Upcoming Michigan Jewish Music Events

This is the North Coast (aka Michigan) and things get a bit slow here in the winter. But there's still some good Jewish music related events coming up. And I'm involved in two of them!

The Red Sea Pedestrians play the Ann Arbor Ark, Jan 13

One of my favorite Michigan bands hits the best venue in the area.

"The Red Sea Pedestrians are a musical melting pot, bringing together six distinctive multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters to investigate klezmer music and a host of other styles. Their live shows and their CD, "A Lesson in Cartography," have built up a buzz that's extended across the Midwest from their home base in Kalamazoo."




Yiddishe Cup plays the Ann Arbor Ark, Jan 23

A klezmer band by way of Catskills cha-cha. I saw them live last year and had a blast.

"We dare you not to dance!" Reviving the wacky Jewish humor of the '50s and '60s by parodying everything from cha-cha to doo-wop to rock, Northeast Ohio's Yiddishe Cup is also one of the tightest, most vigorous klezmer bands around. Year after year they wind up on Jewish-music ten-best lists, and their live shows are legendary. Get ready for songs like "Gentile on My Mind" or "Meshugeneh Mambo"! But they can also play it straight, bringing the energy and tradition of klezmer music to their delighted audiences"







The Silver Age of American Jewish Music is Happening Now! And Why We're Missing It. (Extended Play) - February 28 at 1pm the downtown Ann Arbor District Library

The Ann Arbor District Library invited to redo my Ignite talk in a longer form. Come join the fun!

Jewish music is exploding. Bands and labels and venues are multiplying. Rock. Hip Hop. Reggae. Punk. Klezmer. Sephardic. Choral. Chamber Music. Jazz. Chassidic-Pop. Breslov Techno. Niggunim. Pop-liturgical. Bible-gum. Beat Box. Boy Choirs. House. Socialist Yiddish Gothic. Indie. Weird hybrids. Avant-Garde experiments. Earnest devotion. But we're not immigrants clustered in tenements, in range of a local Yiddish radio station anymore. A revolution is happening but we're scattered across a big nation with no common media to connect us....except the net. Will it be enough?

This Extended Play version of Jack's recent 5 minute Ignite Ann Arbor talk will be loaded with more music, a road-map of the contemporary Jewish Music scene, a case study in social-networking Jewish Music, and the greatest Jewish song you've never heard. Jack Zaientz is the author of Teruah, a popular Jewish music blog. Jack has been interviewed regarding Jewish music by the Israeli National Radio and was recently ranked by the Jewish Telegraphy Agency as the #36 most influential Jewish twitter.



The JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music Festival, March 6-14 around metro Detroit.

Truth in advertising...I'm now on the steering committee of this festival. For 1 whole meeting now. I'm going to be offering up my Jewish music knowledge and rolodex as well as my (limited, though enthusiastic) abilities in internet marketing. The following, though, is my personal take on the fest not an official blurb.

This is a community wide Jewish music festival serving the metro-Detroit area. This year's schedule includes contemporary Jewish musician (e.g. songleader) Rabbi Joe Black, a workshop on Jewish healing through music, Inbal Segev and Elena Baksht Chamber Duo playing a program celebrating Jewish masterpieces including compositions by Ron Yedidia, Ernest Bloch, and Paul Ben-Haim, Shircago! a Jewish a capella group from Chicago, and a concert and discussion with Matisyahu (a live event broadcast via satellite from NYC). All that and a performance by Hal Linden, a teen battle of the bands, a concert of Michigan cantors, jazz, and opera music. See the music fest website for the full schedule.