Arts & Entertainment
MUSICALMARATHON
This is Y page 37
Sweetest Sounds from page 37
The Silver Age of American
Jewish Music Is Happening
Now — And Why We're
Missing It!
Lecture by Teruah blogmaster Jack
Zaientz
Thursday, March 24
7 p.m.
JCC, Oak Park
FREE, tickets required
—
Stereo
Sinai
-
Patron Night
with David
Broza, honor-
ing Hannan &
Lisa Lis
Saturday, March
26 — 8:30 p.m.
Berman Center,
David Broza
West Bloomfield
JCC Member: $30
Nonmember: $40
(Concert only, does not include
reception)
Pitom
Family Concert
with Mark
Bloom
Singer, composer,
pianist, educator and
arranger, Mark Bloom
merges jazz and
Judaism. He has per-
Mark Bloom
formed and produced
his "Jazz Shabbat ser-
vice at more than 70 congregations and
recorded seven self-produced CDs.
Sunday, March 27
2 p.m.
Berman Center, West Bloomfield
Children (18 and younger): $5
Adults: $7
minutes of fame. Two hours later, Yitz
Jordan was still performing.
Today, Jordan is one of those rare enter-
tainers who can actually make a living
by his music. He released one CD, This Is
Babylon, and a second, This Is Unity, is in
the works. Often, he'll go into the studio
with nothing written but instead begins
with a beat, and then the words flow spon-
taneously, like a river. He has been inter-
viewed by the BBC and appeared on Late
Night with Conan O'Brien.
His friend David Singer provided the
Y-Love name, inspired by the Hebrew let-
ter yud, which begins the words Yisroel
and one of God's names, and asks the
question, "Why?" to which, "Love is the
answer': Jordan explains.
Often, his songs feature the talents of
other Jewish hip-hop stars, including some
with political views very different from his
own. Jordan easily describes himself as
liberal, reaching out to Muslims through
"hip-hop soul reconciliation." Yet he loves
appearing with fellow rapper DeScribe,
who served with the Israel Defense Forces.
"No matter how different we are, we are
all part of the Jewish family,' Jordan says.
When not creating his own music, Jordan
likes listening to hip-hop superstar Nicki
Minaj, Young Money, punk rock, heavy
metal and all kinds of world music, like
Thaitanium, a hip-hop group from Bangkok.
40
March 17 2011
He also loves computers, writes a blog
(hiphopactivist.corn), is a self-described
news junkie and often goes on what he
calls a "sociological safari:' searching for
interesting profiles on Facebook. He also
likes movies (The Color Purple and Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are two favorites).
And he's passionate about languages. In
Israel, Jordan learned not only Hebrew but
Yiddish and Aramaic, all of which he uses
in his music. Language, he says, "is what
makes us human."
Hebrew Meets Hip-Hop
In addition to Y-Love, the Progressive
Music Showcase will feature the tal-
ents of Diwon, Stereo Sinai and Pitom
("Suddenly" in Hebrew).
Diwon, aka Erez Safar, is a producer
and DJ whose sound blends Yemenite
music with electro hip-hop and is strongly
shaped by the musical traditions of his
family's beginnings in Yemen, migration
to Ethiopia and life in Israel. Diwon has
performed with Matisyahu and Lou Reed,
and the Forward listed him as one of the
Top 50 "most influential Jews of 2007:'
Stereo Sinai, with its signature
"Biblegum pop" sound, fuses ancient,
sacred languages with backbeats and
synthesized pop. The group comprises
singer-ongwriter Miriam Brosseau and
producer Alan Jay Sufrin and was declared
a "Favorite Band of 2009" on About.com .
In 2008, Stereo Sinai represented their
hometown of Chicago at the International
Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam.
Pitom is a quartet from New York that
blends punk, noise, rock, metal and jazz,
all filtered through Jewish tradition, and
includes Yoshie Fruchter, Jeremy Brown,
Shanir Blumenkranz and Kevin Zubek.
Jazzreview.com described the group's first,
self-titled CD as "first rate with music
by "an incredibly creative, remarkably
capable and gutsy band that takes musical
risk-taking in stride." The group's just-
released second CD, Blasphemy and Other
Serious Crimes, is a blistering sonic horn-
age to the Day of Atonement. II
Elizabeth Applebaum is a marketing spe-
cialist at the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit.
The Progressive Jewish Music Showcase begins 6 p.m. Sunday, March 27, at
the Berman Center for the Performing Arts at the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield. Tickets are $12 for JCC members and $15 for nonmembers.
www.jccdet.org or (248) 661-1900.
"
—
Progressive Jewish Music
Showcase with Y-Love,
Diwon, Stereo Sinai and
Pitom
(See article on page 37.)
Sunday, March 27
6 p.m.
Berman Center, West Bloomfield.
JCC member: $12
Nonmembers: $15
—
Elaine Serling
in Concert
Singer-songwriter
Elaine Serling has
been composing and
performing for more
than four decades
and has appeared
Elaine Serling
in cities across
the United States,
Canada, Israel and Australia and in her
hometown of Detroit.
Monday, March 28
1 p.m.
Berman Center, West Bloomfield
Free, tickets required
—