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March 30, 2001/Nisan 6, 5761, Vol. 53, No.26
Teens bring Ruach to music
LEISAH NAMM
Assistant Editor
Many teenagers have fantasies of becoming pop stars but three Valley teens have already tasted samples of a musical life.
Meet Ruach - an all-girl group made up of two sisters and their childhood friend.
Carly Kastner and Emily Kaye, both 14, met in preschool and have been singing together ever since. They, along with Devorah Kastner, 15, have sung together as long as they can remember and eventually started writing their own songs with harmonies.
"Over the last year, they really have matured and their voices have really come together," says Robin Kastner, mother of the sisters.
The teens formed Ruach about a year ago and occasionally perform at Friday night services at Temple Chai in Phoenix. They each performed at each other's bat mitzvah services. All three sang in the youth choir at Temple Chai and cite Cantor Sharona Feller as an important influence.
In synagogue, Ruach performs Hebrew songs, mainly a cappella, Devorah says. However, the teens also enjoy performing oldies and pop songs.
Devorah and Emily are currently taking guitar lessons and Devorah is being trained as a song leader at Chai, where she will eventually lead Hebrew school pupils in song.
None of the girls have had voice lessons, but they have performed in school choirs.
Carly and Emily attend Sunrise Middle School in Paradise Valley where they are in the school play "The Defective Detective" and performed at Disneyland with the school choir earlier this month. Devorah attends Paradise Valley High School where she will perform in "Little Shop of Horrors" and will sing at Carnegie Hall with her school choir in April.
The teens have performed at a baby naming ceremony and have been booked for a bridal shower. They also have plans to produce a compact disc of Hebrew songs that they would donate to Jewish organizations to use for fund-raising purposes.
In addition, they've been writing their own lyrics and melodies and plan to meet with a friend of the family who is a graduate student in music who offered to arrange their songs.
All three teens have been immersed in music throughout their lives. When she was young, Robin Kastner sang professionally and now sings in the adult choir at Chai. Jeffrey Kastner, Carly and Devorah's father, also sings.
Emily's parents also sing and her brother, Eric, sings and plays guitar and piano.
The teens list their favorite performers as N'Sync, Britney Spears and Destiny's Child.
Is the trio planning on pop stardom?
"It's our dream," Devorah says. "But we don't know if it's really that realistic."
Whether or not that happens, music will surely remain a main part of their lives.
"I can't live without music," Carly says.
Emily adds, "if I didn't have music, (life) would be boring."
The Kastners are members of Temple Chai and Emily and her parents, Julia and Harvey Kaye, are members of Temple Solel.
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