arts&life

music

Sheldon Low

Shining A Light

Song leader Sheldon Low will help

highlight a love for Jewish music at Israel’s

birthday party in Detroit.

STACY GITTLEMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

details

Sheldon Low will perform at
Israel@70 among a backdrop of
carnival-style, family-oriented
activities to celebrate Israel on
the Detroit Riverwalk. For ticket
and parking information and a
full description of activities, visit
israel70det.org.
In addition to his performance
at Israel@70, Low and wife Hadar
Orshalimy will return to Metro
Detroit for the following concerts:
July 23, Farmington Hills House
Concert (We Are the Northern
Lights); July 27, Temple Israel
Shabbat Under the Stars
(Hadar and Sheldon); Sept. 28-
30, Mid-Michigan Family
Shabbaton at the Butzel Center.
For details, go to sheldonlow.com.

44

June 14 • 2018

W

hen singer-song-
writer Sheldon Low
takes the stage on
June 20 during the Israel@70 at
River Days celebration on the
Detroit Riverfront, he hopes to
fill the air with a “holy sound.”
But he’s going to need the help
of several hundred of his new
Detroiter friends of all ages.
“I have always enjoyed mak-
ing music with other people, to
hear all the sounds we can make
together,” said Low, a third-
generation Jewish song leader
who attended day school and
Jewish camp while growing up
in St. Louis, Mo. Now, he’s made
it his mission to shine the light
on the importance of Jewish
music through touring, playing
the Jewish camp and JCC cir-
cuit and now highlighting new
Jewish artists in his weekly pod-
cast, Jewish Songwriter
(jewishsongwriter.com).
“Music can stir something

jn

within you and just draws
you in. Jewish music is a holy
sound that can only come from
a bunch of people making it
together, and I do look forward
to seeing young Jewish families
coming down to the Detroit
River to sing along with me and
celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday.”
Low’s performance will
include songs from his 2016
album, Life (Hallelu Music), as
well as songs from his two chil-
dren’s albums, It’s All Challah
to Me (2007) and Look At Me
(2010; Jewish Rock Records),
that have been distributed by
PJ Library. Accompanying Low
at his Detroit performance
will be prominent musicians
including percussionist Damian
Bassman, who these days can
be found playing in the pit for
the Tony-nominated SpongeBob
Squarepants on Broadway.
Low’s inspirations include
fellow song leader Rick Recht
(a co-founder of Songleader
Boot Camp, of which Low is
a member) as well as Israeli
musicians such as Achinoam
Nini and David Broza and
the guitar stylings of Yonatan
Geffen. Remnants of melodies

from these artists, along with
reworked melodies of Jewish
liturgical songs, seep into his
own creative works.
“When you write music, all
the sounds and melodies that
have ever entered your ears as
well as your own experiences
and memories come into play,”
Low said. “For me and many
other adults I know, music and
singing remain the entry point
into Judaism.”
Low created Jewish Songwriter
to highlight the newest batch of
Jewish songsters. Each episode
features an interview with a
songwriter, explores their own
Jewish journey and songwriting
process, and delves into the lay-
ers of meaning behind one song
they have written.
“Jewish Songwriter can be a
great tool for Jewish educators
who wear many hats and some-
times their time and resources
are stretched thin,” Low said.
“Each episode can be seen as a
self-encapsulated Jewish lesson
that can be used in a Jewish
education setting.”
Low’s Detroit connection
runs through his wife and
longtime creative partner,

Hadar Orshalimy. Though she
was born and raised in Israel,
Orshalimy’s mother grew up
on Seven Mile and went to
Mumford High School before
making aliyah. Her aunt,
Jeri Fishman, is president of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
and recently was honored with
the Woman of Valor award
at the Lois Linden Nelson
Woman’s World event.
Low’s parents, Steven and
Susan Low, reside in Grand
Blanc, and his father is the
executive director of the Flint
Jewish Federation.
Low recalls the couple’s
recent stop in Detroit during
late summer of 2017 while they
were on tour with We Are the
Northern Lights, their indie
folk-rock group and newest cre-
ative and more secular endeav-
or. They had just wrapped up
a performance at Campus
Martius and were enjoying a
post-show cocktail at a down-
town bar.
“The Tigers game had just
let out and there were a lot of
young people filling the streets
and enjoying the nightlife,”
Low said. “There is a renewed
vibrancy in Detroit, something
really exciting going on. It is
very cool to bear witness to a
city that is on the ground floor
of something up and coming.
Whenever I am here, I get a
sense of how proud Detroiters
are of their city and how they
stick together.”
Though the couple continues
to make Jewish music, they are
enjoying the life of being rela-
tive newlyweds, living in their
home in Harlem, N.Y., and see-
ing where the newest juncture
on their musical path will take
them with We Are the Northern
Lights.
“[Northern Lights] is hardly
a departure from Jewish music
but a new creative direction,”
Low said. “We collaborate
and dig and tour with the new
songs. We don’t yet have a plan
for where this new path is tak-
ing us. Whether we are touring
or writing for TV, movies or
other artists, we just know we
love making music together.” •

