David Kaufman
Second Promise
Sun-Street
Sun-Street
In the 1960s, David
Kaufman was a young singer and songwriter performing on the Montreal folk
scene. In the ‘70s, he began a long career as a Toronto-based documentary
filmmaker and photographer. Much of his work has been on Jewish themes –
including several films about the Holocaust – and he was recently in Ottawa
giving a talk at the Soloway JCC on his photography of Jewish historical sites
in western Ukraine. Now, at age 70, David has recorded Second Promise, a CD of 13 of his songs from about a half-century
ago. He describes the album as “a gift to my younger self.”
Like many of the songs of Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen
– the pre-eminent Jewish singer-songwriters of the period – Kaufman’s work is
melodic, poetic and often open to the listener’s interpretation as to meaning.
There are Jewish motifs to several of Kaufman’s songs, including “Ruth’s Song,”
based on the biblical Book of Ruth, and “So Many Davids,” which seems like it
was inspired by King David.
David's voice remains strong after all these years and he
receives excellent support from stellar Toronto musicians and singers including
guitarist Jason Fowler, who produced
the album, and harmony singer Aviva
Chernick, a well-known cantorial soloist and lead singer of the Jewish
world music Jaffa Road. Also included is one song, "The Fire Next Time," on which David was accompanied by Kate McGarrigle on piano and Roma Baran on guitar.
--Mike
Regenstreif
