Thursday, March 15, 2007

Jewess Interviews Beth Schafer and Galet Dardashti

I ran into a new blog recently. (I should give credit to whichever blog or website pointed me to it, but I forgot which one it is. Sorry). Jewess covers Jewish women's issues and has done interviews with the Jewish women musicians Beth Schafer and Galet Dardashti. (Schafer interview here, Dardashti interview here) I'm a fan of Dardashit's group Divan. They play an idiosyncratic and compelling blend of Mizrakhi and Sephardi music.

I didn't know Beth Scafer, though. Reading her interview makes it clear why. She's part of the "contemporary Jewish music" scene that includes Debbie Friedman, Rick Recht, Craig Taubman, and Dan Nichols. I honestly haven't had much exposure to these folks. Part of it is the sound. What I've heard has been pretty folky, poppy, and (to me) bland. Part of it is religious. Most of these folks seem to come out of the Reform community. I don't have a problem with that, I just haven't been around it much. Another gap for me to fill, I guess. I'll make a point of listening to more of these folks over the next month or so and report back on what I find.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there! Thanks for the mention and your honesty. I would like to personally send you a CD so that you can be "exposed" so to speak. Feel free to email me at beth@bethschafer.com, and I'll set you up with some contemporary Jewish music that is award-winning and truly rocking the house.

Shavua tov,
Beth

www.bethschafer.com
Winner 2006 American Idol Underground
Faith Based Competition

Jack said...

Great to hear from you. Congrats for the American Idol Underground win. I would love to take you up on your kind offer. I very much want to be exposed more to your style of music. Once I've listened to it, maybe we can chat about it (via email or instant messenger would be fine)? I would like to hear more about your music scene and where it's going and about your musical touchstones. Part of the point of my blog is to get me to challenge my own assumptions about Jewish music and to help bring together different genre's that don't ever seem to mix. Any insights you could share would be most appreciated. I'll send you my snail mail address via email.

Thanks, Jack