Fall Benefit Concert in Philadelphia — Sunday, October 17

"The Naming," featuring Galeet Dardashti

The Jewish Dialogue Group invites you to our fall benefit, featuring a performance of Galeet Dardashti's multi-media concert and storytelling extravaganza, The Naming, plus songs by Chana Rothman. This event celebrates the release of the first-ever recording of The Naming.

Where: The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street in University City   

            Easily accessible by SEPTA, low-cost parking available across the street at Fresh Grocer.

            (View the location on a map.)

• Hear amazing music from Middle Eastern Jewish traditions, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Persian, and Arabic
• Listen as the stories of the women of the Bible are woven together with an Iranian Jewish family's tales of women breaking the rules, and stories of women in the Middle East today fighting to have their voices heard
• Eat delicious food
• Celebrate and support the Jewish Dialogue Group's efforts to foster constructive dialogue within Jewish communities about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Chana Rothman will open the show with spirit-raising, soul-calming, rabble-rousing bilingual English/Hebrew music that includes folk, worldbeat, reggae, and hip hop influences. Light dinner, desserts, and drinks will be available for sale. Children welcome!

Suggested donation: $18 to $100 (More if you can, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.)

To RSVP: If you plan to come, we'd appreciate your letting us know. You may:

• RSVP through Facebook
• Register through Socializr

Want to volunteer? Please sign up to help with publicity, set-up, clean up, or other tasks.

Purchase an ad: Learn how you can place an ad for your organization or business or a personal message in the program booklet.

Questions? Contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 215-266-1218.

About Galeet Dardashti

As the granddaughter of Yona Dardashti, the most renowned singer of Persian classical music in Iran in his day, and daughter of highly esteemed cantor Farid Dardashti, Middle Eastern vocalist and composer Galeet Dardashti is the first woman in her family to continue her family tradition of distinguished Persian and Jewish musicianship.

After performing in the US and Canada with The Dardashti Family from her childhood into her teenage years, Dardashti began her own independent musical pursuits. She has performed as a soloist both throughout the US and Israel, including significant cantorial work. As leader and vocalist of the edgy all-female Mizrahi band Divahn, Dardashti's "sultry delivery spans international styles and clings to listeners long after the last round of applause" (Jerusalem Report).

Galeet also pursues her passion for Jewish music and culture as an anthropologist. She recently completed her Ph.D. in anthropology on the performance of contemporary Mizrahi and Arab music in Israel. She offers residencies, lectures, and workshops on her artistic and academic work. Learn more about Galeet.

About "The Naming"

This is the story of why the brilliant Queen of Sheba shaved her legs, how the stunning Vashti laid down the line for her drunken husband, and how a mysterious witch spoke King Saul's doom and then served him a nice dinner. Dardashti's forthcoming solo release and multimedia performance, The Naming, draws on the Persian music deep in her bones to transform the ghostly outlines of Biblical women into full-blown flesh-and-blood personalities, combining emotional Middle Eastern-inflected musical delivery with powerful storytelling.

Dardashti unites the Persian classical music that made her grandfather an icon in Iran with her family's deep connection to Jewish poetry and song, creating electronica-edged Middle Eastern music that springs from where the midrash meets midwifery, where modal melody meets sleek modernity. For Dardashti, the stories of the women in her songs intertwine with her own Iranian family's tales of women breaking the rules as well as those of women in the Middle East today fighting to have their voices heard. The stories also echo through Dardashti's personal story, in her recent transition into motherhood. Concerts feature vivid video art and live dance.

About Chana Rothman

Canadian-raised, Brooklyn-and-Philadelphia-based Rothman approaches music as a dialogue. “It’s two-way,” she explains, “We each have a role to play in creating the dynamic.” Rothman’s music, using two languages and ancient texts to address social ills and joys of today, brings a universal appeal. “Rothman’s music bubbles with a conscious vibe that’s capable of bringing people together,” writes Richard Antone of Elmore Magazine, “She is adept at using religious imagery and bilingual lyrics as a bridge rather than a wedge.”

Chana Rothman’s tunes, born of her native Canada, Himalayan trekking, adventures in Israel, and current muse, the New York City subways, have earned a growing pile of accolades. New York Times called her recent River-to-River Festival concert “well worth checking out” and The Jewish Week gave her debut CD, “We Can Rise” (Oyhoo Records), four stars. Popsyndicate.com calls her music “Bob Marley meets Edie Brickell,” and the album was voted “Best of 2007” by jewschool.com. Rothman has shared the stage with Hasidic reggae phenom Matisyahu as well as DJ Shadow and Lou Reed. Learn more about Chana.

4014 Walnut Street in University City 
              (next to The Bridge movie theater)
              Easily accessible by SEPTA, low-cost parking available across the street at Fresh Grocer.