The idea of a black Jewish gospel singer may startle those who have not previously heard of Joshua Nelson.
Yet thanks to him, not only is the idea not so new any more, but Nelson has spread it all over Europe and the United States — including in Milwaukee and Madison, where he performed with the modern klezmer band, The Klezmatics, this past February.
He will make his first solo appearance in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Nov. 1, where he will be providing the entertainment at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s 2007 Annual Campaign Community Event.
This event will take place at Congregation Shalom, 7630 N. Santa Monica Blvd., and will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Nelson grew up in Newark, N.J., as a member of the black Jewish community there, and he graduated from the city’s arts high school.
In an interview published in the Nov. 7, 2004, Boston Globe, he said that when he attended college in Jerusalem, he heard a cantor and male chorus at the Great Synagogue.
That gave him the idea of blending Jewish liturgical music and texts with American black gospel-singing and melodic style — “giving a component of soul to liturgical music and making it more exciting,” he said.
And while that style may be closely associated with a Christian tradition, Nelson told the Boston Globe, “I think of it as a soul tradition.”
“People who don’t understand think I’m borrowing from the Christian tradition and putting it into Jewish music; but since there were Jews in Africa, I’m putting into Jewish music what I think should have been put there from the get-go.”
Admission to the Milwaukee event is free with a minimum gift of $18 to the 2007 Annual Campaign and a gift to the Israel Emergency Campaign. Reservations are required to obtain tickets.
Deadline for response is Monday, Oct. 23. Contact Shelly Sampon, 414-390-5723 or shellys@milwaukeejewish.org.
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