(This review is from the March 18, 2013 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)
Singer and songwriter Sandy Cash has an interesting back
story. In the 1980s, the Detroit-born artist was a Jewish Studies major at Yale
University who thought she might become a Conservative or Reform rabbi. However,
she embraced Orthodoxy, gave up her rabbinical ambitions, and moved to Israel
where she married, started a family, and pursued a career in musical theatre
and, eventually, as a folksinger.
The 11 songs on Voices from the Other Side range from the
poignant to the hilarious and include several commentaries on contemporary
Israeli realities. “Song of Zion” is a response to those who would delegitimize
the State of Israel while “Freeze Frame Truth” captures a moment at a West Bank
checkpoint through the eyes of both a 19-year-old Israeli soldier who would
much rather be travelling or starting university than searching a Palestinian
woman’s car for explosives, and the Palestinian woman herself who is subjected
to the search. Cash portrays both sympathetically while, at the same time,
recalling the suicide terrorist attacks which led to the establishment of such
checkpoints.
One of the more poignant songs is “Gilad’s Guitar,” an
adaptation of a song called “Mom’s Guitar” by Stuart Kabak, which pays tribute
to the power of song and of passing music on from one generation to the next.
The guitar Cash plays was once owned by a cousin of her husband named Gilad who
perished as a soldier in the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Perhaps the album’s most affecting song on the CD is Cash’s
version of Kabak’s “Numbers” which describes an emotional encounter with an
elderly Holocaust survivor.
Among the more humorous songs are “Free Food Bar,” about a
mother’s desire to fulfil the varied menu demands of her children – one’s a
vegetarian, another can’t stand veggies, a third likes everything done fancy
while a fourth just eats corn flakes – and Deirdre Flint’s witty “Bridesmaid’s
Dress Song,” about the horrible, expensive, never-to-be-worn-again creations so
many bridesmaids are forced to wear.
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--Mike Regenstreif
Love Sandy's quirky sense of humor! First became aware of her music a few years back via FolkAlley.com, recently renewed the acquaintance.
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