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May 22, 2009
Moshav Band will rock city
L.A. group's performance will benefit Hebrew Academy.
DAVID J. LITVAK
While growing up on Mevo Modiin, a musical village in Israel that was founded by charismatic Rabbi Reb Shlomo Carlebach z"l, Yehuda Solomon and his brothers not only got to know Carlebach, but had the privilege of performing with the eclectic, mystical Jewish troubadour on many occasions as part of his back-up band.
Inspired by Carlebach, the Diaspora Yeshivah Band (of which their father was a member) and the 1960s and '70s music that their American parents brought with them when they made aliyah to Carlebach's moshav, Yehuda and two of his brothers formed the Moshav Band in 1998, incorporating these musical influences to come up with their own sound.
Today, the Moshav Band, which has recorded six CDs, is on the cutting edge of contemporary Jewish music, alongside other "cool" observant Jewish artists like Peter Himmelman and Matisyahu. The three-piece Los Angeles-based band, which features Yehuda on vocals, his brother, Yosef, on bass and guitarist David Swirsky, an old friend who comes from their village in Israel, will be joined by two additional musicians in Vancouver to perform June 4 at the Granville Island Stage as part of the Vancouver Hebrew Academy's (VHA's) fundraising gala. (Meir Solomon, a third brother, was a member of the band, but recently returned to Israel.)
It was the efforts of two Canadian college students from Montreal, Sig Shore and Justin Korda, who were studying in Israel at Hebrew University, that jump-started the band's career. Shore and Korda heard the band perform on their moshav, in clubs and on campuses across Israel. They were so inspired that they arranged a five-minute meeting between themselves (on behalf of the Solomon brothers' band) and Canadian philanthropist Edgar Bronfman, who was attending the General Assembly in Israel at the time. After the meeting, Bronfman wrote a cheque for $50,000 on the spot. This allowed the group to record its first CD and embark on its first North American tour, which included a gig in Montreal for 2,000 people.
Since that time, the Moshav Band members, who describe themselves as "Orthodox Jews who grew up on a religious, hippy moshav in Israel with American parents," have performed their unique blend of classic rock/ folk/country music with Middle Eastern rhythms while touring Israel, Australia, Europe and North America. They have appeared at popular venues such as Irving Plaza, the House of Blues, B.B. Kings and the Knitting Factory. Last summer, they performed in British Columbia for the first time – on Vancouver Island at the Big Time Out Festival with their friend and contemporary Matisyahu. The festival was organized by local Jewish promoter Vig Schulman, who gave the performers a house in which they could usher in Shabbat with local Jews and visiting Israelis.
The Moshav Band also has a connection to Vancouver's Jewish community. When he was a child attending school in Lod, Israel, Rabbi Shmuel Yeshayahu, the outreach director of Ohel Ya'akov Community Kollel, fondly remembered playing a game called chamesh avanim (five stones) with Yehuda Solomon, the lead singer. Years later, after hearing a recording of Carlebach-oriented Shabbat melodies by the Solomon brothers and their father, Ben Tzion, Yeshayahu was inspired to incorporate the melodies into the Kollel's Friday night service. Yeshayahu remembered that Yehuda Solomon came from a Carlebach environment and that his father was a close friend of the late Jewish legend. He's happy that the band is coming to Vancouver for the VHA fundraiser because of "their ability to communicate Jewish ideas with people who have little or no Jewish background."
According to Fred Tischler, chair of this year's fundraiser, who consulted with Yeshayahu before deciding to bring the band to Vancouver, "Moshav is proof positive that the term 'cool observant Jew' is not an oxymoron." He added that the band was a perfect fit for the gala and hopes that, after seeing Moshav perform, "The Vancouver Jewish community will have a new appreciation of contemporary Jewish music and maybe, just maybe, they will come to see VHA in a slightly different light as well."
In an interview with the Independent from Los Angeles, Yehuda Solomon, whose seven siblings are all musicians, expressed the hope that the band's first Vancouver appearance would inspire Vancouver Jews but also noted that the band is conscious of not preaching to anyone with its music. "We never try to push our point of view," he said. "We try to be real and true to ourselves and incorporate those messages that we studied and grew up with in a subtle way that's accessible to anyone. We really try to focus on our lyrics and bring a conscious message to people but, ultimately, we want people to dance and be happy when they hear us play."
Solomon chuckled at the memory of playing chamesh avanim with Yeshayahu at their Chabad cheder in Israel, noting, "It was the only game we were allowed to play that wasn't considered to be avodah zarah (idol worship)." He also fondly recalled his childhood, roaming the forests that surround Moshav Modiin with his brothers, in search of ancient coins from the time of the Maccabees and making music. "It was a great childhood," he said. "We weren't plugged into technology, so we made music and my dad would take us into the studio to hear his pioneering Jewish rock band and Shlomo, who didn't have a set band when he toured, would take us to his performances throughout Israel and bring my brothers and I on stage to perform with him when we were kids." Speaking of Carlebach, he added, "Seeing Shlomo perform, we learned how to deal with an audience and we also got a great musical and Jewish education."
Solomon also recalled the special feeling on the moshav when Carlebach was there. "Whenever Shlomo was in town," he said, "people would come from all over Israel to the moshav to pitch tents and camp out.
"The davening and singing was magical," he added. "Shlomo attracted all kinds of interesting people, from Orthodox Jews, Jewish hippies, tourists and even gurus like Baba Ram Das. His teachings were so amazing that they touched almost everybody, including non-Jews, and we were definitely influenced by him."
Carlebach's influence, as well as that of artists such as Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young and Van Morrison can be detected in the Moshav Band's music, but what makes the group unique is its ability to blend these diverse influences with Middle Eastern rhythms, lyrics and sounds. In fact, the title track of the group's upcoming seventh CD, Dancing in a Dangerous World, which will be released in June, is a prime example of this fusion. Solomon noted that the band would perform songs from this new CD in its performance in Vancouver. According to Solomon, the title track reflects "the state of the world today."
To purchase tickets for the VHA event, which starts at 7 p.m., call 604-629-8849 or go to www.vancouvertix.com. For more information about VHA, visit www.vhebrewacademy.com.
David J. Litvak is a freelance writer and publicist living in Vancouver.
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