Saturday, February 23, 2008

What IS Jewish Music?

I'm going to leave much of this answer to those responding.
My point here is to show the differing opinions out there and, certainly, share my own.

Whoa, baby, do I have my own...

I'm an American, born-and-bred, growing up on Beatles, cantorial, Walt Disney, zemiros, Dean Martin, Shlomo Carlebach, Peter, Paul and Mary, CSNY, EW&F, ELO, Marvin Gaye, Gerrer and Modzitzer, Sherwood Goffin, Ruach and Joni Mitchell... an often-depressing combination of cultures for a growing musician...and that's just spanning one decade of almost five.

I made a career combining (!) many of these elements. Finding a balance is still an artistic and personal struggle, but it also involves dealing with the constantly-changing morays of Jewish audiences.

My next question will be "what is American Jewish music?" Answering that question (and arguing it, I expect) may very well involve responses to the first one.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

My bad... I wasn't here...

I would like to extend my sincerest thanks and apologies to those of you who were who were considerate enough to visit my new blog this past year, but received no response from me.

The formation of the blog coincided with a few other missions that were underway for me, so I was suddenly called away and rendered busy for a long time and for some very good reasons. Visiting the Holyland for a month, expanding my studio for many more, gathering material for a modern Jewish-American wedding album I'm producing in my studio and working hard with my new business partners, Ariel Publicity, to get the word around, organizing PR for the new direction I’ve taken with my group, Takana, the “Reach Out” CD and the rest of my musical endeavors.

The newsletter is coming soon (iy"H, for those who are concerned), so the opportunity to subscribe will be made available on www.veroba.net and all will hopefully begin to make sense.

I see I missed responding to some very tempting comments and I'm hoping you'll return to discuss them again. I'm looking forward to hearing from you and invite you to return as soon as you can.

Thanks again for coming and for listening! A freilechen Adar.