The Mama Doni Band

The Mama Doni Band “Chanukah Fever Concert” Presented in partnership with JCC Camps

Gordon Center for Performing Arts

Sun., December. 1; 3 pm

$10 in advance $12 at door

Join the Chanukah revelers in listening to Mama Doni, whose Jewish cultural experiences are filled with interactive family rock and acoustics blended with reggae, rock, disco, Latin and Klezmer. Reserve tickets online at www.gordoncenter.com . For more information  info@gordoncenter.com or 410.356.7469. The Gordon is located at 3506 Gwynnbrook Avenue, Owings Mills, MD 21117. Also visit www.mamadoni.com.

Doni Zasloff Thomas, besides being Mama Doni, is a music teacher, songwriter, lead singer for the band, and a mom, who has been honored with a Parents Choice® Award for the band’s CDs, Emunah and Shabbat Shaboom. The band is also winner of the Simcha Award for “Inspiring Joy Through Music” from the International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam. Mama Doni celebrates Jewish culture with irrepressible zest in its high-energy, interactive family rock concerts, and acoustic Shabbat experiences filled with a blend of reggae, rock, disco, Latin, and Klezmer – all woven together with soulful energy and a super hip Jewish sensibility.

When Doni’s children’s preschool asked her to take a position as music teacher in early 2007, she readily agreed, and the creative juices started flowing. Wanting to share her love of Jewish culture with kids in a productive way, Doni soon began writing and recording her own songs and Mama Doni Productions was born! Doni’s first album,I Love Herring (& Other Fish Shticks for Kids), was released to immediate acclaim in May 2008. An EP for Purim in 2009 called “I Love Purim!” followed and then November 2010 brought a second full-length album, Chanukah Fever. Doni released her third full-length CD Shabbat Shaboom  in March 2011 and her fourth album Emunah in the Fall 2012. Both of the last two CDs won a Parents Choice® Award.

Mama Doni’s 2012-2013 tour is sponsored by Streit’s Matzo, and at every Mama Doni concert everyone in the audience receives a free CD, poster, and download card -- a gift from Streit's! Mama Doni was seen on 1,000,000 matzo boxes this year! She has also appeared on FOX-5 TV’s “Good Day New York,” NBC’s “Weekend Today” in New York, and E Channel’s “The Soup.” Mama Doni is also the spokesperson and host on SHALOM TV!

Mama Doni released her first book through Behrman House Publishers in Fall 2012 called Get Cooking! A Jewish American Family Cookbook & Rockin’ Mama Doni Celebration, a family guide for adding more fun to every holiday from Sukkot to the Suberbowl.

According to Carrie Stetler in The Star-Ledger, Doni Zasloff Thomas “is proud to have a schtick. And that schtick, she says, is to ‘Jewify’ all forms of music – from country to reggae to holiday songs.” The Miami Herald enthused, “Not since Woody Allen's Radio Days has American Jewish youth culture been celebrated with such a sublime mix of silly and substantive.”

Mama Doni, a resident of Montclair, New Jersey, hopes that her music will add some Jewish flavor to the lives of people everywhere. She speaks with great passion about preserving the priceless Yiddish and Jewish spirit by imbuing it with a contemporary vibe that connects to life in our times.

Mama Doni’s recordings are available nationwide, as CDs and digital downloads, from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, FYE.com, iTunes, and select Costco locations. Projects currently in production include Music & Matzo Balls: A Jewish American Family Cookbook (Behrman House Publishing), a new DVD, and a new CD. A TV pilot is also in the works!

Quotes:

 “Her stage name may sound as if it belonged on a jar of pasta sauce, but Mama Doni is an indisputably Jewish performer in real life, she specializes in putting a Jewish spin on all kinds of musical styles, including reggae, rock, disco and Latin.” –The New York Times

“Who can resist 'Latke Man,' 'La Vida Dreidel,' 'Dear Hanukah Harry,' and other oy so catchy titles? New Jersey’s Mama Doni makes a zany musical chicken soup of reggae, rock, disco, Latin, klezmer, and other styles.” –Boston Globe

"Mama Doni seamlessly merges girl pop with real lessons in Jewish culture… This album not only instills pride in one's heritage, but also makes it very, very fun."

–Lahri Bond, 2011 Parents' Choice® Awards

The Gordon Center For Performing Arts creates a welcoming environment that engages, educates, entertains and expands the horizons of the Baltimore community through exploration and celebration of all types of art and Jewish culture.