It must be spring. The Jewish Music Festival is back, and for 16 days starting this month, the entire Bay Area will be feeling the beat.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the music festival, which has grown considerably since its modest beginnings at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center. The festival now stages events all over the region and draws up to 5,000 attendees annually, according to director Ellie Shapiro.
That’s not a bad figure. But it could be, and should be, much higher.
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, arguably the premiere Jewish cultural event in the Bay Area, enjoys annual attendance figures exceeding 32,000.
Shouldn’t the Jewish Music Festival be as powerful a draw? It’s a fair question since the festival is regarded by some as one of the best in the nation, if not the world.
The disparity in attendance between the film and music festivals may be related to the universal appeal of cinema. Audiences may appreciate Jewish-themed films simply for their storytelling power. Perhaps certain styles of music require some pre-education. After all, more people go to the movies than to the symphony.
Perhaps the potential audience still labors under the outdated rubric of Jewish music as largely liturgical or of interest only to Jews.
The fact is, Jewish music today is a vitally important genre of world music. Fortunately, Shapiro and her colleagues at the festival understand that, and have taken steps to broaden attendance.
For example, the 2005 artist-in-residency program took Israeli musician Yair Dalal into West Oakland and Berkeley public schools, introducing his form of Judeo-Arabic music to thousands of children who previously may have known nothing about Judaism or Jewish culture.
This year’s community music day at the BRJCC is another bold form of outreach, building local long-term enthusiasm for the festival. More than 500 citizen-musicians are expected.
And after the festival this year, Shapiro is off to Turkey to scout out new Jewish music artists to bring to California next year. Can India and Latin America be far behind?
Shapiro hopes the Jewish Music Festival will ultimately be perceived like the Chinese New Year parade: a celebration of one culture enjoyed by all.
We can start that process by filling the seats at this year’s concerts, workshops and classes. After all, the festival’s success really does begin with us. So let’s turn out.
See you at the festival.