As experienced Jewish music presenters, we’re here to serve you with our knowledge and experience. We know what its like to put on these events and can provide practical advice, not a sales pitch. To serve the needs of your organization and tastes of your community, we work with a broad array of artists across a number of genres. We don’t push a specific artist on you; we provide options that can fit your programmatic and budgetary parameters.
To peruse the artists we work with, click on the Musical Acts button to the right and browse our roster by genre. Our aim is to your community stage a great event, be it a concert program, fundraiser, melava malka, Israel celebration, Bar Mitzvah or family Simcha.
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Born and raised in Detroit, Michael HarPaz, son of immigrant parents, emigrated to Israel in 1995 with only a few bucks in his pocket, his guitar on his back and high ambitions.
Within a year, he became a founding member of HiFive, the biggest band in Israeli history. As the lead singer in HiFive, Michael spent the next four years performing to sold out arena shows in front of hundreds of thousands of adoring fans. As a cultural icon, Michael was the pulse of everything pop in the country. Setting trends both musically and socially, Michael managed to change Israeli entertainment history forever.
He and his group set the bar against which all other success was measured. With four gold albums to his name and countless other awards and honors, Michaels fame rose to new heights. He could not walk the streets of Tel-Aviv without a steady entourage or bodyguards and security.
Michael’s music took him to New York and word traveled fast. He performed for Mayor Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion and singing on the stage of Town Hall. Michael became part of the songwriting team for producer John Eaton writing for such artists as P. Diddy, Usher, and The Roots. During this time, Michael also flew to LA to write and perform on the best selling CD, MAXAZRIA BCBG Live.
Soon Michael was in the studio with 7 Aurelius (Jennifer Lopez, Ashanti, Ja Rule) and renowned music mogul, Damon Dash, to work on some collaborative projects. While working on a song for Paris Hilton, Michael was asked to come to Israel to help write some songs for Israeli singer Maya Buskila.
In Israel, Michael’s music was overheard by Oscar nominated film maker Menahem Golan and asked if he would stay in Israel to write and produce an original score for his new motion picture, “A Dangerous Dance”. Humbled by this offer, Michael began writing the rough demos for the movie. The producers and director fell in love with the voice on the rough tracks and soon enough was singing more tracks on the album than not. Michaels knack for vocal impersonations and wide range allowed him to write, produce and sing every track for the film. Currently, Michael is in Tel Aviv finishing the score for Golan’s film, with the first single, “My Champion” about to hit the airwaves.
Michael participated in the “Voices for Israel” project, and though not a ‘religious’ performer, wrote a new Havdallah suite for the Conservative movement. He has participated in many concerts to support Israel Defense Forces and benefits for victims of terror, including those in Sderot and in the bomb shelters during the Second Lebanon War.
Havdallah
Kshe HaLev
So Clearly I Remember
Westport Boy
Stereo Sinai is the Good Book like you’ve never heard it before. Miriam Brosseau (songwriter/vocals/guitar) and Alan Jay Sufrin (producer/songwriter/vocals/guitar) had been dating and making their own music for several years before Stereo Sinai came along.
They’d recently moved to Chicago, and the rabbi who welcomed them into the community had just had a son. Wanting to do something special for the rabbi’s family and their new baby, Gideon, Alan and Miriam teamed up to write a lullaby in what would become their unique ancient/modern style.
Stereo Sinai’s “Biblegum Pop” is the flip side of Ray Charles’ pioneering move to put secular words to traditional gospel music. Taking original Hebrew verses from the book of Judges and mixing them with a synthesized pop arrangement, the band’s first single, “Gideon’s Song,” was born.
If Kelly Clarkson and Gnarls Barkley had been on the mountain with Moses, they would have come down sounding a lot like Stereo Sinai. Mixing conservation with innovation, the band is not only working to lend renewed relevance to ancient texts. Stereo Sinai is also committed to acting as a socially responsible and environmentally conscious outfit in every respect.
Both Alan and Miriam are also both Jewish educators and advocates for Israel who can speak to audiences of all ages on a variety of topics in addition to their performances.
Stereo Sinai is already making its mark on the local music scene, being featured at Chicago landmarks the Chicago Cultural Center and the Cubby Bear. The group is looking forward to playing several benefit concerts and other exciting shows in the near future as their album debuts and tour schedule begins to take shape.
Gideon’s Song
Dance
Hitn’aari
Veteran subway-performing Blues singer Jeremiah Lockwood teams up with an all-star cast of NY underground greats (musicians who have graced the records of Tom Waits, Arcade Fire and Antibalas, to name a few) to summon voices from beneath the concrete streets. Calling upon the sounds of Malian guitars, Saharan beats, Afro-pop horns and the B-L-U-E-S, The Sway Machinery goes knocking at the gates of prayer with muscles swollen and eyes clenched.
Son of composer Larry Lockwood and the grandson of the legendary Cantor Jacob Konigsberg, Jeremiah Lockwood began his musical career playing on the streets of Manhattan. He soon struck up a relationship with Piedmont Blues master Carolina Slim, with whom he still performs. Jeremiah and Carolina Slim have appeared together in Avery Fisher Hall, the New School Blues Festival, and have been profiled in The New York Times Magazine and TimeOut NY. Jeremiah has worked for years as the front man for The Sway Machinery, a blues/world beat/Chazzanus ensemble that taking New York by storm
In recent years, Jeremiah has also been appearing with J-Dub recording artists Balkan Beat Box. He is joined by drummer Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the horn section of the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra to break down all barriers between mythic past and a future rich in the senses. Rejoicing in the season of the lunar New Year and taking the spiritual language of Ashkenazic Jewish cantorial traditions as its point of departure, a new creation will be embarked upon. Hidden Melodies Revealed will combine music, animated film, storytelling and the historically charged space of the Angel Orensanz Foundation towards the goal of shaping a context in which the musical traditions of the season can be absorbed by a modern audience. On this night, rich in feeling and sanctified by memory, ancient lore will blossom forth into an all-out party!
Ahavas Olam
Ivdu et HaShem
I Shall Chant Praises
“Lockwood’s arrangements of Jewish cantorial songs whip up a frenzy wherein all the world’s music can do that which music does best: celebrate. Such joyful synthesis is what music is all about, not to mention what New York is all about.” Buzz Poole – The Village Voice (Sep 13, 2006)
It was a night of multiculti mashups at Brooklyn’s best mid-sized concert venue. First up was Sway Machinery, led by Jeremiah Lockwood. His contributions are singing (in Hebrew) influenced by the classic Jewish cantors – his grandfather Jacob Konigsberg among them – and guitar playing that mixes Afropop and the blues (at times inevitably recalling the late, great Ali Farka Toure). Throw in bass saxophone, tenor sax, and trumpet by members of Antibalas and powerhouse drummer Tomer Tzur and the result mixes the above influences with klezmer, free jazz, and soul. Steve Holtje – CultureCatch.com (Sep 17, 2006)
A late night excursion out into the cold that was last weekend revealed a sweet surprise as we entered into Zebulon Cafe Concert on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg. We went on the promise that there would be some good music from the band The Sway Machinery which featured musicians who had played with Tom Waits and The Wu-Tang Clan, so I was expecting some deeply driven blues beats and earthy guitar. What I was not expecting was a full-fledged klezmer band. As sincere as their ancestors, yet twisted with modern grit and irony, horns were blaring, ancient Yiddish yarns were being spun by turns mumbled and screeched into the microphone, and a fanatical beat master was holding the whole thing together – just barely. I especially loved to see the dinosaur of the brass family, the bass saxophone, in action. I had heard rumors of this beast whispered in my small middle-school band rehearsals, where I myself cherished the soggy reeds of my alto sax, but I definitely had to see it to believe it. Bree Apperley – Until Monday (Jan 26, 2007)
Jeremiah Lockwood’s remarkably accomplished, frankly fascinating guitar work and Tomer Tzur’s limber syncopations combine with influences from the Sahara to the shtetl to the Delta (believe it) to make Sway Machinery consistently exciting and emotionally rewarding as well. Here they team up with friends from Antibalas for an exploration of a genre perhaps best labeled Jewish soul. Pamela Grossman – The Village Voice (Feb 28, 2006)
Last Sunday I went to see Jeremiah Lockwood’s new project: Sway Machinery with the horn section of Antibalas. This was their second show together. I will not exaggerate one bit if I tell you that this was the best Jewish music gig that I’ve ever been to, in my whole life. They played at The Stone, and at the end of the performance, every single person in the audience stood up and clapped, stomped, yelled for a long, long time. Jake Marmer – Mimaamakim (Jan 31, 2006)
I decided to watch some foot traffic for awhile, and was just kickin’ it on a plaza when I heard horns playing at a sound check coming from somewhere behind me. Yesterday I told you I’m a sucker for the harmonica, today I’m telling you I’m also a sucker for horns. I followed the sound and ended up at an outdoor stage, the Habana Calle Annex. Sway Machinery, a New York band that plays Jewish soul music, started the set by solemnly walking from outside the gate through the small crowd and on stage, playing all the while. The trumpet, tenor sax, and bass sax players also play in Antibalas, who I missed the other night but Chuck saw and was super pumped about. Stuart Bogie, the tenor saxophonist, has performed with everyone from the Wu-Tang Clan to TV On the Radio to Sinead O’Connor. The drums and guitar gave this liturgical music a bluesy rock beat. It was great to stumble into a performance of that caliber. Megan Wiley – About Town (Mar 18, 2007)
klezmer -tinged blues band…sounds like Muddy Waters – The New York Times Magazine (Feb 28, 2002)
klezmer -rock with a provocative attitude. – Luc Delannoy – Vibrations Magazine
Shlomit Levi is a gifted & powerfully voiced singer, blessed with a joyful spirit and dynamic personality. Born in the small town of Keryat Ekron in Israel, Shlomit grew up listening to the traditional folk music of Yemen which is one of her main influences. After touring in Europe with the band Orphaned-Land, Shlomit began to focus on learning the classical Yemenite musical repertoire of her ancestry.
In addition to specific meloldies, Temanim (Yemeni Jews) have a distinct pronunciation of the Hebrew language and a musical trope all their own. To these classic techniques, Shlomit has also added a contemporary twist and western influences. She most recently performed as a featured guest alongside the legendary Boaz Sharabi
At present, Shlomit is working on her debut album and performing across Israel, delivering her intimate songs with powerful melodies & soaring voice. She grew up listening to traditional folk music of Yemen as well as western-modern music. As a result, Shlomit has an eclectic palette, from which she draws inspiration.
Her performance combines ancient Yemenite rhythms & music; original songs influenced by her unique family story, known Israeli music and soul music in English. At present, Shlomit is working on her debut album and performing across Israel, delivering her intimate songs with powerful melodies & soaring voice. Not since the days of Ofra Haza has there been such an enigmatic singer to come out of Israel
Joining Shlomit is Tomer Koren , a talented arranger, guitar, keyboard and bass player who has performed with Simanim, Melechet, Fusion ensemble, Brit Olam, Adama festival, Haifa symphony, Universities and for the Prime Minister’s office. Shlomit is also backed by percussion artist Yatziv Caspi, specializing in Indian Tabla. Yatziv has performed in many ensembles, including Orphaned Land, Amit Varshetzki, Eliel Abecassis, Yuval Ron and Residents of the Future.
Shir HaShirim
Asalk
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Since helping to create the Israeli hip-hop scene with his 2000 debut album, Jerusalem’s Sagol 59 has earned a considerable reputation as an honest, clever, articulate and highly original MC.
His pseudonym goes back to the days of his youth, spent on a Kibbutz. All the kids were assigned a color and number combination; his was purple (sagol) #59. It stuck. Considered an Israeli hip-hop pioneer, Sagol also hosts the monthly Corner Prophets/Old Jeruz Cipher Hip Hop events in Jerusalem, showcasing both established and up-and-coming artists.
Big Ben
Current Affairs
Shoah Business
Silver and Gold
Lech Kadima
(click more for videos and more bio)
An advocate for dialogue, Sagol has participated in many events alongside Palestinian and Arab musicians (known as “Hip Hop Sulha”), and has performed with many well known artists, in Israel and overseas (Matisyahu, DJ Spooky, Kenny Mohammed The Human Orchestra, Remedy, Killah Priest, Sole of Anticon, Spearhead’s Michael Franti, Y-Love, Skinnyman, Hadag Nachash, Teapacks, D.A.M, Coolooloosh and more).
Boasting 4 Albums to date, plenty of musical collaborations with diverse artists and many live shows in Israel and overseas (New York, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam), Sagol has cemented his position as one of Israeli Hip Hop’s most outspoken and talented leaders. Sagol has recorded the first-ever collaboration of Israeli and Arab MC’s (“Summit Meeting” featuring Tamer Naffar & Shaanan Streett, released 2001).
El Nora
Anyone who thinks Jewish music equals klezmer needs to hear Divahn’s Middle Eastern and Sephardic grooves. Fans first heard Divahn’s energetic music deep in the heart of Texas. Today, this dynamic New York City-based quintet delights audiences throughout the country and has made numerous live radio appearances. Divahn infuses traditional songs with sophisticated harmonies and arrangements using tabla, cello, rabel, doumbek, violin and other acoustic instruments, plus vocals in Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Aramaic and Turkish.
Their beautiful lyricism flows through an intense rhythmic drive. The group distinguishes itself as the only all-female ensemble performing Mizrakhi-influenced music (Jewish music from the Middle East and North Africa) in the US, and has performed with some of the world’s most renowned master musicians, including Glen Velez and Anindo Chatterjee. Divahn, a word common to Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, means a collection of songs or poetry. Through its music, Divahn seeks to underscore common ground shared between diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religions. The group captures the breadth and diversity of Mizrakhi and Sephardi music throughout the centuries, while simultaneously creating and redefining innovative directions for the music in the present.
El Nora
Ayni Tzofiah
Hamavdeel
Vashti
Hazzan Galeet Dardashti (vocals, guitar, percussion) pursues her artistic and academic passion for Mizrahi music as both accomplished singer and anthropologist. She has performed as a soloist both in the US and Israel, including significant cantorial work. Galeet is writing her dissertation on contemporary Mizrahi and Arab music in Israel and offers interactive musical workshops and academic lectures on this topic, such as recent events at B’nai Jeshurun in NYC and the 2005 Aleph Kallah. She recently returned from conducting her dissertation research in Israel, which was funded by fellowships from Fulbright-Hays, The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
During her fieldwork, Galeet studied and performed Arab and Persian music with some of Israel’s most renowned musicians, including Yair Dalal, Yitzchak Refuah, and Kobi HaGoel. Galeet’s grandfather Yona Dardashti was one of the most highly acclaimed singers of Persian classical music in Iran. Together with her father, Hazzan Farid Dardashti, and The Dardashti Family, Galeet performed international Jewish music throughout the US and Canada for 19 years. In 2007 she was named a Six Points Fellow. She is joined in Divahn by Lila Sklar, Amy Sue Bartson, Eleanor Norton and Sejal Kukadia.
“ A stunning debut! … Darting, stabbing rhythms, throaty, urgent vocals and intricate and intelligent arrangements, this is a flat-out thrilling record.” Jewish Week
In combining the old and new, drawing from across the globe, and mixing their respective musical gifts, Divahn have not only a fine debut on their hands, but a new musical statement — one of craft, originality, and spirit.” – Austin Chronicle
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Sarah Aroeste leads the world’s only Ladino Rock band, performing a funky fusion of Spanish, Mediterranean and American musical styles. Inspired by her family’s cultural heritage–orginally from Spain and later settling in Salonika, Greece– the Aroeste sound combines and updates aspects from her unique family background.
Most influenced by the music and language of her Spanish roots, Aroeste grounds her music in Ladino, or castillian Spanish, the language originated by Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. This medieval form of Spanish was carried by Spanish Jews to the various points where they later settled, primarily along the Mediterranean coast and North Africa. In time, ladino came to absorb bits and pieces of languages all along the Mediterranean coast, including Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Hebrew.
This exotic pan-Mediterranean language has, unfortunately, been fading away and is hardly spoken anymore. But the musical legacy of Spanish Jews highlights the strength of an oral tradition that spans many centuries and unites a linguistic group. Until WWII the vibrant Spanish Jewish communities, particularly throughout the Mediterranean, had been able to perpetuate a significant Hispanic influence throughout the region. Following the War, Mediterranean Jews emigrated in large numbers to the U.S and Latin America, where their proud communities continue to retain a link, in many ways through music, with their medieval hispanic past.
American born, Aroeste has decided to revive this rich body of music by combining it with more contemporary musical influences. Encouraged by an influx of Latin-based music in America over the past few years, Aroeste hopes to make Sephardic music more recognized and accessible as well. Her family’s original Spanish-Greek name, Aroeste, or “of the West,” truly reflects her style of music by combining traditional Mediterranean sounds with contemporary rock, funk, jazz and blues. Using traditional instruments such as oud and dumbek, alongside electric guitar, bass and drums, Sarah Aroeste seeks to bring new life and energy to the beautiful and mysterious sounds of Sephardic music. Her sets include contemporary takes on traditional Mediterranean ladino songs, as well as original songs written in English, set to Spanish Mediterranean backgrounds.
A La Una
Arvoles
Hija Mia
Puertas
June 2006 Radio Safarad
Listen to an exclusive interview Spring 2006 with the Madrid-based radio station on the Sarah Aroeste Band experience.
Listen to it here
September 16, 2005 The Star Ledger
Jewish pop pourri:Ladino rock BY VICKI HYMAN
Read it here (pdf)
April 2005 Heeb Magazine: Heeb 100
October 2004 Chashm Andaaz Magazine/ Iranian Jewish Chronicle
A Sephardic Rock Star – Diva Embraces Music from the Past
9-10-04 The LA Jewish Journal
I am stunned … at how successfully Aroeste has succeeded in setting this music in a way that makes it contemporary, without losing the very traditional feel of the music and the music’s roots.
Click here for the full article
8-30-04 The Chicago Tribune
From the first notes that sounded, there was no question that Chicagoans were hearing music of the highest artistic level…[Yet the festival’s] cultural agenda seemed almost modest alongside the reach of singer/songwriter Sarah Aroeste, who finds inspiration in the ancient poetry of Ladino…
NPR” Ladino, the Language of Sephardic Jews on Morning Edition audio
NPR’s Renee Montagne talks to two experts [Sarah Aroeste and Rabbi Mark Angel] about the past and future of Ladino, the 500-year-old language of Sephardic Jews.
8-15-03 The Forward
Sarah Aroeste is a woman on a mission. The 27-year-old singer, who mixes rock and pop influences with the Ladino music of her ancestors, isn’t just out to entertain. She wants to redefine the term “Jewish music.”… With the explosion in the popularity of world music, Aroeste may indeed have stumbled upon a fusion that no one else has yet hit upon.
2004 CD ROOTS.com
A fine and promising debut release by a young American singer exploring Sephardic music in the modern world. A la una ranges from traditional folk forms to jazz, rock and many of the hyphens in-between.
6-20-03 The Jewish Week
With a bare midriff and gyrating hips, Sarah Aroeste performs jazz and rock blended into favorites from her Sephardic repertoire… The music is no mere attention-grabbing gimmick for Aroeste, who founded her own record label two years ago. It’s a connection to her Greek Jewish heritage and ancestral roots in medieval Spain.
6-11-03 The Village Voice
Ethnic eclecticism from a sultry warbler of Greek ancestry…(Shakira eat your heart out!)
4-4-03 Baltimore Jewish Times
When Sarah Aroeste discovered the music of Spanish and Mediterranean Jews, she took to it at once. Much of her extended family comes from Greece, and these songs spoke to that part of her heart.
2-03-02 The New York Blueprint
Living in a city with as rich a Jewish music scene as New York is a privilege. The next time you find yourself picking between New York’s eclectic offering, find a show by Sarah Aroeste…
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Hofshi Laad
Ahavat Haaretz is the creation of Roi and Osnat Levy. A founding member of the Israeli supergroup Shotei HaNevuah (The Fools of Prophecy), Roi’s songwriting skills are most evident in this ensemble. Mostly accoustic arrangements set lyrics describing Israeli society from many angles and viewpoints provide the listener with a uniquely current perspective of being Israeli.Osnat has been studying music her whole life and her abilities as a vocalist and instrumentalist are most evident. This couple is truly a joy to experience as their love for Israel and for each other comes out in all of their performances together. Together with Glenn Tamir, Ahavat Haaretz’s repertoire includes original material, as well as classic Israeli songs that can be led ala ‘Shira b’Tzibur.” Their first CD will be released in 2007 on Hed Artzi Records.
Hofshi Laad
Atta Noshem
Adon Olam
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