MUSIC
SHIR MADNESS
Temple Beth Israel, St Kilda
September 3
Deborah Conway knows how to multi-task. Before she took to the stage with her band to open Shir Madness on Sunday, the singer/songwriter slipped on her festival director’s hat to officially launch this second Jewish Music Festival.
Conway’s speech was personal, heartfelt and full of warmth – rather like the festival itself, which Conway and her husband Willy Zygier have curated since its inception in 2015. Their vision for the biennial event is marvellously pluralistic, celebrating Jewish music and musicians with an approach to programming that is as inclusive as it is imaginative.
St Kilda’s Temple Beth Israel played host this year, its multi-purpose rooms and courtyards transformed into concert venues, workshop hubs and intimate spaces for art installations. Sound spill between stages was occasionally problematic, especially for the more delicate acoustic acts. Pianist Tal Cohen opened his set with a forceful solo number, as if to banish the muffled guitars bleeding from the adjoining room, before casting a spell in duo mode with saxophonist Jamie Oehlers.
Read the full review by Jessica Nicholas at the Sydney Morning Herald.