Making Jewish music

LEISAH NAMM
Assistant Editor

When singer/songwriter Craig Taubman arrived to perform in concert at last year's Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center Hanukkah party, he was missing one thing - his voice.

"It was an awful and ultimately wonderful experience," Taubman says. He and the six men in his group improvised by dancing, leading participants in song and having a member of his band sing vocals.

"We made lemonade out of lemons," he says.

This follows Taubman's personal philosophy of expecting the unexpected and making the most out of life.

"Perfection is boring," he says. "Reaching for perfection, that's cool. Doing your best to fix what's broken, that's cool.

"Getting things handed to you on a silver platter leads to complacency and boredom and who needs that?"

Taubman, 43, began performing at 15 when a camp counselor encouraged him to pick up a guitar and lead Shabbat services.

Since then, he has released 14 Jewish recordings, composed music for television and film and has performed at such venues as the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and Ravinia in Chicago, as well as three performances at the White House.

In 1998, he started Friday Night Live, a monthly musical Shabbat service at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.

Taubman defines the program as "a service that reflected values, spirit, energy and time and content that I was very familiar with because I grew up with it at Camp Ramah as a kid."

The program was originally geared toward young professionals, but "after a couple of years, what dawned upon me was that it became a singles hang as opposed to a people hang," he says. "I felt it was more important not to label people but rather just to have a great service."

The synagogue opened the service to all ages and it now draws about 2,000 people each month, although it is still mainly a young crowd, he says.

While he doesn't take credit for creating the genre, he suggests that Friday Night Live has helped "open up prayer to a much broader Jewish population" and notes that Jewish communities throughout the country now have similar services.

In October, Raw Kaballah, a monthly Shabbat service based on Friday Night Live, was launched at Beth El Congregation in Phoenix for adults ages 21-39.

When asked about his favorite project, Taubman says "typically the favorite thing I'm doing is what I'm doing right now. ... The blessing that I'm given in my life is that I get to do what I want to do pretty much every day of my life."

Currently, Taubman is working on "Celebrate Love Songs," part of a compilation series which includes "Celebrate Hanukkah," "Celebrate Passover," "Celebrate Shabbat" and the newly released "Celebrate Kids," available at www.celebrateseries.com.

Each recording features 13-14 different Jewish artists, which helps the musicians reach a broader audience, Taubman says. Half of the proceeds go to charity.

Taubman is also coordinating the first Betzalel, a weekend in March 2002 for Jewish artists from all over the country to "get together and be inspired and empowered by each other - to continue to create and network and do new wonderful things."

In the years Taubman has produced Jewish music, he has seen a growth in the industry. Among other factors, he attributes the growth to lower production expenses; technology has made it cost-effective to make a compact disc.

Another reason is that "there is most definitely a renaissance within the Jewish community" which leads to a desire to hear Jewish music. "We're living in a glorious time in Jewish history," he says.

"We are free to practice. In spite of what everybody says is the demise of the Jewish people, there is a Jewish state. There are people who are identifying and practicing as Jews. This is a great time and I think when there are great times, people write and people create and people do wonderful things in the arts."

Taubman lives in Los Angeles with his wife Louise and children Noah, 13, and Abby, 12. Visit www.craignco.com.

Taubman returns to the Valley this weekend to perform at this year's Valley of the Sun JCC Hanukkah craft fair. He says guests should "expect the unexpected.

"What I really, really push for is spontaneity and being in the moment."

Details

What: Hanukkah craft fair
Who: Valley of the Sun JCC
When: 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2
Where: Har Zion Congregation, 6140 E. Thunderbird Road, Scottsdale
Cost: $13
Call: 480-483-7121

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