Choir to Put Modern Spin on Jewish Music, Sunday

You don’t hear many Jewish songs with a Latin dance tempo, but then again, you also don’t hear many choirs like Makhelat Hamercaz.

Makhelat Hamercaz, the Jewish Choir of Central NJ, will appear at the East Brunswick Public Library on Sunday, May the 15, at 3 p.m. This will be the latest of several appearances that the choir, now in its eight performing season, has made at the East Brunswick Library.

The performance will be directed Cantors Anna West Ott and Chazzan Sheldon Levin, both of whom have been with the choir since working together to found it in 2003.

“Chazzan Sheldon and I made a mutual decision to start the group,” Cantor Ott said. “We felt that a Jewish community choir was needed in Middlesex County, so we decided to start one.

If you choose to attend a Makhelat Hamercaz, you may dispense with your preconceived notions of exactly what ‘Jewish music’ entails.

“Our general mission of the group is to entertain and educate on the vast variety of Jewish music,” Cantor Ott said. “This year’s theme we’ve selected is to do an assortment of contemporary Jewish music, music that’s been written by Jews involving Jewish texts within the last three years. What that means is that we’re including a lot of popular musical genres.

“We’re not living in Berlin in 1830 anymore. This is the 21^st century, and our composers have been writing in those styles.”

In fact, the program leads off with one of the more atypical songs one might expect to hear at a Jewish choir concert. “We’re going to lead off with a piece called 'Shalom Aleichem by Noah Aronson," Cantor Ott said. “He’s 28 years old, his mother comes from Curacao. Latin music is in his blood. Consequently it’s got the feel of a Latin dance.”

This year’s program also includes a tribute to the late Jewish singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman, who passed away in December. “She was a greatly loved and very popular songwriter,” Cantor Ott said of Friedman, whose more well-known pieces included the songs "The Aleph Bet Song" and "Miriam's Song," as well as the Hanukkah songs "Not by Might" and "I Am a Latke."

The choir itself is about as varied as its musical tastes. “We have about 45 members who come from allover central New Jersey, from Middlesex, Somerset and Monmouth counties,” Cantor Ott said. “They range in age from in their 20s to in their 80s with different degrees in experience, different degrees of Jewish affiliation, different denominations. We’re all over the Jewish spectrum.” About 25 of those 45 members have been with the choir since the very beginning, Cantor Ott estimates.

If you miss Makhelat Hamercaz at East Brunswick, fear not; it won’t be your last opportunity. “We generally have about six performances per calendar year in different locations,” Cantor Ott said.

For more information about this event, or any at the East Brunswick Public Library, call 732-390-6767 or visit the News and Events page at http://www.ebpl.org. You can also learn more about Makhelat Hamercaz at their website, http://www.mercazchoir.org.