I play solo and in a variety of projects and configurations - scroll through to hear a few, including Feminist North African Jewish party music, and klezmer bands for every occasion!

 


electric maghreb


Ira is the music producer and bandleader for Moroccan/French/Israeli singer Laura Elkaslassy. Together we are unearthing Judeo-Arab North African and Middle Eastern secular and liturgical repertoire, with a feminist spirit and a big multi-diasporic sound.

This project is currently a grantee of the Rise Up Initiative

klezmer bands

Ira was a co-founder in 2015 of the popular Brooklyn based band Tsibele, which played at the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto, at Klez Kanada in Quebec, and at Yiddish New York as well as playing regular in New York.

From weddings to parades, intimate ocassions to music for theater, Ira can bring a klezmer ensemble that suits your occassion.

 

songwriting and solo performance

Ira writes and performs solo repertoire for accordion and voice. Ira has performed solo sets at the Jalopy Theater, at the Boston Workers Circle opening for Dan Kahn and the Painted bird, and for a variety of zoom events in the last year.

fiddler trio

Oren Neiman (guitar, mandolin), Sabina Torosjan (violin) and Ira Khonen Temple (accordion) met playing in the pit orchestra for Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. Their musical journey continues as they come together to play trio versions of the show, interspersed with Jewish and other Eastern European folk and classical compositions.