Basya Schechter: Songs of Wonder May 15, 2012

The newest project from Pharaoh’s Daughter’s Basya Schechter sets the Yiddish poetry of the civil rights activist and Jewish philosopher Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to music. Songs of Wonder blends soulful grooves and lush instrumentation with Heschel’s powerful poetry. A rich new collection of Yiddish songs, these colorful arrangements feature many of New York’s greatest Jewish musicians.

“Schechter makes music that is both appealing and intriguing…she is often cast in the role of an exotic Sephardi-Ashkenazi hybrid who blends two flavors of Eastern music — Middle and European — spiced with folk, pop and even African elements…Ladino poetry, Hasidic niggunim, or wordless melodies, and elements of every genre imaginable.” –The Jewish Daily Forward