Music

Sokoloff releases new album

Recorded in Nashville, Carol Sokoloff’s latest album, Change in the Weather, went live on several streaming platforms in late May and the CD was launched to a packed house at the Coda in Victoria on May 30. (photo from Carol Sokoloff)

Recorded in Nashville, Carol Sokoloff’s latest album, Change in the Weather, went live on several streaming platforms in late May and the CD was launched to a packed house at the Coda in Victoria on May 30. The album represents a new musical direction for Sokoloff, who has played everything from folk rock to children’s music, jazz to new age and devotional, to musical theatre.

“Change in the Weather offers a collection of engaging, affirmative, original songs, reflecting various moods and places or stations on my songwriting journey,” Sokoloff told the Independent. “The title song evokes the optimism of spring but also hints at the changing undercurrents of the times we have lived through.”

Among the other songs are the rocking anthem “Free Spirits,” the honky-tonk dance tune “Sweet Wind” (an anniversary present to her husband), the “Hotel California”-flavoured “You Can Lead a Horse to Water,” the Gordon Lightfoot-inspired “That Sound” and the Dylanesque ramble “Walk Together Again.”

Of the time in Nashville, Sokoloff said, “The experience more or less blew my mind. It all happened so quickly and easily, and the result was so professional and engaging that I was immediately hooked and wanted to come back and record more songs.”

She praised the seasoned Nashville musicians featured on the album, led by Eli Beaird, an Academy of Country Music award nominee. The CD highlights the musicianship of players on acoustic and electric guitar, pedal steel, keyboard, drums and bass, all of whom have performed on recordings of top country stars, such as Shania Twain, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Tim McGraw.

Sokoloff’s musical roots go back to her early days in Toronto, where she was exposed to all types of genres: classical, musical theatre and singers like Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr.

“My two older sisters studied piano and, at 4 years of age, I demanded to also take lessons. I learned left from right at the piano keyboard,” she said.

Singing, too, was part of her daily life. With her sisters and father, who had “a powerful, magnetic voice,” said Sokoloff, they often sang multi-part harmony. Her older sisters introduced her to various types of music, including rock and roll and folk music. A guitar found its way into the house, and Sokoloff used her babysitting money to learn how to play it.

“By 15, I was writing songs. I’d been writing poetry, and guitar gave me a way of writing, singing and playing my own songs,” she said.

As a university student, Sokoloff created and performed music for several theatre productions, including at the University of Manchester, England, while a visiting student. She later worked in Toronto theatres and freelanced for CBC Radio, where she gravitated to music-related topics, such as a 90-minute documentary on composer Harold Arlen.

A hankering to go west took hold in the 1980s. First, to a communications job at the Banff Centre, where she was exposed to vocal jazz by singer Jay Clayton, who invited Sokoloff to the final session of her workshop.

“I was enthralled,” Sokoloff recalled. “In 1986, I moved to Victoria and raised children with my husband, poet and playwright Richard Olafson, publisher of Ekstasis Editions. We had met in Banff, drawn together by mutual interest in poetry and theatre.”

In Victoria, she purchased an old piano, hoping to approach the instrument in a different, more improvisatory way, not reliant on reading and memorizing sheet music. For 20 years, she studied with local jazz musician George Essihos.

“I was privileged to study with him,” Sokoloff said. “The understanding of jazz harmony gained enabled me to start writing songs in the style of the great songwriters of the American Songbook standards. At the same time, I realized my greatest interest was in singing my own and others’ songs, with piano a way to accompany myself.”

Sokoloff sang in and then took over the artistic direction of Victoria’s Jewish Community Choir, which gave her the opportunity to arrange and compose choral and prayer music, such as “Lament for Kristallnacht” and a version of “Adon Olam.”

“The choir performed songs I had written, including ‘The Music of the Earth,’ ‘Together and Free’ and a choral version of Karel Roessingh’s ‘Cedars,’ featuring my lyrics,” she said.

At the launch of Change in the Weather, Sokoloff performed with a new group of musicians, the Island Dream Band, which features Sokoloff (rhythm guitar and vocals), Chris Coey (lead guitar), Alex Olson (bass), Martina Peladeau (flute), Dave Pretty (drums) and Kenny Seidman (piano).

Over the summer, Sokoloff is sharing the music widely throughout Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. In the fall, she wants to return to Nashville to complete a second album, which is two-thirds recorded.

“I’m excited by this next batch of songs, which features an old country-style ballad as well as some jazz tunes given an infectious Nashville treatment,” she said.

Additionally, Sokoloff, who has written several books of poetry, will release a middle-grade novel, Kayla’s Song, based on her experience as a girl who loved songs and singing. It is scheduled to come out this fall.

Change in the Weather was released on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and YouTube. The CD comes with a list of the players and their tracks and a booklet with all the lyrics. For more information, visit carolsokoloff.com/music/change-in-the-weather.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Music a family tradition

Rebecca Sichon will perform a set at the Mission Folk Music Festival on July 26. She, her father Boris Sichon, DIVKA and Nastasia Y share the stage earlier that day as well. (photo by Sara De Ledesma)

Ukrainian-Canadian jazz, soul and R&B artist Rebecca Sichon grew up attending the Mission Folk Music Festival, and performed there as part of the Youth Open Stage in 2017. At this year’s festival, July 24-26, she will take to the stage with her own music and band – she will also perform with her father, Boris Sichon, a festival veteran, as part of the show Unorthodox.

“I believe this will be my 16th time performing at the Mission Folk Music Festival,” said Boris Sichon. “What keeps bringing me back is the atmosphere. It is a very special festival, where there is a real connection between artists, organizers, volunteers and the audience.

“People come not only to listen to music, but also to discover something new,” he said. “As a musician who plays unusual instruments from different cultures, I always feel that people at Mission are open, curious and ready to travel with me through sound.”

Trained in classical percussion in Ukraine, where he was born, and in St. Petersburg, Sichon has traveled extensively – as a composer and performer – learning countless musical traditions along the way. In his performances and workshops, he draws on his collection of more than 400 instruments gathered over decades.

photo - Boris Sichon — Boris Sichon *(photo from missionfolkmusicfestival.ca)*

This year, though, his participation in the folk festival will be a little different than usual.

“I will be supporting Rebecca’s songs by creating atmosphere around her voice and piano,” he said. “I will be playing different instruments, including flutes, the Armenian duduk and maybe the Australian didgeridoo. I will also bring some atmospheric percussion instruments like the ocean drum, rainstick and wind machine. These instruments bring sounds of nature into the music and create a space around the songs.

“I may also share some solo pieces during the festival, with instruments from different parts of the world,” he added.

“For the Unorthodox set, I will be mostly performing with my dad and singing a few tunes that marked the start of my artistry,” said Rebecca Sichon.

“We grew up singing folk songs in Yiddish, Ukrainian and Romani and plan to showcase a few of our favourites,” she said.

Her personal set will include songs from her album, which is currently in the works, and her more popular tunes – “all living in the world of soul, jazz and R&B.” She will be joined in concert by Nicholas Bosman (bass, electric guitar, vocals), Mat Trewhit (backing tracks, cajon, percussion) and Elias Cerpa (keyboards, vocals).

“I grew up immersed in music, thanks to my very musical father, Boris, and my very encouraging and noise-tolerating mother, Faina,” said Sichon about her choice of career. “The radio was always on in the house, playing classical, jazz, world music or whatever CD my dad would bring home from his tours. I was put into piano lessons at the age of 7, my dad hoping it would give me the skills needed to songwrite and accompany myself in the future. I went on to complete six levels of the Royal Conservatory in piano and, just as my dad hoped, started writing and accompanying myself at the age of 11.”

She has always gravitated to jazz, soul and R&B. “I remember transcribing Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Airmail Special’ at the age of 9, and loving the complexity of rhythm, enunciation and melody,” she said. “However, in my teens, I primarily wrote and listened to pop, thinking it was the ‘right’ direction to go in artistically. In my early 20s, I realized soul, and its relative genres, are exactly where I want to be musically.”

In addition to the piano, her father encouraged her to try out different instruments when she was young.

“I was a bit resistant to it,” she admitted. “But, as I’ve gotten older, I have slowly started a collection of instruments he’s gifted me, and I have a much bigger appreciation for it now. I do love the guitar and find it the most versatile, but I always come back to the piano; it feels the most grounding and inspiring for songwriting.”

While her dad is a musician through and through, Sichon said, “My mom would tell you she isn’t, but she’s got a beautiful voice, can play piano and is immensely creative in visual arts (she makes clothing and accessories out of wool, aka felting).”

Growing up, her parents instilled in her “a deep respect and admiration for Judaism and its traditions,” she said. “Growing up in a small town, I didn’t have much access to Jewish community, something I later found through attending Camp Miriam, a Jewish summer camp that gave me a meaningful sense of connection and belonging. While I no longer actively practise Judaism, being Jewish remains an important part of my identity. I carry a lot of love for the community and feel proud of my heritage and the generations of family history that came before me.”

Boris and Faina Sichon have five children. “Music was always a natural part of our family life,” said Boris Sichon. “At different times, all of the children played instruments…. Today, Rebecca is the only one who is a professional musician, but, for us, music was never only about becoming a musician. It was about creativity. We often improvised together at home. It was not important whether someone was a great player or just starting. The important thing was to listen, experiment and create something together.”

Father and daughter were making music together long before they shared a stage.

“What I remember most is how emotional those moments were. Of course, she is my daughter, and I love her very much. I shared with her everything I knew about music and the world of instruments,” said Boris Sichon. “But there was also something special in her from a very young age. Even when she was 2 or 3 years old, she could sing children’s songs very clearly, with perfect pitch. She had a natural gift. Her voice always had something that could touch people. She has always been a very sensitive and caring person, and I think that feeling comes through in her singing and in the songs she writes.

“Our first public performance together was around 2011, when she was 10 years old,” he said. “I remember feeling that I was not only accompanying my daughter anymore – I was sharing music with another artist.

“What I admire most about Rebecca is that she has always been herself. She never tried to copy anyone else.”

Both Sichons have a busy summer ahead.

Rebecca Sichon will take part in Canada Together on July 1, at Canada Place. She also has an engagement on July 9 at Intrigue Wines, in Lake Country, BC, and at the Burnaby Blues + Roots Festival Aug. 8, at Burnaby Village Museum. For more information, visit rebeccasichon.com.

Boris Sichon will take part in a festival on Hornby Island in July, “with the Borealis String Quartet and composer Paul Alexander, who has written music especially for this event,” he said. “Before that, I will be involved in a summer camp, sharing music and instruments with young people and encouraging creativity.

He’s looking forward to the Mission Folk Music Festival and, later in the season, the Mission Renaissance Faire.

“All of these projects,” he said, “are connected by the same idea: using music to bring people together, create curiosity and remind us that sound is a universal language.”

The Mission Folk Music Festival takes place at Fraser River Heritage Park. It offers more than 25 acts from across North America and elsewhere, performing a range of genres. Both the show Unorthodox, which also features DIVKA and Nastasia Y, and Rebecca Sichon’s concert take place on July 26. Visit missionfolkmusicfestival.ca.

Musical celebration of Israel

Local Israeli cover band HaOpziot will get people dancing at this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations on April 21. (photo from JFGV)

“As we hold Israel close to our hearts, we are reminded that our connection transcends oceans,” wrote Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, in a recent enewsletter. “We have the power to bring Israel closer, to feel it and to celebrate it together right here at home through our community’s signature Yom Ha’atzmaut event.”

On Yom Ha’atzmaut, April 21, 7:30 p.m., Israeli musician and producer Ben Golan will headline our local celebration of Israel’s 78th Independence Day. (See jewishindependent.ca/story-of-israels-north.)

Golan came onto Federation’s radar when Shanken saw him perform during a 2024 visit to our community’s partnership region in Israel, the Upper Galilee. Golan is from Kiryat Shmona, where he also runs a recording studio.

In addition to his own performance, Golan will join local Israeli cover band HaOpziot for a couple of songs during their set.

HaOpziot is comprised of Goor Cohen (vocals, guitar), Kobi Gabay (vocals, guitar), Yotam Ronen (bass guitar), Avishai Weissberg (lead guitar) and Omer Yehi Shalom (drums). The group was founded by Ronen and the band’s former drummer, Maoz Kaufmann, in 2022. The pair posted a call-out on Facebook looking for musicians.

“The rest of us responded, we clicked instantly, and the Optziot were born,” said Cohen.

The band performs a few times a year, at clubs around Vancouver, as well as at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. To find out where and when they’re playing, people can follow the band on social media: Instagram, Facebook and/or YouTube.

When asked how to describe their musical sound or style, Cohen said, “In short: high-energy, loud and often fast.

“Our sound is a fusion of hard rock, punk and heavy metal, with subtle touches of Mizrahi influences, creating a style that strongly resonates with Israeli musical taste and culture,” he elaborated.

Each band member brings their different influences to the music, said Cohen, “ranging from mainstream to underground, old-school to contemporary, and classic to anarchistic. That diversity is a big part of what shapes our unique sound.”

Federation’s website page promoting the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration highlights some of the songwriters whose music HaOpziot performs, including artists like Mashina, Eifo Hayeled, Berry Sakharof and Monica Sex.

The band’s popularity in the local Israeli community is how they came to Federation’s attention, their sound suiting the vibe that Federation would like the event to have, with the night ending in a dance party.

“This will be the biggest crowd we’ve played for so far,” Cohen told the Independent, “and we’re really excited to have more members of the community come see us in action.”

Unfortunately, Gabay won’t be able to make the Yom Ha’atzmaut concert. But no worries.

“For this show,” said Cohen, “we’ve asked Noga Veiman, our unofficial band manager, to join us on stage and take part as a band member – so, together, we’ll deliver the high-energy show we’ve been planning.”

The night, of course, will begin in a more sombre fashion, with the conclusion of Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for Israel’s fallen soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in war and terror attacks. In Vancouver, the community’s memorial service will take place on April 20, 7:30 p.m., both in person and online. To attend or watch, register at jewishvancouver.com/zikaron.

For tickets ($36/adult, $12/youth, $75/family pack) to the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations on April 21, go to jewishvancouver.com/yh2026.

Story of Israel’s north

Kiryat Shmona musician Ben Golan will perform at the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations in Vancouver April 21. (photo from Ben Golan)

“Music for me is a way to say: we are still here, still alive, still building a future. It gives people a place to feel, and also the strength to keep going,” said Ben Golan, who will headline our local celebration of Israel’s 78th Independence Day, on April 21.

Golan is a musician and producer from Kiryat Shmona, a city in our community’s partnership region, the Upper Galilee, in Israel. He is the founder of the initiative Patifon.

“For 17 years,” he said, “I’ve been producing music and running a recording studio in the city. Over time, I realized that my work isn’t just about producing songs. It’s about building something that can sustain a real musical community in the north, giving a stage to local creators and creating a movement that feels connected to this place.”

Patifon, which means record player or turntable in Hebrew, serves as a hub for local artists.

“It all started simply, with jam sessions in the studio,” explained Golan. “People began coming to play, sing, meet and connect. Slowly, it grew, until the gatherings were too big for the studio to handle. There wasn’t enough space, but there was a hunger for music. Then, thanks to the youth centre and the amazing Elad Kozikaro, who gave us a budget and the perfect space, we got a shelter, which, in times like these, is a valuable commodity in the north. We moved in, completely renovated it and turned it into the most beautiful music lounge; a place where you can come and feel at home, even if it’s your first time there.”

The lounge morphed into Patifon.

“We started filming live sessions of artists and bands there, with proper sound and respect for the music,” Golan said. “All the sessions were uploaded to YouTube under Patifon and, over time, it started to catch on and reach more and more people. Suddenly, what began as a small local gathering became a stage watched by people outside the north.

“As the audience grew and we realized this needed more breathing room, we opened a community pub. Students from Tel-Hai College volunteer there as part of a scholarship program and help keep the place alive and running.”

For Golan, Kiryat Shmona is not just where he was born and grew up. He calls the city and the Upper Galilee his “inner language.”

“In this city, I learned what the rhythm of a community really is: people who know each other, who will always help you when you need something. There’s a different kind of air here,” he said.

“I have a stream right by my house. It seeped into my music without me even intending it to – a mix of rough and tender, of truth and esthetics, of wanting to shout and needing a moment of quiet to breathe,” he explained. “The nature here, the open space and the distance from the centre taught me how to really listen – not to the noise, but to what lies underneath it.

“Continuing to create in the north, especially after Oct. 7, is not a romantic choice for me – it’s a stance,” he said. “The region went through a real upheaval: fear, evacuation, uncertainty and, also, a kind of pain that people who don’t live here sometimes don’t fully understand. Out of all of that, creativity becomes a tool for connection and healing.”

Golan chose to stay in Kiryat Shmona out of a sense of mission.

“I believe the periphery holds immense talent, real hunger and stories you can’t fake – it just needs infrastructure, a home and support,” he said. “I want the young people and artists here to feel that they don’t have to leave in order to become something. On the contrary – that this place itself can become a source of inspiration, an opportunity and a creative centre that generates culture rather than just consumes it.”

Coming to Vancouver for Yom Ha’atzmaut, Golan said he brings messages of resilience and hope – and he takes those words seriously.

“Independence, for me, is also the ability to choose to create despite the difficulty, to choose community, to choose light,” he said. “I want to bring the story of the north: people who continue to build, to organize events, to create music and to hold each other up even when reality is complicated. In my music, there is room for both joy and pain, because both are part of our lives – especially in this time.”

On April 21, Vancouver band HaOptziot will also take the stage at the community celebrations, playing covers of various Israeli hits.

For tickets ($36/adult, $12/youth, $75/family pack) to the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations, go to jewishvancouver.com/yh2026.

What is Jewish music?

On March 8, Joshua Jacobson, professor emeritus of music at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., spoke on the topic Jewish Music: What’s That?

photo - Prof. Joshua Jacobson was the latest speaker in Kolot Mayim’s Voices of Jewish Music series — Prof. Joshua Jacobson was the latest speaker in Kolot Mayim’s Voices of Jewish Music series. *(internet photo)*

The Zoom lecture was the fifth of six talks in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 Voices of Jewish Music series.

How can music even be Jewish? Jacobson asked. Does music keep kosher? Is music circumcised? Did music have a bat mitzvah? He played an excerpt of African-American clarinetist Don Byron performing the klezmer number “Der Nayer Doyne.”

“You don’t have to be Jewish to compose or perform Jewish music,” he said. “And that’s why I prefer the terminology, the music of the Jewish people. Although I will admit that, for the sake of convenience, I often do use the term Jewish music.”

But the question of what constitutes Jewishness remains. The word represents an ever-widening expanse, including an abundance of liturgical music, a vast array of music influenced by the cultures in which Jews have lived and the languages they have spoken, and the contributions of Jews who have entered the community by choice.

“There is no single Judaism, not anymore. It’s a big tent,” Jacobson said.

One school of thought Jacobson pointed to came from Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch, who said, “Racial consciousness is something that every great artist must have. A composer who says something is not only himself, he is his forefathers. He is his people.”

Leonard Bernstein wrote in his senior thesis at Harvard University in 1939: “It is easily understandable that a composer whose parents were immigrants still maintains a close contact with the old racial traditions. If their traditions are part of his childhood, they are inevitably part of his life.”

Jacobson played Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” to illustrate that any music composed by a Jew could be considered Jewish music.

The Nazis, however, defined Jewish in purely racial terms, Jacobson said. They would not allow any music written by a Jew to be heard or even studied in Germany and German-controlled countries. Nor would the Nazis allow Jewish-German conductor Bruno Walter to lead a concert of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works. Jews, the Nazis believed, would spoil the music with their “Jewish accent.”

Jacobson played excerpts of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, asking if members of the audience could distinguish between a performance led by Walter and one by conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.

“How many of you think that the first one was conducted by a Jew? How many of you think the second one was conducted by a Jew? How many of you think that it’s a ridiculous question? – which, of course, it is. Did one of these have a discernible ‘Jewish accent’? No,” Jacobson said.

image - In his March 8 talk, Prof. Joshua Jacobson gave Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” as an example of how any music composed by a Jew could be considered Jewish music — In his March 8 talk, Prof. Joshua Jacobson gave Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” as an example of how any music composed by a Jew could be considered Jewish music. *(internet image)*

Defining what constitutes Jewish music by what exists within borders or, as in much of Jewish history, in exile, can be an equally insurmountable task. As an example, Jacobson played part of a track from Arab-Israeli hip-hop group DAM, which is in Hebrew.

Many Israelis write music that doesn’t sound geographically constrained, he said.

Nonetheless, the professor did offer a definition of traditional Jewish music in his talk, saying it is music that has been used – whether sung, played or listened to – by Jews more than by other people, and, therefore, it has become associated with Jewish people.

Cantillation, the way the Torah and other biblical books are chanted, is the oldest form of Jewish music, Jacobson said. Demonstrating the cantillation styles of Babylonian, German and Yemenite Jews, he showed that the practice is similar, although not entirely the same, in Jewish communities throughout the world.

“Some scholars think that these are variations on an ancient theme, he said. “The variations are due to acculturation. German cantillation betrays the influence of German music. Yemenite cantillation betrays the influence of the culture in which they lived, the Yemenite culture.”

Jacobson said we find Jewish music in many styles and periods, and perhaps the problem in seeking a definition is that there are so many Jewish “musics.” He returned to Bloch, who once said that he could not say what Jewish music is, but one knows it when it is heard. According to Bloch, “It is something that both you and I can recognize and feel, even if we cannot analyze it.”

To Jacobson, the term Jewish music “is itself a wide tent in which all may not agree on a definition, but it’s something that we cherish, and something that fulfils us.”

An authority on Jewish music, Jacobson is also the founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston. He has guest-conducted many ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has written articles on various aspects of choral music and has published more than 100 compositions and arrangements.

The final speaker in this year’s Voices of Jewish Music series is author Michael Posner on April 12 at 11 a.m. Posner will explore Leonard Cohen’s Jewish heritage, philosophy and musical legacy – and how Judaism influenced Cohen’s lyrics, philosophy and life. For more information, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Drawing on his roots

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ezra Ben-Shalom’s debut solo album, Known and Unknown, was released in 2025. (photo by Michelle Behr)

With his debut solo album, released last year, Kelowna musician Ezra Ben-Shalom shows off his personal side, with a uniquely Jewish touch.

For Ben-Shalom, who reconnected to Jewish ritual practice around five years ago, Known and Unknown – his first solo project – is a deeply personal one. The focus of his music and daily life has become all about asking questions, he said. It’s about finding ways to be of service in the world and creating a connection with something larger than himself.

“I’m doing my best to be of value to the world and to the culture. And, you know, you step in front of a room of people and take a deep breath and open your mouth and sing – I want to offer something that’s real, that’s authentic and that’s meaningful,” the 43-year-old said in a phone interview.

The album is highly Jewish-inspired, owing to his own reconnections – and, he said, he hopes it will encourage empathy among listeners.

“I think the album title was maybe a hint to myself to come from that place of humility, that we don’t have the answers, as much as we think we know or that we learn,” said Ben-Shalom.

The songs on Known and Unknown include some Hebrew words, and the sounds of a shofar on two tracks, though the lyrics are largely in English.

Jewish themes shape much of Ben-Shalom’s interpretation and highly personal expressions; however, he emphasizes that, while his path is Jewish, he sees the disc’s new compositions as something more broadly accessible. The songs, he said, are “about inner experiences and feelings and reflections, and they’re about living in the world as a human being, not as a Jewish human being.”

Themes of transformation, vulnerability and boldness underline the album’s adult alternative and folk-adjacent sounds, and Jewish references abound, with songs titled “Shechina,” “Shake the Dust,” and “El and Gil.”

New name, old passion

Ben-Shalom is the new-ish musical handle of producer and multi-instrumentalist Ezra Cipes, who grew up in Kelowna and has played in bands since he was 14 years old, he told the CJN.

By the time he was 19, Cipes and one of his three brothers co-wrote a song with Indian-born Canadian punk/alternative music icon Bif Naked, who grew up in Winnipeg. He’s also performed regularly and recorded with the Calgary-born indie-pop-folk artists Tegan and Sara. (Bif Naked’s bassist, Chris Carlson, produced, co-wrote and played most of the other instruments on Ben-Shalom’s 2025 album.)

Prior to the new project, another band featuring the musical Cipes family had been nominated in 2022 for a Juno Award in the children’s music category for the second disc by the troupe, called the Oot n’ Oots. The five-piece band comprised Ezra; his three brothers, Matthew, Gabe and Ari; and his daughter, Ruthie, who was the singer.

When that project wound down following the end of 2023 summer festivals, the guitarist and keyboard player turned to exploring a different expressive musical language. He had set out on that musical exploration when the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, refocused his artistic lens.

“Oct. 7 put a lot of things into focus and showed the ways that, really, we’re all lost in one way or another,” he said.

The way the world responded after Oct. 7 was a “frustrating and painful” experience, he said.

“You think, ‘What can any of us do?’ And none of us can fix it – you can’t completely change all these cultural narratives and people’s ideas and correct the record or bring a higher perspective on our own, but we can do our part. We can stand strong in our own truth and share it, proudly and with strength and humility.”

Explaining that he’s always needed “a little spiritual medicine in my life,” Ben-Shalom described reading at night, from literature and philosophy to spiritual and self-help books, and had long realized he needed to do that, even before he connected with Judaism.

Pivotal turn to Judaism

Growing up, while his family – who own a successful organic vineyard – belonged to a local synagogue, they weren’t traditionally observant, though he became bar mitzvah and attended Jewish summer camp.

But, as an adult, he reflected, he was “totally disconnected” when it came to traditional Jewish practice and observance.

It was a moment in 2020, early during the pandemic, following a sweat lodge ceremony led by Ron Hall, a longtime family friend who’s an Indigenous artist and biologist, that brought Ben-Shalom an epiphany.

“It [the sweat lodge] was one of those moments that really flipped a switch in my whole life, and it was just a hinge moment. I thanked him [Hall] for the ceremony, and I shared with him how powerful it was and how meaningful it was, how deep it was,” said Ben-Shalom.

“And I said to him that he’s lucky to have the traditions to draw on to connect with his own soul and with the creator and I said to him: ‘All I have is this shallow materialistic Western culture.’

“And he said, ‘What are you talking about, Ezra? You’re Jewish. You come from an Indigenous people.’”

Nobody had ever said that to him before, Ben-Shalom recalled, and it became a turning point.

“I had grown up thinking it was cool to be Jewish and, like, neat, but also vaguely embarrassing to be Jewish, and it was something I didn’t really like to talk about or get into very much because … I always felt othered,” he said.

The COVID-era wave of social justice movements brought a resurgence of ideas “about decolonization and equality,” he said. “It’s good to support the Indigenous people keeping their culture, keeping their language, keeping their tradition, keeping the oral culture alive.”

He felt a tinge of hypocrisy. “And then I realized I was not honouring my own ancestors and I didn’t know my own language. I didn’t know my own story,” he said.

Ben-Shalom now attends the local Chabad, lays tefillin and wears tzitzit and a kippah.

He described one of the first times he performed the new music at a live show at the Kelowna venue Revelry in 2024.

“I got off stage and my whole body was sore, from holding myself and breathing and keeping myself grounded and keeping myself in a state of service,” he said. (Since then, he’s felt “a little bit more relaxed” performing the new material.)

“The songs are almost like prayers, and you have to kind of get into that place to sing them, where there’s a genuine connection and not just notes and not just words.”

Ben-Shalom hopes to bring the album in a live performance to audiences across Canada, and to ensure that includes Jewish audiences, he told the CJN.

“I’d like to play for all audiences that will have me, but, in particular, I want to go and play for Jewish people,” he said. “I want to share these songs with Jewish people. I want to bring inspiration, pride and honour to our tradition, to Jewish people.”

Jonathan Rothman is a reporter for the CJN based in Toronto. This article was originally published on thecjn.ca and is reprinted with permission.

Songs in war of peace

Naomi Cohn Zentner shared how music in the time of war can offer resilience and hope. (photo from Naomi Cohn Zentner)

Earlier this month, ethnomusicologist Naomi Cohn Zentner gave the lecture Music and War: An Optimistic View. Her talk was the fourth in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 Many Voices of Jewish Music Zoom series.

Speaking from Israel, Cohn Zentner, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, examined how music in the time of war can offer resilience and hope, and is not solely about tragedy and mourning. She started with a photograph of Leonard Cohen and Israeli musician Matti Caspi, who passed away on Feb. 8, the day of her talk. The pair were performing for soldiers during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Ariel Sharon at their side.

Cohn Zentner then played two songs, composed more than a century apart: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written during the American Civil War, and a 1967 performance by the Nachal Entertainment Troupe called “Hallelujah.”

Contrasting the two, Cohn Zentner argued that the former is a sacralizing, providential song in the war hymn tradition, seeing war very much within a religious way of life and values, while the Israeli song – with lines such as, “If there were no need for rifles anymore, then we would sing ‘Hallelujah’” and “If children could play by the border, then you’d hear their mothers sigh in relief, ‘Hallelujah’” – offers a hope for peace, or a prayer for peace.

“It’s an Israeli war song tradition, which shows just how important peace was in these fighting units,” Cohn Zentner said. “We can see this as two opposing examples of what war songs are about.

“The religious hymn of the Civil War is ‘Glory, Hallelujah.’ The conflict itself is very religious and violence, while terrifying, is also cleansing and purifying, and death and martyrdom make men free,” she said. In the Israeli song, war is de-romanticized, death is not glorified but used as a reason to end wars, life itself is considered holy, peace is the desired goal, and the music is more national and secular in outlook.

Last year, on the Israeli reality show, Hakokhav Haba (Rising Star), during which a contestant is chosen to represent the country at Eurovision, Daniel Weiss, from Kibbutz Be’eri, selected Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as one of his songs. Weiss, who lost both of his parents during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, performed a duet with Arab singer Valerie Hamaty in both Hebrew and Arabic.

“Of course, this image was so powerful and iconic – of them singing this song together in Hebrew and Arabic after everything that had happened. It was a very emotional moment,” Cohn Zentner said.

Another song Weiss performed, in honour of his parents, was “Ani Guitar” (“I Am a Guitar”) by Naomi Shemer, which contains the lyric “I remember all those who played on me before, and I say thank you.”

“This symbolic issue of a guitar, which used to be a tree, but still has in it the ability to thank all those who [have] played on him … is very, very emotional,” she said.

Weiss lost out to Yuval Raphael in the contest to represent Israel. Raphael, a survivor of the Nova music festival, performed ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” as her final song in the show. She dedicated it to those who died at Nova.

“I sing about the angels who weren’t fortunate enough to be here now. It hurts because I had this chance not only to come back [from the festival] and to live, but to fulfil my dream. There are those who stayed there, and the shadow behind me is the only thing left of them,” said Raphael, who went on to place second in the 2025 Eurovision with the song “New Day Will Rise.”

At the end of her talk, Cohn Zentner played “Not Alone,” a song penned by Doror Talmon of the band Jane Bordeaux in the weeks following Oct. 7. The song speaks to the feelings of being in the close-knit community of a kibbutz in which everyone has a role and nobody is dispensable; if one person is lost, it affects the entire community.

“The song starts by telling us about all the sad and tragic things that happened, and asks who is going to bring the kibbutz back to what it was,” Cohn Zentner said.

Then, she pointed out, there is a shift in the song to where it answers, “We’ll all extend a hand, we are not alone, and we are partners in fate, in pain and in love, as one people. We will cry and we will overcome, we’re not going to break, we’re going to come together, we have each other, the roots of the trees will go into the earth, and we’re going to be rebuilding.”

The next speaker in Kolot Mayim’s series is Joshua Jacobson, an author, composer and choral director. Jacobson, professor emeritus of music at Northeastern University in Boston, will delve into the history and ongoing evolution of Jewish music in his April 5 talk, Jewish Music: What’s That? For more information, go to kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

A concert of premieres

Violist Rivka Golani joins Turning Point Ensemble on Feb. 21 and 22 for Concerti Premiere, which features two works written especially for her. (photo by Peter Beal)

World-renowned violist Rivka Golani joins Turning Point Ensemble on Feb. 21 and 22 for Concerti Premiere, which features two works written especially for the Israeli musician, who currently calls London, England, home.

The four main works comprising the ensemble’s program are the world premiere of Concerto for Viola – Rivka by TPE artistic director Owen Underhill, featuring Golani as soloist; the North American premiere of Musical Offering No. 2 “Golani” by Canadian composer Michael Pepa, also with Golani as soloist; the world premiere of Morning Twilight by Taiwanese-American composer Chichun Chi-Sun Lee, showcasing TPE bassoonist Ingrid Chiang; and the world premiere of Sauntersludge by Vancouver composer Eldritch Priest.

“TPE had a fantastic opportunity to perform with Rivka Golani on our May 2023 European tour,” explained Underhill as to how he and Golani first connected.

Pepa had proposed composing a new work for Golani and TPE for the ensemble’s concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade. “We were not able to rehearse with Rivka … prior to arriving on tour, so it was very exciting to put Michael’s piece together in the couple days prior to our first concert,” said Underhill. “Rivka was very interactive with and impressed by the ensemble, so you could say we hit it off together. She heard at that time in our concert a work of mine and asked whether I might be interested in composing a new work for her and TPE in the future. So, this is how the idea of working together again came about and my new concerto for her in particular.”

photo - Turning Point Ensemble artistic director Owen Underhill wrote Concerto for Viola - Rivka for violist Rivka Golani, who plays with the ensemble in concerts at the Annex Feb. 21 and 22 — Turning Point Ensemble artistic director Owen Underhill wrote Concerto for Viola – Rivka for violist Rivka Golani, who plays with the ensemble in concerts at the Annex Feb. 21 and 22. *(photo from TPE)*

Golani, who was born in Tel Aviv, studied under violist and composer Oedoen Partos and became a member of the Israel Philharmonic, while also appearing as a soloist with other orchestras. She lived in Canada for more than a decade, from 1974 to 1987, growing her solo career and teaching at the University of Toronto (where she also taught in the 1990s) and the Royal Conservatory of Music. She still teaches, in London.

Over the years, Golani has performed widely as a soloist and as a member of various ensembles, and she has recorded extensively. She is also a recognized visual artist, with her paintings having been exhibited in several countries.

It was during Golani’s time in Canada that Pepa met her, so the two have known each other for decades.

“As a result, his piece and the solo viola part are very much in her character – dramatic, powerful and expressive,” said Underhill. “Also, there are two other important connections which are interwoven in the piece – references to J.S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue, which appears in a variety of ways through quotes and collages in his music, and also a second movement dedicated to his Ukrainian friends, which is based on the Ukrainian folksong ‘Plyve Kacha Po Tysyni’ (‘The Duck Swims Down the Tissina’) and a Serbian folk melody, ‘Kolika je Nočca.’”

As for his work featuring Golani, Underhill said, “It is always a wonderful thing for a composer to work closely with a performer for whom you are composing. It was also fundamental to Rivka’s process to make it a collaborative project. Therefore, beginning in the fall and over the several months I was composing the piece, I would send her instalments and we would meet over WhatsApp and she would play through the music, suggest detailed changes and improvements, and she also made a few gentle requests, including asking for a cadenza before I wrote the third movement. As a result, I feel that the piece bears her signature and that it is also a unique work of mine that I could not have created without her input.”

According to Golani’s website, more than 350 works have been composed for her, including more than 80 concertos – “a record matched by no other violist in history.” Underhill’s Concerto for Viola – Rivka is the largest-scale work that he has written for TPE and the piece will be recorded by the ensemble after the live performances.

Concerti Premiere is Turning Point Ensemble’s third concert in their 2025/26 season. Written with bassoonist Chiang in mind, the piece Morning Twilight traces the emergence of the sun through five sections and two interludes. “Beyond its astronomical imagery, the concerto reflects Chiang’s personal journey of resilience in overcoming cancer, as well as Taiwan’s collective passage from historical darkness toward renewed international visibility,” notes the press release. Sauntersludge, which was written for the ensemble as a whole, is the only piece in the concert without a soloist.

“While we dedicate ourselves to performing works from the early 20th century to the present day, it is unusual for Turning Point Ensemble to have a concert consisting solely of premieres,” said Underhill in the press release. “It is a joy to be unveiling all this new music here in Vancouver.”

The Feb. 21 concert at the Annex starts at 7:30 p.m.; the Feb. 22 one at 4:30 p.m. For tickets ($45/adult, $33/senior, $19/student), go to turningpointensemble.ca.

Guitar virtuosos play

Itamar Erez performs with three other leading musicians on Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m., at Massey Theatre, as part of International Guitar Night. (photo from itamarerez.com)

International Guitar Night takes place on Feb. 1 at Massey Theatre. Once again, Jewish community member Itamar Erez, whose styles range from Middle Eastern, to jazz improv, to world music, is taking part.

“This unique project started with Brian Gore many years ago, when he had the vision to create these unique guitar tours. It’s been going on for over 20 years, with some of the best guitarists in the world,” Erez told the Independent.

“The idea is to put four guitarists on stage with a totally different style and sound,” he explained. “Each plays a solo set and introduces the next player – and, eventually, all four guitarists are playing together in duets and quartets. The audience loves the variety in the music and personalities and, often, there are interesting and funny stories that go with the music.”

Erez will be joined by Jocelyn Gould, a traditional jazz player and singer, Caroline Plante, who comes from the flamenco tradition, and Jamie Dupuis, who brings his harp guitar and Roma jazz influences.

“I’m playing my own mixture of Middle Eastern/Brazilian sounds,” said Erez, whose recent albums include Mi Alegria (2019), May Song (2022; for a review, go to jewishindependent.ca/erezs-new-cd-shows-mastery) and Migrant Voices (2024, with Hamin Honari).

“Migrant Voices was a unique album for me,” Erez said. “I had worked with Hamin for a few years already and we became really good friends. We worked on developing new material for the duet and, towards the recording date, we realized that this album will be mostly based on free improvisation. It just felt like the best approach and most authentic for us. Apart from the album title (Migrant Voices), that was composed by myself, all the tunes were basically improvised right there at the studio.

“In 2024,” he continued, “I also went to the studio with my piano trio (Jeff Gammon on bass and Kevin Romain, drums, and myself on piano) and we recorded in one afternoon a bunch of instrumental covers to tunes – this is something I never had done before, as I always was creating new original material. Among these tracks were Marina Maximilian’s beautiful song ‘Amok Batal,’ three Hanukkah tunes (‘Maoz Tzur,’ ‘Banu Hoshech,’ ‘Kad Katan’) and several other tunes, such as ‘Blue Bossa’ … all done with a very personal approach.

“Over the past year, I have released these tunes slowly as singles – and was overwhelmed with the warm response of audiences for these tracks.”

International Guitar Night is a touring festival, which has three iterations: Canadian, American and European.

“I did one full tour many years ago, in 2009/10, with many concerts in the US, Canada and Scotland,” said Erez. “I did the European version of the tour (Gitarren Nacht) a few years ago, with shows in Germany, Austria and France, and one more time in BC quite recently (2023), where I played for the first time with Jocelyn Gould…. My favourite part of these tours is making friendships with these musicians, some of them are friends for life. And making music with players that come from a totally different background is always fun and exciting.”

This year’s Canadian tour centred on British Columbia, with stops in Oliver, Campbell River, Duncan, Nanaimo and Victoria. The Feb. 1 performance at the 1,260-seat Massey Theatre in New Westminster caps it off. For tickets, go to masseytheatre.com/event/ign-2026.

Guitar Night at Massey

Itamar Erez takes part in International Guitar Night Feb. 1. (photo by Diane Smithers)

International Guitar Night returns to Massey Theatre on Feb. 1. This year’s all-Canadian tour features classical and flamenco guitarist Itamar Erez, jazz guitarist and vocalist Jocelyn Gould, harp guitar innovator and fingerstyle virtuoso Jamie Dupuis, and flamenco guitarist Caroline Planté.

Erez is an internationally acclaimed guitarist and composer whose music fuses Middle Eastern delicacy, jazz improvisation and other world music influences. A recipient of both the 2014 ACUM Prize for Special Achievement in Jazz and the Landau Prize, he has shared the stage with artists such as Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Tomatito and Avishai Cohen, performing at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican and the Sydney Opera House. His albums Mi Alegria (2019), May Song (2022) and Migrant Voices (2024, with Hamin Honari) explore the interplay of global musical languages. Erez tours widely throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Gould, a JUNO Award-winning guitarist and vocalist, is known for her soulful tone, modern bebop phrasing and charismatic presence. She has shared stages with Freddy Cole, Bria Skonberg and Michael Dease, among others. Her four solo albums include Elegant Traveler (2021 JUNO winner) and Sonic Bouquet (2024 JUNO nominee).

Dupuis is a guitarist and composer celebrated for his fingerstyle technique and his distinctive voice on the harp guitar. His viral 2016 cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” earned more than 19 million views and international acclaim. Winner of the Canadian Guitar Festival Competition (2016), he combines classical training with influences from rock, jazz and folk.

Planté is one of the world’s few prominent female flamenco guitarists and a pioneering voice in contemporary flamenco composition. Born in Montréal and trained in both Canada and Spain, she studied with master musicians and led Cruceta Flamenco in Madrid as musical director and composer from 2005 to 2013. Her 2010 album 8 Reflexiones made history as the first flamenco CD composed and recorded by a woman, receiving international acclaim.

Since returning to Montréal in 2013, Planté has launched various projects and collaborated with flamenco artists from diverse backgrounds. Her latest work, The Roses of Lorca, premiered in 2024 and draws inspiration from Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.

For tickets to International Guitar Night, go to masseytheatre.com/event/ign-2026.

– Courtesy Massey Theatre