Debbie Friedman-
Categorically S
Sales of Jewish contemporary artists are limited
to smaller outlets for now. But the music
segment is growing.
D
on't go looking for Debbie
Friedman's music at your lo-
cal full-service music outlet.
"It's hard to get non-Jew-
ish stores to deal with contemporary
Jewish music in a significant way," says
Mayer Pasternak, marketing director
for Owings Mills-based Tara Publica
tions, the nation's largest distributor of
Jewish music.
"In chain stores, Jewish music isn't
even a category," says Mr. Pasternak.
"It ends up being filed under World Mu-
sic, along with hula dancing. In that
same section, you'll find Debbie."
Mr. Pasternak recently called on
HMV Records, a mega-store in New
York City, where he found "16 bins of
World Music and half a bin of Jewish
music. And this is on 72nd Street in
Manhattan," he says with exasperation.
The upside is that contemporary Jew-
ish music appears to be coming into its
own. Among the emerging artists are
Doug Cotler, Craig Taubman, Julie Sil-
ver, the Kol B'Seder duo and jazz pianist
Jon Simon.
"Jewish contemporary is a very vi-
brant, continually growing segment," says
Mr. Simon, who started blending jazz
with well-loved Jewish melodies 10 years
ago with an album titled New Traclition.s.
•
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For now, contemporary Jewish artists
must rely on Judaica stores, synagogue
gift shops, specialty catalogs and after-
concert sales to reach their market "We
overstock Debbie Friedman," says a rep-
resentative of Ahava, a popuin-rJudaica
outlet in Boca Raton, Fla. "We were sold
out after Chanukah, during which we
sold hundreds of her CDs and cassettes."
A survey of the chain record stores in
the Detroit area failed to uncover any
Friedman CDs. However, local Jewish
bookstores and gift shops, including
Borenstein's in Oak Park, Spitzer's m
Southfield and Esther's Judaica in West
Bloomfield, regularly carry her record-
ings.
Avram Borenstein of Borenstein's
says he gets occasional requests for her
albums and had four titles on hand.
Sender Kagan, of Either's Judaica,
says, "Debbie Friedman is one of the
more popular performers we carry. We
usually have in stock at least one copy
of all her titles."
An employee at Spitzer's agrees, say-
ing the store carries eight to 10 titles.
"She is very popular, and her new re-
lease, Renewal of Spirit, is selling very
well." ❑
M.D.
6Vn
Above: "I feel what comes through me is what I
was put here to do," Ms. Friedman says of her
music. "It's a gift, and it doesn't belong to me."
Right: Without benefit of formal training,
Ms. Friedman has produced a bulging portfolio
of liturgical music.
daven for the people who aren't there. You
never know upon whose ears those prayers
are going to fall.
"A person cannot free himself from
bondage," Ms. Friedman concludes, sadly.
"The truth is we are all prisoners, and we
all need to help each other out of prison.
Healing is in recognizing that each of us is
limited, that none of us is perfect. Jacob
wrestles with the angel and walks away,
limping. We are all limping, but we all have
the potential to heal and to use our shat-
tered hearts to bring comfort to others and
to the brokenness of the world."
"Her illness came as a shock," says Rab-
bi Daniel Syme, incoming rabbi of Detroit's
Temple Beth El, who said he prays for Ms.
Friedman "every day of my life." At the
same time, he adds, the singer's illness has
resulted "in some of her most powerful mu-
sic."
Peter Yarrow agrees. "With illness, some
become bitter," he says. "Others turn it into
a kind of universal embrace."
"Some people use death as a teacher of
life," Ms. Friedman says. "People who get
sick get a taste of it. They play tag with
death, and then they don't have as much
fear about going into that place. They know
that what counts is to live as richly and
fully as one can in this life. When you are
living, you don't think about not living."
A Strategic Relocation
Maybe that's what drove Ms. Friedman to
New York. As she explains it, relocating
there was a personal imperative, not nec-
essarily a professional one. "I was living in
a community that was not so Jewishly
ented, and my whole existence is about
feeding Jewish life.
"My coming here has more to do with
finding a stimulating community; I see it
as akin to living in a shtetl. People stop me
all the time on the street, friends from
every phase of my life."
But some view the relocation as strate-
gic. Ms. Friedman's popularity over the
years has emanated from the West and
South, not from the densely populated Jew-
ish Northeast. Now, she has chosen to
move to where the action is.
"It is the next logical step for an artist
who already had a following," says Rabbi
Syme. "Being (in New York) offers her a
platform to reach an entirely new audi-
ence. Her talent has always been there; it
is the (public) consciousness of her talent
that needs to go to a new level."
In an effort to extend beyond the Judaica
"When she comes out with
something new, it's mayhem."
— Velvel Pasternak, Jewish music distributor
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