A San Jose State student performing on viola, a recent U.C. Davis grad singing an original song about his journey to Israel, and the member of an Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble belting out a modern Hebrew pop song: The Israel in the Gardens college talent show will have a little bit of everything.
The new variety show competition, dubbed “Jews Got Talent,” is a multi-campus battle, with an emphasis on Israeli content.
The competition is already under way. Five different Hillels in the Bay Area conducted preliminary auditions, with each sending its top pick to the finals June 7 during Israel in the Gardens. They’ll take the stage at approximately 2 p.m.
The participating Hillel groups include San Francisco (which serves 13 colleges in San Francisco and the North Peninsula), Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Silicon Valley (which serves four South Bay campuses) and Davis-Sacramento.
“We opened the competition up to all talents,” explains Liron Biton, campus division emissary of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation. “There were a lot of people trying out — including a couple of belly dancers — but our finalists all ended up being musicians or singers.”
Biton enlisted the Ya-Rock band to accompany the performers during the competition.
Biton says the idea for Jews Got Talent came about when Israel in the Gardens organizers were looking to collaborate with college students. They decided to create an “American Idol”–esque contest.
“Everyone was really excited about the idea,” Biton says. “We know a lot of talented local students.”
The official lineup has Be’eri Moalem of Hillel of Silicon Valley; Allon Jacobs of Hillel at U.C. Davis and Sacramento State; Megan Newton Gill of San Francisco Hillel; Daniel Steinberg of Santa Cruz Hillel; and Danielle Natelson of Berkeley Hillel.
The performers’ backgrounds run the gamut from local students to native Israelis, classical musicians to jazz and rock ‘n’ roll singers.
Two will perform original songs: Steinberg, 19, who grew up in Southern California, will perform his composition “Enough,” and Jacobs, a 23-year-old U.C. Davis graduate, will perform “Fading Sunset,” a song he wrote after completing a year of study abroad at Tel Aviv University. He will be accompanied by friend Lauren Salmo, a student at U.C. Davis, with Ya-Rock providing backup.
Moalem, who will perform “Shir HaMa’alot” with a local quartet, grew up in the West Bank settlement of Kfar Adumim. He studied the viola at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and now attends San Jose State University.
Natelson, a 19-year-old student at U.C. Berkeley who has been singing since she was 3, will perform the song “Im Telech” by Idan Raichel, who headlined last year’s Israel in the Gardens.
Gill, who grew up in Los Angeles, typically performs as part of an Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble. The San Francisco State liberal studies major spent last summer in Israel thanks to Birthright Israel. She’ll perform Israeli artist Miri Mesika’s dance-rock song “Ba’a Elechem,” about a girl being told not to grow up too fast.
Gill had trouble finding the right song at first — soul and gospel being her music of choice — but knew “Ba’a Elechem” was perfect after a cantor friend recommended it.
“It worked well with my voice, but was a huge departure from what I usually sing,” she explained. “The song has such good energy, I could picture the crowd’s reaction.”
While Gill has performed in temples and camps across the state, the Jews Got Talent event will be her biggest break yet.
“I jump at every opportunity to sing, but I’ve never had one like this — to be able to perform in front of such a large group of Jews in the community,” she says.
The “Jew Got Talent” judging panel will include David Katznelson, Barry Jekowsky and Scott Mathews. Katznelson is an owner of the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, Jekowsky founded the California Symphony and Mathews works as a music producer, composer and instrumentalist.
The most important part of Jews Got Talent — besides the thrill of competition — is the cultural pride aspect, Biton notes.
“We wanted the [pieces performed] to have a strong connection to Israel,” she says. “That was the only prerequisite.”