GUIDE 4-09

Gather 'Round

Enjoy new sounds and sights right at home with our suggestions
for your listening and watching pleasure.

Suzanne Chessler f Special to the Jewish News

H

ome entertainment in the form of CDs and DVDs turn into warming, pensive and even welcoming
gifts for a diversity of family members and friends. Best of all, gifts of CDs/DVDs can be shared with loved
ones. Here, a few suggestions for your ears and eyes.

EASY LISTENING
Violinist Joshua Bell might not feel
exactly at home in Metro Detroit, but
his Jewish mother would. The former
Shirley Levine, a Motor
City native, visited the
area with her son and
introduced him to Detroit
Symphony Orchestra con-
certs long before he earned
star billing and stepped on

stage with its musicians.
The sense of home is important to the
violinist, who created a musical salon in
his own and invites great music-mak-
ing friends to join him in their
favorite melodies, classic and
contemporary.
Joshua Belk At Home With
Friends (Sony; $11.99) is his
new recording that includes easy
listening selections with many

artists, such as Jewish pianists Marvin
Hamlisch ("I'll Take Manhattan") and
Lee Musiker ("My Funny Valentine" fea-
turing Kristin Chenoweth on vocals).
"Since music is at the very heart of
who I am, it's also very naturally the
focus of my home Bell says. "That's why,
when I decided to redesign my place
in New York City ... one of my priori-
ties was to include a performance space
where I could spend time with friends

and make music."
The recording makes it very comfort-
able for home-based hosts to invite oth-
ers for sound interludes featuring Bell
with Chris Botti playing "I Loves You
Porgy:' Josh Groban performing "Cinema
Paradiso" and Regina Spektor presenting
"Left Hand Song" among the 16 tracks.

FAMILY FUN
Another Jewish mother, Mama Doni,
likes to make music and add fun into the
mix. Her latest venture, Chanukah Fever
(Mama Doni Productions; $15), offers
new beats and lyrics for the holiday.
"Lake Man;' "The Funky Gold
Menorah:' "Eight" and "La Vida Dreidel"
are among the "13 Macca-beats" for the
whole family.

"I wanted to sing funky Jewish songs
with the kids, but couldn't find the kind
I envisioned so I thought I'd try to write
them myself;' says Doni Zasloff Thomas,
a music teacher, songwriter and lead
singer in the Mama Doni Band.
"The next thing I knew, I was filling
notebook after notebook with music! I
felt inside that I was creating a new kind
of music that would ... celebrate all the

great and fun aspects of Jewish culture
Mama Doni, who holds a degree in
educational theater from New
York University, won the 2008
Simcha Award for inspir-
ing joy through music at the
International Jewish Music
Festival in Amsterdam.
In Chanukah Fever, the
sounds move through reggae,

rock, disco, Latin and what the enter-
tainer calls "Jewgrass." The album — fol-
lowing recording projects that
include I Love Herring, I Love
Chanukah! and I Love Purim!
— encourages families and
their guests to sing right along
at home.

INDIE JEWISH
Alicia Jo Rabins goes way beyond moth-
erhood as she explores women in the
Bible through her CD Girls in
Trouble (JDub Records; $11.98).
The singer-composer-violin-
ist-guitarist brings her interpreta-
tions to the lives and experiences
described in the original text
"Where You Go" tells the story
of the close relationship shared by

Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth.
"Snow" ponders the troubles faced by
Miriam, the exiled
sister of Moses.
s ; "Mountain" looks at
`' the fate of a daughter
,(\, marked for sacrifice.
Recorded with an
indie folk feel and
three additional
musicians, Girls

in Trouble reflects Rabins' two years
studying ancient texts in Jerusalem and
becoming familiar with Hebrew and
Aramaic. Her spiritual journey followed
American studies in music and poetry
and performances with touring bands.
Rabins' 10-track goal was to introduce
songs written as if from the points of
view of women she found interesting
and elusive, some not even identified by
name. Bringing musical variety to the

original selections are Aaron Hartman on
upright bass, Tim Monaghan on drums
and Jascha Hoffman on keyboards.
Rabins, who arranged and performed
all the string parts as well as guitar and
vocal harmonies, hopes listeners will be
left thinking about people whose stories
have been carried along throughout the
centuries.

CLASSIC REVISITED
The Diary of Anne Frank, the most
widely read nonfiction work after the
Bible, can be viewed as a full-length
movie or in segments first shown as a
BBC miniseries in the United Kingdom.
Well Go USA recently released both
versions ($19.98 film, $24.98 series) star-
ring Ellie Kendrick in the title role and

lain Glen as her father.
The production crew represents these
versions as the most historically accurate
adaptations of the teen's memoir, which
is recounted in an authentic reconstruc-
tion of the house where the family —
mother, father and two daughters — hid
from the Nazis for more than two years.
The story begins on Anne's 13th birth-

day in Amsterdam, shortly before
the Franks go into hiding with
another family and an unrelated
man. The worsening conditions
are chronicled, as betrayal and
capture become their destiny.
While the drama is rooted
in history, filmmakers intend
that Anne become a universal

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November 26 • 2009

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symbol of the oppressed facing
violence and tyranny.
Among the DVD's bonus
features is a new interview
with Buddy Elias, Anne Frank's
cousin.

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Gather 'Round on page GG44q

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