Shirat HaLev~ Sacred Music Ensemble
The "Shirat HaLev" ensemble has
been creating musical alchemy for Shabbat services since February of 2000. The approach has been to help Jewish
prayer come to life by couching it in a musical tapestry which carries one aloft through the traditional prayer forms. The CD “Shirat HaLev” is currently
available for purchase (and you can listen too!)
Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks- Director- piano, harmonium, voice
Inspired by Martin Buber’s writing
while procrastinating from piano practice at High School Jazz camp, Brian Yosef
began a quest for finding the inner truths of Judaism, beyond dogmas and
tradition. Finding that truth ironically led him back to tradition. Brian Yosef
currently teaches meditation and Jewish spirituality at Chochmat HaLev in
Berkeley, where he serves as Sacred Music and Ritual Director. He holds a Bachelor
in Music from Eastman and received s’mikha (ordination) as Minister of Sacred Music from Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi and Jewish Meditation Teacher from Chochmat HaLev. His band, Captain Zohar, plays original
Jewish devotional and concert music. He lives in Oakland with wife Lisa and two children, to whom he owes constant gratitude for keeping him far from
cheap, egocentric substitutes for G-d.
Doug Chermak- percussion, bass
Doug is an active Chochmat HaLev member and co-coordinates the Chevre Kadisha. He is grateful to accompany wonderful musicians and service leaders in helping to create deep, prayerful containers for CHL members and visitors to connect with Spirit. He has studied middle eastern percussion for five years with teachers including Aharon Wheels Bolsta and Faisal Zedan. At shul, he plays middle eastern drums, djembe, and occasional Indian tabla. He is also beginning to play electric bass.
In the “real” world, Doug practice environmental law, focusing on water quality, with Lozeau Drury LLP in Oakland. He also coordinates meditation and mindfulness programs for legal professionals as an Associate Director of the Institute for Mindfulness Studies, directing its Mindfulness in Law Program. www.lozeaudrury.com www.imslaw.com www.mindfulnessinlawprogram.com Sam Markewich- drums
Sam Markewich has played drums for 30 years, mostly
focusing on various kinds of progressive fusions of groove-oriented and
odd-metered Western, Eastern, Afro-Cuban, Samba, and West African musics (and
Led Zeppelin!). He considers his highest calling as a musician to be
asking music what it needs him to do for it, and doing his best to do it for
the sake of transcendence of the explicable. In addition to drumming, Sam
is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice, and a Fitness Trainer and
Sustainable Sports Nutritionist. Sam offers free training
to anyone who is willing to live by certain sustainable life style choices.
In addition to hearing Sam's drumming at Chochmat Halev and in Captain
Zohar, listen to a new improvised Jam of the Week by Sam's fusion trio Sizemo (astounding
improvisations over eclectic grooves).
Josh Miele- bass
By day Josh Miele is a scientist
who develops accessible information technologies for the blind, but for Shabaat
he sheds the lab coat, grabs his electric bass, and dons a kipa to rock the
house at Chochmat Halev. He is also the bass player for the acclaimed Jewish
avant rock ensemble, Captain Zohar. Josh's elite musical pedigree is
extraordinary, but is shrouded in kabalistic mystery and cannot be discussed openly.
His style is renowned for its funk roots, art rock sensibility, and raw
danceability. It has been said that his music has the power to make even stone
tablets get up and shake their stuff. Josh lives in Berkeley with his beautiful
wife and two delightful children.
Eliyahu Sills- bass, flutes
Eliyahu Sills has been studying and performing music
for over 20 years on many instruments, including upright bass,
bansuri (the bamboo flute of India), and Turkish and Arabic ney (the reed
flute of the middle east). In the early 1990s, he studied the upright bass
at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City.
Deeply influenced by teachers Makanda Ken McIntyre, Arnie Lawrence and
Reggie Workman (bassist who played with John Coltrane and Art
Blakey), Eliyahu began performing as a sideman and bandleader in renowned
jazz clubs such as The Village Gate and Small's. After
leaving NYC, he began his studies of North Indian music on the Bansuri under the great master G.S. Sachdev,
and began performing Middle Eastern music on the ney, which he studied in
Instanbul with masters Neyzen Omer Erdogdular and Neyzen Ahmet Kaya,
and in Morocco with Akdii Abdesalaam. He currently performs
with many musicians in the SF area and throughout the country, and leads his
nationally touring band, The Qadim Ensemble
whose CD, "Eartern Wind", recently hit #7 on
BillBoard's world music charts.
Bruce Silverman, Ph. D. (Hon) MA- percussion
Bruce Silverman is a drummer, world percussionist, and music
educator: schooled in numerous musical forms. He has studied African,
Afro-Brazilian, Cuban and Haitian drumming and spirituality, as well as North
Indian music, orchestral, jazz, and rock drumming. Bruce founded and continues
direct the Sons and Daughters of Orpheus : a drumming and healing community
offering weekly groups and seasonal rituals to the Bay Area. The Orpheus
community explores Afro-Brazilian “bateria” music, hand drumming and world
spirituality. Bruce also plays dumbek, tar, and other North African and middle eastern instruments and
is on the faculty of Chochmat Halev
where he has taught the art of drumming and accompaniment. Over the years he has specialized in playing and leading
music in various healing contexts: liturgical music, sound healing, and mythic
work with Robert Bly, Coleman Barks, Caroline Casey and numerous others in the
world of social artistry.
Lior Tsarfaty- guitar, voice
Lior Tsarfaty is a professional
musician and a graduate of both the Voice, Sound and Music Healing program of
the California institute of Integral studies and the Vox Mundi School of Voice
and Transformation. He is also a student at The Hakomi Institute of California - a
body and mindfulness oriented psychotherapy. After he came from Israel to the
Bay Area he started gathering prayers and chants and founded the "Prayer
Songs Project", a project that brings together
prayers and sacred music from different cultures and countries into a concert
of art and community. Lior's passion is to intertwine
music and personal transformations, he works with individuals and groups. For more information: Pepolior@gmail.com, 510-704-8232
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Jeannette Ferber- voice, piano
Jeannette
feels blessed to be able to share her voice at Chochmat HaLev. In 2008,
her journey of renewed connection to Judaism and yearning for song led
her to the Chochmat choir and later to the bimah.
Originally from Ohio, she grew up performing in numerous school musicals and choral groups and took private voice lessons. However, after high school, singing fell into the distant background of her life for over a decade until its heartfelt reemergence at CHL. She can also be heard singing sacred music with the vocal ensemble, Ya Elah. Jeannette has a Masters degree in Public Health and works as a data analyst studying a range of reproductive health issues, from depression during pregnancy to Bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure. She lives with her husband, Cory, in Berkeley. Bon Singer- voice
Bon
Singer has been singing at Chochmat HaLev since before we had a home on
8th Street. She was originally asked to be part of the musical
leadership by Rabbi Avram Davis. She says, "Weirdly enough, I think he
asked me because he is a Bulgarian music-phile, and that is my area of
musical expertise. That is why sometimes I will sing in that voice
quality and harmonic style."
Bon is probably best known for her work with the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble, Kitka. She served as Artistic Director, composer, arranger, and a singer for 14 years, and is recognized as one of the foremost directors of Bulgarian choral music in America. Bon's musical experience ranges from performance in remote eastern European villages to performing with Olympia Dukakis. She has directed a number of ensembles, including most recently, Chochmat's Tikkun Olam Chorus. Bon feels that Chochmat is her spiritual home and she is happy to be back singing on our Bimah. She has led singing in several other places, but has not "remotely felt as completely connected spiritually as I do at Chochmat. I am always so grateful that there has always been a place for me." Yari Mander - Percussion
Yari has been drumming in the Chochmat Halev band for 10 years. He is the founder and lead teacher of Heart of Rhythm,a drumming school for adults. He is also a credentialed music teacher, teaching music currently to grades K-5 in the Oakland Unified School District. Visit his web site at yarimander.com
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