Jewish soul music

October 16, 2008 - 5:03 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Music, Religion 

beit shemesh.jpgA work assignment brought me last night to the city of Beit Shemesh and the Beit Shemesh Festival, an annual music bash featuring some of the top names in the ‘Jewish soul’ field. Among this year’s performers were Meir Banai, The Moshav Band and Yood.

The central amphitheater in Beit Shemesh, a flowing natural park, boasted a white, cloth mehitza (divider), running up the middle, to separate the male and female attendees. The audience consisted mainly of religiously observant teens, many belonging to youth groups. There were some families and assorted adults there among the thousand or so people, a few not even wearing kippot, but by and large it was a religious crowd. And it looked like they were having a fine time, dancing on shoulders, enjoying a fireworks display, and checking out the other side the mehitza.

Despite some sound problems resulting from a likely blown speaker, the acts I saw performed admirably, and the band I came to see – Yood – put on a smoking set of spiritual blues rock.

There have been tons of events and activities to do during the intermediate days of Sukkot, but those folks who attended the Beit Shemesh Festival certainly got way more than their money’s worth – oh yeah, the festival was free.

Maybe next year, some of the secular crowd will come to see what all the noise was about.

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