Since Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach began to compose and perform in 1958, his music and teachings have uplifted thousands. His deep spirituality and his love of all humanity filled every song he wrote and touched every person he encountered.
Neshama Carlebach is continuing the tradition her father began. Her talent and charisma captivate and endear her to people of all ages, as she performs in cities all over the world. Together with producer/pianist David Morgan and her incredible band, she continues to both deeply move and entertain as she sings her father's incomparable melodies, and original compositions.
|
|
"Carlebach's dark hued spiritually evocative
soprano drew comparisons
to the likes
of Sheryl Crow
and Linda Ronstadt,
while the haunting
melodies, glistening
pop sophistication
of her band's
arrangements,
and religious nature
of her material were
reminiscent of
Amy Grant".
- Jim Bessman,
Billboard Magazine
|
|
Neshama's fifth CD, Journey, combines a sweet mix of the simplicity of her father's melodies, with jazz and earthy folk grooves. Neshama's musical growth is evident in this showcase of moving versatility and impressive vocal range.
Of Journey's thirteen acoustic songs, eleven were composed by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and two original songs, "Ata Hu" and "Min Hametzar" were written by David Morgan and Neshama Carlebach. All the songs are in Hebrew besides Shlomo's English classic "Return Again" and "Niggun Neshama," a melody with no words, recorded on this CD for the first time. All the ingredients are present to transport the listener on his/her own uplifting and spiritual Journey.
The next year will be a momentous one for Neshama. She will be making appearances all over the United States and Canada, and throughout South Africa, Israel, and Europe.
On October 30, 2004 she will be appearing in a live Theater celebration in New York City to commemorate the tenth yahrzeit of her father's passing.
This original Music Theatre piece will tell the story of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, known the world over for his stirring musical settings of sacred Jewish texts and for his poetic Hassidic teachings. Woven around his original songs, the piece will trace Carlebach's evolution from a devoutly orthodox yeshiva student, whose family fled Hitler's Europe, to a folk singing rabbi in 1960's Greenwich Village, to his founding of a Jewish commune in San Francisco at the height of the Hippie Movement ("the House of Love and Prayer") to his final incarnation as a world renowned spiritual teacher, whose songs and stories inspired people across the globe to reconnect to their own humanity.
In addition to the use of video and original recordings of Shlomo, much of the music in the show will be sung by Neshama, surrounded by a skilled ensemble of actors, singers, dancers and musicians assembled to celebrate her father's life and his artistic and spiritual legacies. This piece will feature many special guests and speakers.
|
|
About Shlomo: The Life, Legacy and Music of Shlomo Carlebach
This original Music Theatre piece will tell the story of the late RabbiShlomo Carlebach, known the world over for his stirring musical settings of sacred Jewish texts and for his poetic Hassidic teachings. Woven around his original songs, the piece will trace Carlebach's evolution from a devoutly orthodox yeshiva student, whose family fled Hitler's Europe, to a folk singing rabbi in 1960's Greenwich Village, to his founding of a Jewish commune in San Francisco at the height of the Hippie Movement ("the House of Love and Prayer") to his final incarnation as a world renowned spiritual teacher, whose songs and stories inspired people across the globe to reconnect to their own humanity.
In addition to the use of video and original recordings of Shlomo, much of the music in the show will be sung by his daughter Neshama Carlebach, a celebrated singer in her own right, surrounded by a skilled ensemble of actors, singers, dancers and musicians assembled to celebrate her father's life and his artistic and spiritual legacies. This piece will feature many special guests and speakers.
|
|
About David Schechter - Director/Playwright
Shlomo: The Life, Legacy and Music of Shlomo Carlebach
Schechter's play, HANNAH SENESH, about the W.W.II Jewish poet and freedom fighter, has played world wide, winning numerous awards, including a Drama Desk nomination when he directed it Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theater. Schechter received much critical acclaim for his original adaptation and direction of Isaac Bashevis.Singer's signature story, GIMPEL THE FOOL and FROM THE DIARY OF ONE NOT BORN at La Mama E.T.C in NYC. His musical, ALMOST SEPTEMBER, co-written with Steven Lutvak, won eight Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and seven Drama-Logue Awards (earning Schechter two Outstanding Director awards) for its West Coast premiere. He directed his original hip-hop version of THE JUNGLE BOOK (co-written with Barry Keating) in a successful run at Broadway's New Victory Theater. He co-created and directed DOUBLE CROSSED: THE SAGA OF THE ST. LOUIS ( with David Gonzalez) for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Schechter recently directed a staged reading of his newly commissioned musical, A TALMUD TALE, (co-written with Ned Ginsburg) about Rabbi Akiba, the conceiver of the Talmud, at the New J.C.C. of Manhattan and on Theater Row. Segments of Schechter's musical GUARDING THE GARDEN (co-written with Margot Stein) were published in TORAH OF THE EARTH, a collection of writings about Jewish teachings on ecology. He has worked extensively as a writer and/or director for Theatreworks/USA, Making Books Sing and Roots&Branches Intergenerational Theater as well as regionally around the U.S., Canada and Israel. His work as an actor has been seen on LAW AND ORDER, On and Off-Broadway, including winning acclaim in the original cast of Liz Swados' RUNAWAYS, and the Broadway revival of 3PENNY OPERA starring Sting. He played the title role in GROUNDHOG at the Manhattan Theatre Club and has been seen numerous times at The New York Shakespeare Festival under Joe Papp.
|
|
