October 16, 2001
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
Chava Alberstein,
Israel’s First Lady of Song,
to perform at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- Chava Alberstein performs at UCSB
- Israel’s most accomplished folk singer
- Winner of six Kinor David prizes—Israel’s Grammy
- Thursday, November 29
- 8 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
- General: $25/$22, UCSB students: $19/$16
- Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
Chava Alberstein, a singer so accomplished that she has released nearly 50 recordings and numerous gold and platinum records, performs on Thursday, November 29 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Alberstein, who has been compared to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Edith Piaf, was named the most important female musician in Israel’s history by Yediot Aharonot, the country’s largest daily newspaper. That publication went so far as to say, “If we have a true folk singer, it is Chava Alberstein.”
Alberstein’s soulful blend of traditional folk and pop music explores the tension between the national and the universal. She sings in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, and her performances are marked by the intimacy she creates as she tells stories between her songs. Her career has also had its moments of controversy, especially with her recording of “Chad Gadya.” A reworking of a traditional children’s Passover song, “Chad Gadya” protested Israel’s violent response to the 1987 Palestinian intifada and warned against an escalating cycle of violence. The song was temporarily banned from radio airplay and was even the subject of a heated discussion on the floor of the Israeli parliament.
Alberstein, born in Szczesin, Poland in 1947, moved to the fledgling state of Israel with her parents at the age of four. She grew up with all kinds of music as her father was a music teacher and her mother a seamstress who referred to her sewing machine as her piano. Her first public performance, at the age of 17, covered a wide range of styles—a Yiddish song, a Spanish folk song, a gospel number and a French pop tune. She released her first record in 1967 and since then has earned a dozen gold albums, six platinum and one triple platinum, while performing live throughout the world, from Uruguay to the United Kingdom, China to the Czech Republic.
Alberstein’s most recent album, Foreign Letters, reflects on her return to Israel after years of travel. It was produced by Canadian Ben Mink, famous for his work with k.d. lang. Alberstein also received rave reviews for The Well, her 1998 collaboration with New York musical adventurers The Klezmatics. The inspiration for The Well sprang from interviews Alberstein held with Yiddish poets for her award winning 1995 documentary film Too Early To Be Quiet, Too Late To Sing. The moving tales of these elders spurred her to write music for their words. She turned to the Klezmatics to help realize the music. Upon choosing the disc as one of the year’s best, the L.A. Weekly claimed, “If there is any hope for humanity as we know it, it’s here.”
“Art is the most important thing in life for me,” Alberstein says. “It is my religion in a way. It is not just the lyrics and the music but the images they give, the energy, the feelings. If artists are inspired and stay true, they can be the best messengers.”
Alberstein will hold a Meet-the-Artist Discussion, hosted by Rabbi Steve Cohen, immediately after the performance. This concert is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation and the UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.