The News & Observer

By DEBBIE SELINSKY, Correspondent
A Raleigh group plays Jewish liturgical music with modern flair.

RALEIGH -- When Mishpacha plays during services at Raleigh's Temple Beth Or, visitors in the audience sometimes look at each other in surprise. And then they smile, because the group's offerings -- peppered with Eric Claptonlike guitar, Debussy-style classical passages and Everly Brothers-type harmonies -- are not what they expected from Jewish liturgical music.

"A lot of temples have cantors, who chant or sing liturgical prayers and lead the congregation in the singing of prayers and anthems; a few have choirs and maybe a keyboardist or organist. But very few feature Jewish music played and sung in a nontraditional style," said Mishpacha member Roger Friedensen.

The growing popularity of Mishpacha (Hebrew for "family," it is pronounced Mish-pa-HA) and its nontraditional stylings led to the December release of "InSight & Visions," the group's first compact disc. It includes the first commercial recording of a popular Jewish liturgical song written by one of the field's most revered composers.

The group started about six years ago, when a volunteer choir formed at Temple Beth Or to fill the void when the synagogue's cantorial soloist left.
Steve Katz and Friedensen were immediately drawn to each other's musical styles (Friedensen's acoustic guitar and Katz's classical guitar) and their common love of Beatles music. They also noticed how well altos Gale Touger and Bonnie Nichols harmonized.

Pretty soon, the four of them were staying after choir practice and jamming, playing traditional music in a slightly different style and even, if the spirit moved them, venturing off into Beatles music and folk songs.
Invitations to sing and play at various services and events began to roll in, and Mishpacha was officially born as a group. They perform prayers set to music by contemporary Jewish composers.

"Some sounds traditional. Some sounds like acoustic rock and some of it definitely has a classical flavor," Nichols said.

The four Raleigh residents are quick to point out that the real reason for the formation of the group, the release of their new CD and their dedication to singing and playing at Sabbath services, b'nai mitzvot, holidays and community events is to share.

"We feel truly blessed to be able to share our love of Judaism and music with each other, with our congregation and with the broader community," said Friedensen, 38-year-old vice president of the public relations firm Epley Associates.

Their Eric Clapton-Debussy-Peter, Paul and Mary-Joni Mitchell-influenced sound was so well received that the group decided to think about going into the recording studio. However, it only began to happen when Friedensen's friend, Scott Long, donated use of his studio, InSight Productions in Durham.
InSight sound engineer Greg Shriver and Brent Lambert of The Kitchen Mastering in Carrboro also agreed to donate engineering and mastering services to the Mishpacha production.

To achieve the most natural sound and capture the effect of a live performance, the CD was recorded digitally in true stereo using only two microphones. There was no multitracking, overdubs or remixing.
"What you hear on this disc is what you would hear in the synagogue," said Katz, 46, an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University whose academic research includes Jewish mysticism.

An important part of the song selection process for the CD was the response of congregation members to a song.

"We wanted songs that feel familiar enough that people would be brave and join in -- that's key to us," Friedensen said. "We're not really performing so much as we're leading the congregation in some of our favorite Sabbath songs."

What started out happily became what can only be described, Touger joked, as "blood, sweat and tears."

Mishpacha started recording in October 1998, but things soon came to a halt. Permission to record the song that group members considered one of the CD's most important, "K'dusha," by noted Jewish liturgical composer Bonia Shur, was denied after the Hebrew Union College professor heard Mishpacha's taped version.

Touger, who established contact with the elderly composer at his Cincinnati office, knew "K'dusha" was a congregational favorite as well as a Mishpacha favorite. When Shur told her over the phone that the group could not perform his piece, she ended the conversation quickly in an effort to hide disappointed tears.

She explained his criticisms to her colleagues -- primarily that he intended the piece as joyous and celebratory, and that their rendition, despite its lovely harmonies, didn't fit that concept.

"We saw the piece as mystical and spiritual and that was just too different for him," said Touger, 49, a nurse practitioner at SAS Institute.

A few days later, she received a call from Shur, who told her he'd "heard the hurt" in her voice during their last brief conversation and wanted to discuss the project further. He said that if Mishpacha would pay his airfare to come down and direct them in the studio, they could record "K'dusha" in what would be the first commercial recording of the song.

"We couldn't believe it, because we're these nobodies from Raleigh, and he is probably the most respected composer of Jewish liturgical music," Touger said.

The experience with Shur was an interesting one.
"He expected us to be able to do a couple of quick takes. He didn't expect it to take us nine hours to record a 2-minute, 36-second song," Friedensen said.

After working with them, Shur said the group is well-named.
"The name, Mishpacha -- which means family in Hebrew -- portrays very well this group. They are working together...to sing and play Jewish music," he said.

In the end, "K'dusha" is one of the group's favorites on the 23-song CD. Another favorite is "Miriam's Song," which features Friedensen in something that sounds like an interpretation of "Pinball Wizard."

The CD is receiving play on the Globalnet radio station's Shalom America Show and on WUNC-FM's Backporch Music.

In addition to their day jobs, the group members also have an alter ego: Serious Comfort. In this guise, the group brings acoustic jazz, blues, rock and folk flavors to a mix of serious and humorous, original and nonoriginal songs, including "Dustmites," "Suburban Mommy" and "Let's Be Co-Dependent."

"When I say Jewish music, a lot of people still think of klezmer music [an expressive musical tradition that originated among Eastern European Jews]. So I explain to them about Jewish liturgical music and why it's important to temple services," Friedensen said. "We hope Mishpacha enhances others' spiritual experiences, and that, in some small way, we help others to appreciate the rich sense of history, community and beauty that is the tapestry of Judaism."

"InSight & Visions" is available for $15 from http://www.mishpacha-music.com , other Jewish or general music Web sites, or in Raleigh from Temple Beth Or, Borders Books, Music & Cafe, 8825 Six Forks Road, Harry's Guitar Shop, The Little Art Gallery and Quail Ridge Books. The group will perform April 1 at Judea Reform synagogue in Durham.