Event
Linda Hirschhorn, Gary Lapow and Betsy Rose - House Concert Presented by the 30th Jewish Music Festival
Linda Hirschhorn, Gary Lapow and Betsy Rose have been contributing great music to the Bay Area's folk and progressive scene for decades. As part of the "boomer" generation, their songwriting has turned to such topic s as lasting love (or not!) and the changes that the decades have brought. Together they bring a wealth of musical and personal experience, from singing with children, to leading a successful women's a cappella group, to musical activism for peace, justice and the 99%, to explorations of spirituality. These three friends offer timeless music for the seasons of our lives.
Linda Hirschhorn has been at the forefront of the Jewish music scene for decades, ever since her women's a cappella ensemble Vocolot came into being. She has been the Cantor at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro since 1988, after being a cantorial soloist at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Berkeley for over 15 years. Hirschhorn writes songs in Hebrew and Yiddish and English, adaptations of liturgy and poetry, folk songs and protest songs.
A lover of Talmud and a college philosophy major, Hirschhorn sees polyvocal harmonies as emblematic of the same kind of diversity-within-unity found in the pages of Jewish sacred texts. She believes that different voices blending together in harmony is not only a metaphor for, but an example of, the kind of coexistence the world needs.
Betsy Rose is a singer, songwriter and community activist whose insight, warmth, humor, wit and wisdom have added a wealth of songs to the world of folk and progressive music for over thirty years. The songs of the Civil Rights movement, the hymns in her minister father's church, classical musical training, and the songwriters of the burgeoning folk movement of the 60's provided rich soil and deep roots for Betsy's emerging gifts as a songwriter and singer. Her songs are an artful blend of beautifully crafted lyrics and music, with messages that inspire listeners to greater faith in the human capacity to create "a world of peace, of promise and of grace."
Betsy was a pioneering voice in the Women's Cultural Movement of the 70's and 80's, singing at national and international festivals, touring the United States and Canada. Artists such as Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Bobbi McFerron have sung and/or recorded her songs, as have numerous Women's and Peace Choruses throughout the country. Betsy's numerous recordings include Real To Me, (2011) a stirring and beautifully crafted collection of songs of hope and faith, humor in the face of the rigors of childraising, inner healing, and global family connections.
Gary Lapow is best known as the Bay Area's premier children's entertainer for the past 35 years, but he also has a long history as a songwriter and singer for adults. In the mid- 1970s, he played guitar for the late songwriter and activist Malvina Reynolds, and before that, was a member of the Red Star Singers, San Francisco's radical activist band.
Gary's love of the arts began in Brooklyn. The grandson of Russian and Polish immigrant Jews, Gary says he always felt "a freak in my neighborhood. My father wasn't interested in sports." Seeing that his son liked to draw and sing songs, Harry Lapow advised him to enter the High School of Music and Art in New York. "It got me into Manhattan, where I saw boys and girls who were interested in art, music and poetry," he says. He hung out at Washington Square Park, jamming with bluegrass and folk musicians. Brooklyn College followed, as did the civil rights era - Lapow went to the South to teach, playing guitar for the Freedom Singers in 1964 and landing in Berkeley in 1970.
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LocationPrivate Home in Elmwood neighborhood of South Berkeley
Provided upon purchase of ticket
Berkeley, CA 94705
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 5 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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