twist on Sephardic roots with mariachi music - Jewish Post
- Shelley Morrison, Will and Grace actor, dies aged 83 - The Guardian - December 7th, 2019
- His was the first generation of his family to go to university; now he's running one - Canadian Jewish News - December 7th, 2019
- The Five Jewiest Things From That N.Y. Times Profile Of Adam Sandler - The Australian Jewish News - December 7th, 2019
- 'We're here to save lives,' stress those associated with Israel's Rescuers Without Borders - Heritage Florida Jewish News - December 7th, 2019
- Britains obsession with boxing is as deep-rooted as its devotion to cricket - Spectator.co.uk - December 7th, 2019
- Readers Write: - Opinions - The Island Now - December 7th, 2019
- Centuries-old Sephardic music plus bawdy songs about Virgin Mary in concert - The Jewish News of Northern California - November 19th, 2019
- She Grew Up on a Remote Italian Island. Then Came the Holocaust. - The New York Times - November 19th, 2019
- Are You Legally "Hispanic" if You are One-Quarter Mexican but Don't Have Ties to the "Hispanic Community?" - Reason - November 19th, 2019
- Portuguese citizenship for Sephardic Jews - Global Citizen ... - October 9th, 2019
- Sephardic Bikur Holim - SBH - October 3rd, 2019
- Touro Synagogue - Wikipedia - October 3rd, 2019
- haSepharadi - October 1st, 2019
- Sephardic Ancestry A Resource Website for Researching ... - October 1st, 2019
- Converso Cookbook- Sephardic Jewish Recipes from Spain - October 1st, 2019
- Judaism: Sephardim - jewishvirtuallibrary.org - September 30th, 2019
- Sephardic DNA Shared by Mexicans and Jews | JewishBoston - September 30th, 2019
- Ashkenazi versus Sephardic Jews: Ask the Rabbi Response - September 30th, 2019
- Exams - Sephardic Heritage Certificate - June 3rd, 2019
- Sephardic music - Wikipedia - April 2nd, 2019
- Sephardi Jews in Salonica - jewishvirtuallibrary.org - April 2nd, 2019
- American Sephardi Federation - Home | Facebook - January 26th, 2019
- Sephardic Studies - UW Stroum Center for Jewish Studies - December 24th, 2018
- Sephardic Jews: History, Religion and People: Ron D Hart ... - December 20th, 2018
- Eastern Sephardim - Wikipedia - November 6th, 2018
- Sephardi Jews | Religion-wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia - October 8th, 2018
- Sephardim.com - Sephardic surnames - October 3rd, 2018
- Edict of Expulsion - Wikipedia - September 25th, 2018
- The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience ... - August 19th, 2018
- Sephardi Jews | Familypedia | FANDOM powered by Wikia - August 16th, 2018
- Ashkenazim and Sephardim - Jewish History - August 8th, 2018
- Who Are Sephardic Jews? | My Jewish Learning - July 23rd, 2018
- Sephardic Jewry | jewishideas.org - July 13th, 2018
- Stella's Sephardic Table: Jewish family recipes from the ... - July 3rd, 2018
- B'nai Sephardim Synagogue - May 20th, 2018
- Sephardic Nursing And Rehabilitation Center Brooklyn NY - May 20th, 2018
- III. The Sephardic Jewish Diaspora | Osher Map Library - May 20th, 2018
- Ashkenazi vs. Sephardic Tefillin: Whats the Difference ... - May 20th, 2018
- Recipe: Sephardic Charoset - California Cookbook - May 20th, 2018
- The Sephardic Jewss List Surnames | Sephardi Tree's Blog - May 20th, 2018
- Cuisine of the Sephardic Jews - Wikipedia - April 24th, 2018
- Urban Sephardic Culture in the Ottoman Empire Tablet ... - March 29th, 2018
- The Many Facets of the Sephardic Spirit Jewish Journal - March 9th, 2018
- The Sephardic House $165 ($176) - UPDATED 2018 Prices ... - March 6th, 2018
- Soaring number of Sephardic Jews acquired Portuguese ... - February 26th, 2018
- GoSephardic: Bringing Sephardic Communities Together on a ... - February 23rd, 2018
- A Sephardic Pilgrims Progress | Jewish Week - February 23rd, 2018
- Yemenite singer to highlight Sephardic Festival in Boca Raton - February 23rd, 2018
- Recipe: Fish With Sephardic Tomato & Rhubarb Sauce - February 23rd, 2018
- The Term Sephardic Jew - momentmag.com - February 23rd, 2018
- Healthy Sephardic Cooking | Kosher, Traditional, Easy, and ... - February 12th, 2018
- Sephardic Genealogy - Family Tree - February 7th, 2018
- Ashkenazic And Sephardic Jewry - jewishhistory.org - January 24th, 2018
- Sephardic | Etsy - December 26th, 2017
- Shehebar Sephardic Center - sscusa.org - December 18th, 2017
- Sephardic Surnames Sephardic Genealogy - December 13th, 2017
- Sephardic Jews in UK JewishSegovia and JewishToledo - December 6th, 2017
- Sephardic yarmulke | Etsy - December 4th, 2017
- Many Sephardic Jews Arent Actually Sephardic The Forward - November 27th, 2017
- Sephardic music: La Roza enflorese - YouTube - November 25th, 2017
- Durme, Durme (Traditional Sephardic Lullaby) - YouTube - November 24th, 2017
- Spanish and Portuguese Jews - Wikipedia - November 21st, 2017
- Sephardic Recipes | Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation - October 4th, 2017
- We helped Blanche discover more about her famous family - Jewish News (blog) - August 25th, 2017
- New Jewish museum seeks to showcase Sephardic culture - Arutz Sheva - August 25th, 2017
- Rabbi claims he was vilified for welcoming non-white members - New York Post - August 24th, 2017
- The correspondence constitutes the only remaining trace of Rivca's voice, as well as a relatively rare window onto a ... - Tablet Magazine - August 21st, 2017
- Judaism: Sephardim - Jewish Virtual Library - August 20th, 2017
- Rav Shlomo Amar: Sephardic Couples Should Use a Sephardic Ketuba - Jewish Link of New Jersey - August 17th, 2017
- The American Sephardi Music Festival - NY Blueprint - August 17th, 2017
- Who owns America's oldest synagogue? It's a 350-year-old argument - jewishpresspinellas - August 16th, 2017
- The Secret Jewish History Of Rum - Forward - August 16th, 2017
- Gabriela Geselowitz - Tablet Magazine - August 11th, 2017
- Sephardic Royalty: Rav and Rabbanit Amar Visit Teaneck's Shaarei Orah - Jewish Link of New Jersey - August 11th, 2017
- World Music Star GERARD EDERY to perform at the American Sephardi Music Festival in New York on August 24th ... - Digital Journal - August 11th, 2017
- Alan Grabinsky - Tablet Magazine - August 11th, 2017
- When Did 'Mizmor Shir Chanukat HaBayit' Enter Daily Shacharit? - Jewish Link of New Jersey - August 10th, 2017
- Newport congregation seeks rehearing in fight over Touro Synagogue ornaments - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - August 10th, 2017
- Who owns America's oldest shul? - The Jewish Star - August 10th, 2017
- Genadeen Caterers | Catering & Events - August 9th, 2017
Comments