Before September comes and I get totally wrapped up in fundraising and planning the 2011 festival, I wanted to share some of the music that has excited me this summer.

Lets start with Rob Rudin's Half Jewish Project. I met Rob at his niece's Bat Mitzvah where he told me about a musical suite he was working on in tribute to Joey Cornblit, one of the world's greatest jai alai players and family friend. Joey's life is the stuff of legend..with roots in Quebec, time spent in Miami, Basque Spain, and even a stint in Israel. Between segments, Rob's dad showed photos and told stories about Joey. With a little more refinement, this program should really be recorded and shared with music lovers across the country.

Klezwoods is another local band worthy of attention. I saw them at Johnny D's in Somerville and they were FABULOUS. A butt-kicking rhythm section, great soloists, and a really intriguing mix of pop and klezmer sensibilities. I hear they have a CD coming out in the fall. Trust me, see them if you have the chance.

Then, last week, I got to hear Frank London's Brass All Stars at the MFA. It was SMOKING! Frank has such beautiful tone and is such an innovative arranger and just an inspiringly eclectic guy. While we can't reveal the details, we are planning a fascinating project with Frank for the 2011 Festival. If you want to experience how innovation and tradition can combine to create inspiration, plan on being at Berklee Performance Center on March 12. Details will be revealed this fall.

Lastly, I must give some praise to  a CD that I just can't get off my mind or out of my player: The Kohane of Newark. Picture a Leonard Cohen playing with Lou Reed and you'll get a sense of what this sounds like. The lyrics are amazing, The arrangements really stripped down rock. Then again, maybe a song called New Mid-Life Crisis is just what I've been waiting for. If you like literary, smart rock with a New York edge, check it out.

Well, that's my Jewish music summer seen and scene. On August 31, it's back to Johnny D's for Alan Bern's  Other European's Project featuring Klezmer and Roma musicians. Should be simply fabu!

Hope you're having a great summer. Let us know what you've been listening to. And be forewarned; the Second Annual BJMF is shaping up to be even better that the first!

While we are busy planning the SECOND annual Boston Jewish Music Festival for March 6-20, 2011, I'd like to share some of the incredible successes we accomplished this past year. And all of it was made possible by everyone who attended events, by the artist who performed, by the volunteers, the donors both large and small, the custodians, the sound technicians, the printers. So many people had so much to do with this incredible success.

• Over 5000 participants

• 17 Concerts and Workshops 

• More than 20 Program Partners

• Events held across Greater Boston in Boston, Cambridge, Dedham, Framingham, Natick, Sharon and Waltham

• Over 8000 Web Site Visits

All this, on a just a shoestring budget.

Keep checking in on this blog for festival anecdotes and updates on future plans. And please share your favorite festival stories here, too.

It seems so unreal.The festival begins in less than 48 hours. There is so much running around to do tomorrow! It is so exciting. There will be a wonderful article in the Boston Globe on Friday. And the Jewish Advocate did some great coverage this week too. And the BJMF Program Book is just amazing. So hurry up and get your tickets. I'm off to the airport to pick up Yehuda Katz who will be playing  in Sharon Sunday afternoon. There are so many great events. Enjoy.

Brochures are being delivered. Advertising is falling into place (Watch for ads in the Boston Phoenix in Febuary...Thank you, Phoenix). Tickets for ALL events are now on sale. But we still need your help.

1. Please tell your friends about the Festival and send them to this website or our FaceBook page.

2. If you would like to volunteer at an event, end us an email. We will be needing people to hand out programs (WAIT TIL YOU SEE IT! IT IS AMAZING!!!), sell tickets (unless we sell out in advance) and sell CDs and t-shirts after each event.

Buy your tickets. Tell your friends. Heck, an old friend from Toronto who is a kelzmer nut is hoping to come to opening night because he thinks seeing Don Byron and Judy Bressler again with KCB could be the klezmer event of the year!

But most of all. get ready to enjoy.

Just a quick note. The major marketting push for the Festival will kick off in January. But our program line-up is just about to be officially confirmed. So be sure to have all your friends register their email list with us.

Also, as the year comes to an end, here's a subtle reminder that ANY DONATIONS MADE TO BJMF ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE. Subtle, eh?  You can give on line, just by clicking on  http://bjmfestival.org/index.php/you-can-help.

 And as you get ready Chanukah,  here is a lively version of a Flory Jagoda holiday classic (not by Flory but Daddo has great hair!).

I attended the Union for Reform Judaism's Biennial a week ago (full disclosure: I'm a member of their North American Board and on several commissions for the Reform movement). Held in Toronto, more than 3,000 Reform Jews gathered for five days of learning, meetings, worship, workshops, being together...and some pretty amazing music. Kudos to Josh Nelson, in particular, who was music director for the entire week. (Josh, as you may know, grew up in the Boston area and attended BU--now he's living in Brooklyn and touring extensively; he's one of the most exciting and powerful performers in Jewish music.)

The Saturday evening highlight of the Biennial was a musical/mixed media event entitled "Faithjam," created by well-known Jewish musician Craig Taubman, and it was extraordinary. It brought together: a slew of Jewish musicians; an Arabic singer and music ensemble; an African American Gospel Choir; a Japanese drumming group; and the 50 voice biennial choir, along with dance video and spoken word. It was, as the program said, "An interfaith celebration designed to build bridges of cultural exchange between various faith communities."

And that it did! Imagine a woman cantor and an Arabic singer standing together singing; a guitar playing Jew and a Gospel choir in harmony; an imam, minister and rabbi exchanging blessings in their own languages and joining arms beneath the rabbi's tallis. The music was powerful, and the connections were palpable and strong. It brought everyone to their feet, clapping, crying, singing... together. It also kicked off an anti-hunger project, with audience members taking home bags to pack with groceries.

It was a perfect example of the power and connection that perhaps only music can bring. The spirit that enables us to transcend difference and lifts us to new heights and a different place. Which is precisely why we are planning the Boston Jewish Music Festival. Our aim is create a way to connect, lift and empower us all through Jewish music. A way to celebrate and create harmony. We hope you'll join us in this venture. (And PS: we're talking to Craig Taubman about replicating Faithjam here in Boston in the near future).

Jim

Lats night, I went to the New Center for Arts and Culture program with Roger Bennett on the history of Jewish albums.  In emailing Roger, I discovered these great Chanukah cards that are supporting his research. Here's the link to them. http://www.idelsohnsociety.com/products.html

And speaking of Chanukah, don't forget that Rick Recht, will be performing a special Community Chanukah Concert on Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 7PM Congregation Kehillath Israel, 384 Harvard Street, Brookline.  Tickets for this event are $12 each, with a maximum of $45 per family and can be purchased online at www.congki.org, or by calling 617.277.9155 x215.  Tickets are also available in the synagogue office, or at Kolbo Judaica Shop, 437 Harvard Street, Brookline. This is great way to for the entire family to celebrate Chanukah together.

But the ultimate present this year? How about tickets to a Boston Jewish Music Festival event? We're hoping to have our ticketing system set-up in time for your holiday gift giving What could be better than concert tickets in one of those historic album Chanukah cards?

 

 

 

It is through our music, our literature, our art, drama and dance that we tell the story of our past and we express our hopes for the future. Our artists challenge our assumptions in ways that many cannot and do not. They expand our understandings, and push us to view our world in new and very unexpected ways….. 

"It's through this constant exchange -- this process of taking and giving, this process of borrowing and creating -- that we learn from each other and we inspire each other.

 And ... people who might not speak a single word of the same language, who might not have a single shared experience, might still be drawn together when their hearts are lifted by the notes of a song, or their souls are stirred by a vision on a canvas.

"That is the power of the arts -- to remind us of what we each have to offer, and what we all have in common; to help us understand our history and imagine our future; to give us hope in the moments of struggle; and to bring us together when nothing else will.  That is what we celebrate here today.”  

Michelle Obama,  September 25, 2009

Thank you, Mrs. Obama. You have expressed why having a Boston Jewish Music Festival is so important.  Now, more than ever, we need the creativity, the joy, and the inspiration that great art offers us.  Whether you dance down the aisle to Golem and the Klezmer Conservatory Band or bask in the beauty of Bloch's choral masterpiece, The Sacred Service, you can help make this Festival happen.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I got to grow up in Mattapan, Boston's last urban shtetl. My dad is the youngest of nine so I had an aunt, uncle or cousin on almost every street in a ten block radius. We left in 1969 so my 13 years young brother, Les, grew up in Brookline.  His was a different world.  Mine was all Jewish. His was eclectic, international.  Mine was part of an extended family.  For him, the family was already geographically over-extended.  Growing up in my world, just about everywhere you went, you ran into someone who knew you. Someone who was related to you, who went to the same school or shul as you. On some deep,personal level, that's what I hope the Boston Jewish Music Festival will be like. Over the course of a week, I hope everyone runs into someone they know as a Festival event. Maybe someone you grew up with. Or went to school with. Maybe its a distant cousin you haven't seen since you were a star of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah circuit.

There's nothing like the feeling of entering a theater or auditorium with the anticipation of experiencing something wonderful with the distinct sense that you know a lot of the other people there.

Jewish music has the power to move us individually.  But it can also unite us as a community. Get ready to listen. Get ready to shmooz. And get ready to dance, too.  That's what being a community is all about.

From casual friends to community leaders, the response to the Boston Jewish Music Festival is unanimous. "That would be an incredible program IF only you can get it funded." Well, they're right.  It will be an incredible event. But there can be no IFs. Boston is the only city with such a large Jewish population that DOES NOT have a Jewish music festival.  This is far too important an opportunity to hinge on an IF.

Yes, the economy is horribly difficult for many of us.  But we can't allow that to stop our community from innovating, from creating, and from celebrating! In difficult times, we need Jewish music more than ever. To inspire us. To unite us. And to give us pride and faith in the future.

Demographic research shows that music is an essential tool for reaching out and connecting to younger Jews. Can we afford to stop the music? Can we skip a generation or two from finding a meaningful entry into Jewish faith because the stock market is down? Can we wait a few more years to experience 88-year old National Heritage Fellow Flory Jagoda?

The answer is obviously no.

There is no IF for the Boston Jewish Music Festival. It is something we need to enrich our lives and our community. I urge you help the Festival in any way you can. We are crazy to do this. Aren't you glad it's contagious?