Musical treat at Shir Madness
TOP American singer Joshua Nelson joins a host of leading Australian performers including Deborah Conway, Simon Tedeschi, Tinpan Orange, Rapskallion and Nathan Kaye in the line-up for the Shir Madness Jewish Music Festival in Sydney on December 1.
More than 30 acts will perform on four stages during the nine-hour festival, which has moved from its March timeslot last year to align with the summer festival season. Festival manager Nicola Ossher says that Shir Madness has now became an established festival in Sydney.
“The festival has been embraced by the Jewish community as well as the wider community,” she says. “It’s a Jewish cultural event that builds a positive Jewish image.”
The festival covers a wide variety of musical styles including Yiddish, klezmer, Ladino, Sephardic, Israeli, classical, folk, jazz, blues, rock, pop, world, reggae, electronic and hip-hop.
“Almost every genre is featured in the festival,” she says.
“Joshua Nelson is the main headline act from the United States – he is acclaimed for his singing where he takes traditional gospel songs and melodies and applies them to Hebrew songs.”
Ossher, who is also a drummer, performed with the world music performer during his visit earlier this year for Limmud Oz.
“It was a wonderful experience – everyone was up and dancing to Nelson’s music. He can’t wait to return to Australia.”
At his Shir Madness shows, Nelson will be joined by a 10-member choir for some of his songs.
Another international guest is Knakl, a klezmer duo from Germany.
Leading the local line-up of guests is pianist Tedeschi and the return of favourite performers from earlier festivals – Conway and Tinpan Orange.
Ossher is excited that Nathan Kaye is performing at the festival.
“He’s a one-man band who plays didgeridoo, guitars and other instruments to produce energetic music,” she says. “He has been playing at festivals around Australia for many years.”
“Adam Katz is a young star from Sydney who is well-known on the music scene, with his songs being played on commercial radio, and he will be performing with hip-hop dancers.”
Another performer returning to Shir Madness is Queensland singer Ange Takats, who was recently crowned the best folk/singer-songwriter of the year at the Queensland Music Awards.
Takats began her music career 10 years ago in Bangkok where she worked as a foreign correspondent during the day and as a folk singer at night. She recently released a new album, Arva.
The Mark Ginsburg Band adds a jazz flavour to the festival, while Baby et Lulu showcases the talents of violinist-singer Lara Goodridge (who also performs with The Klezmer Divas and the string quartet FourPlay) and singer-songwriter Abby Dobson, the former lead singer of Leonardo’s Bride.
Victorian band Rapskallion offers a variety of musical styles including klezmer, says Ossher. “They are a unique vaudeville-style band that will have everyone dancing at the festival.”
Among the other performers are Miriam Waks, who performed at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival earlier this year, klezmer group Chaika, Barefoot Band featuring Ben Goldstein from The Voice, Cielo Vivo’s Annalouise Paul and rock group Dirty Sweet Nothings featuring vocalist Dan Segal and drummer Josh Ravek (who met at Mount Sinai College 20 years ago) and drummer Daniel Lawrence.
Ossher hopes the festival will expand so that it can be held in Sydney and Melbourne on alternate years.
“That’s the long-term goal and we hope to start mobilising a Melbourne group to work on a local festival that would take place a year after the next Sydney festival,” she says.
Festival attractions include food stalls, kids entertainment, DJs and the art exhibition, Let There be Light, showcasing the work of 36 Australian and international Jewish artists which runs from November 27 to December 8.
Ossher says the festival is looking for volunteers to help out on the day.
“In the past we had 150-200 volunteers, but we are well short to date. Anyone interested can contact us through the festival website.”
The Shir Madness Jewish Music Festival is on at Bondi Pavilion, Sydney on December 1 from 1pm to 10pm. Bookings:www.shirmadness.com.
REPORT by Danny Gocs
PHOTO: Fans enjoy last year’s Shir Madness Jewish Music Festival. Photo: Asaf Luft
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