The spirit of Feast & Field continues at Fable Farm through Rumney Sessions, carrying the celebration of local food, music, and community into the fall and winter months. Join us Thursday evenings at 5:30 PM for live music from local artists and collective jam sessions, fires burning in the orchard, and cozy evenings in the Rumney Barn. Enjoy wood-fired flatbread pizzas, hearty soups, craft beverages, and Fable Farm Fermentory wines and ciders, including seasonal selections served warm.

Za’atar is a trio of Vermont musicians who play a wide variety of music from the Middle East. The members are Craig Macrae (oud, a fretless lute), Valerie Ritter (violin and viola), and Will Wright (frame drums). They draw from the many genres of Arabic and Turkish music—including mainstream Arabic popular and movie music, Anatolian folk traditions, modern interpretations of Ottoman classical music, and the works of contemporary fusion artists like Anouar Brahem, Yurdal Tokcan, and Simon Shaheen.

Craig studied oud with Simon Shaheen and Bassam Saba, and has been affiliated with the New York Arabic Orchestra. For the past 16 years he directed the Contemporary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble at Berklee College of Music. He now teaches guitar at Seven Stars in Sharon.

Valerie studied Arabic violin with Mssr. Shaheen and Saba, and Turkish music with Danai Loukidi. She is a certified Suzuki violin instructor and teaches from her home in North Pomfret, VT.

Will Wright, a multi-instrumentalist, best known for his old-time string band music, learned the basics of Middle Eastern rhythms on the doumbek from Vince Delgado of San Rafael, CA. He also studied a variety of frame drum techniques with Todd Roach of Brattleboro, VT.