And the Grammy for Contemporary Jewish American Music Goes To…

…Oh that’s right. There isn’t a Grammy for Contemporary Jewish American Music. And why not?

This article is an attempt to understand the contemporary Jewish American Music scene, as controlled by the singers/songwriters of this genre. And make no mistake — they are in control. There is an overwhelming number of Internet sites and links showcasing these artists, their CDs, digital downloads, blogs, concert schedules, independent projects, etc.

The matriarch of the movement is Debbie Friedman, who has achieved such mainstream success that Hallmark actually launched a line of greeting cards featuring her lyrics. Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu is another pioneer and crossover success story in the contemporary Jewish American music scene.

Artists like Pharaoh’s Daughter, Chana Roth and Michelle Citron are considered the next wave of young Jewish musicians. They are more “music driven” rather than having a direct tie to traditional Hebrew texts. Unlike many of their folksy predecessors, Pharaoh’s Daughter’s style is more folk/rock, cyber grunge girl band, with a little world music thrown in the mix.

The Jewish artists profiled in this article all have this in common: They came out of the Reform movement, and their music was founded on the sands and in the bunks of summer camps. And they’ve all been major influences in this genre for 15 or more years.

PERI SMILOW
http://www.perismilow.com

Like many of her colleagues, Peri Smilow was raised in the Reform movement, started singing in the 1970s as a song leader in her temple youth group, and was a devotee of contemporary music pioneers Jeff Klepper, Dan Freedlander and Debbie Friedman. For many years Smilow made extra money singing in synagogues.

“Come Friday afternoon, I’d be screaming down the Mass. Pike, throwing on my pantyhose on my way to a temple gig,” Smilow said. At one of these weekend gigs in Newport, R.I., she made a cassette tape of her music for the congregation.  

“The next thing I knew, I got a phone call from someone in Ohio who received a copy of the cassette from a cousin in Newport.” she said. That led to a request for Smilow to perform in Ohio.

At that same time, the independent music market was emerging — recording equipment had gotten smaller and more manageable and musicians were building home studios.

“It was the first time that someone outside of the music machine could make their own CD,” Smilow said.

In the early days, she helped build her fan base by performing and selling her music at Jewish conventions such as the CAJE (Coalition for the Advance­ment of Jewish Education) conference, and the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial convention. Today she does guerilla marketing using email, and networks via Facebook.

She sold her music through http://www.soundswrite.com for a long time, which helped get her placed in Jewish bookstores and gift shops. Smilow also sells digital downloads of her songs through http://www.oysongs.com.

“But the money is made in the touring,” Smilow said.

PETER AND ELLEN ALLARD
http://www.peterandellen.com

Masters at music for young children, Peter and Ellen Allard began performing together in 1994 in central Massachusetts, sealing their partnership with a marriage two years later.

Last week they led a multi-generational worship service in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a gig they got through a cantorial connection. Like Smilow, the Allards build their fan base by attending the CAJE and URJ conventions, as well as Jewish Choral Festivals.  

“People who see us at these events go back to their synagogues and tell the powers that be that we need to get the Allards in here,” Ellen said. One gig leads to another gig. In the last 15 years, the pair has done over 100 performances a year.

Like many other independent Jewish performers, they do a lot of self marketing.

“When you submit your CDs to http://www.cdbaby.com, you essentially write your own copy, so everybody’s going to write that they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread,” Ellen said.

The Allards were invited to join the faculty at the Hava Nashira Song Leading Retreat in Wisconsin, which has helped promote their careers.

“That gets us in front of 200 people who are taking our CDs back to their synagogues all across the country and promoting us. All the song leaders that are going to teach at summer camps throughout the country come to study with us and our colleagues, and take our material,” Peter said.

ADRIAN DURLESTER
http://www.durlester.com

“Years ago, there were basically two places that you could go for this genre of music,” said Adrian Durlester, a “behind-the-scenes kinda guy” who has a major interest in promoting contemporary Jewish American music.

Durlester controls http://www.havanashira.org, a great place to find links to artists who work the genre. A musician and educator, Durlester navigates a blog and also writes CD reviews from his home base in Amherst, Mass.

“In its early days, the Hava Nashira song retreat was the brain-child of Debbie Friedman and Gerry Kaye. It started off really small, with just 40 or 50 people. Over the years it’s grown, and now draws several hundred people,” Durlester said. “After several years of doing that, I was looking for ways to grow and extend that community so that it could exist year-round. I created an online website around 1995,” he added.

According to Durlester, “a lot of this music comes from the Reform camp movement of the 1980s and from the ‘Ramah-niks.’ Eventually song leaders brought that music into the synagogues.”

Durlester is a Jewish educator and had a long career in the theater business until finally deciding to “do the Jewish thing.” He emphasizes that “nobody is getting rich doing this. It’s about their passion for Judaism.”

JULIE SILVER
http://www.juliesilver.com

Newton native Julie Silver, who now lives on the West Coast, uses social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with her fan base and announce her comings and goings.

“This is a way to be in touch with thousands of people at once, letting people know when I have a concert in their area,” she said.

Silver, a pioneer of contemporary Jewish music who paved the way for many younger artists, sells her music through cdbaby.com and iTunes. She also attributes some of her success to bookseller Barnes & Noble, with whom she negotiated a deal several years ago to create a new spin on Chanukah music.

Her CD “It’s Chanukah Time” helped her break through. According to Silver, when Barnes & Noble picked up “It’s Chanukah Time” in 2007, the first order was for 10,000 copies.

Yet according to Silver, selling CDs is no longer that lucrative. “I do 50 shows a year (and) sell CDs at the shows. But there is no money in CDs anymore. The money is in digital downloading and live concerts,” she said.

And the Grammy goes to…

Silver, the Allards, Smilow and Durlester all share a higher goal of having an impact on the Jewish community that raised them. Together they are a collective of musical explorers, interpreters and creators who unfortunately have yet to be recognized by the mainstream recording industry. Yet these Jewish artists continue to offer inspiration, hope and faith to their loyal fans, and more significantly, to our culture.