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 —