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This Shabbat, we find ourselves celebrating the 7th Day of the Festival of Pesach and preparing for this weekâs special reading of the account of Kriat Yam Suf, the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, which tradition posits took place on this day. And yet, though we are knee-deep in our Passover c…
Meet the Yemeni-Jewish musician singing soulful Jewish R&B
This story originally appeared on Alma.
When you think of Jewish music, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s an epic Hebrew prayer chanted by a group of congregants in a synagogue, or the sound of a somber, minor-key klezmer band. Or perhaps you think of a poetic (if not slightly racy) Leonard Cohen lyric.
You probably wouldn’t consider jazzy, soulful R&B to fall under the umbrella of “Jewish music,” but Jewish-Canadian singer-songwriter Erez Zobary is here to shatter that assumption.
Born and raised in the Greater Toronto area, Erez has been singing since she was a toddler. After a bout of vocal nodules in her teens (ouch!), she has since embraced a low, vocal register reminiscent of the late Amy Winehouse. Yet the half-Yemenite musician’s style tends to veer more on the side of uplifting and joyous than sultry and secretive.