“I think the most important thing for children and adults is to open their mouths, take a deep breath, and sing out,” said Shira Kline, also known as “Shirlala,” musician of “outrageously hip Jewish kiddie rock,” as she describes herself.
Though “there is a great value in closing your eyes and listening,” Kline said she really wants her audiences to “learn to be free and feel love and inspiration from the world.”
Kline will perform at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center on Wednesday, April 20, at 6 p.m. for a special interactive Passover concert for children and parents.
“Passover is the perfect holiday story for this concert.” Kline said. “The Israelites working as slaves, traveling, running away from the Egyptians. Through the music, we’ll act out the whole story together. We’ll sing songs about the food we eat, rituals we practice and characters at the seder table.”
Kline likes to get her audience immediately involved in her performance, which includes dance and storytelling.
“I invite them right from the beginning to join me. I provide the background music, and all of the audience [members] are the storytellers.”
“I really believe,” Kline said, “if you’re dancing clapping, making rhythms, you are part of it. I want everybody with me so that we’re all praying together.
“I am working very hard to help children and adults to have a positive association with holidays, Judaism and prayer.”
According to Idy Goodman, Jewish family educator at the JCC, the concert is going to be “a great way to usher in Passover. We’re just so excited.”
Goodman first heard about Kline from Marge Eiseman, who is chair of the music network at the Coalition for Jewish Learning. Eiseman brought some CDs for Goodman to listen to.
“I was bowled over with how dynamic her songs are, how much energy she has, and how fun [she is],” Goodman said.
The daughter of a rabbi, Kline, 29, said she “started teaching music with my father when I was 13.”
“Both of my parents are artists,” she added, and as a result, “every part of my childhood was infused with music and celebration. Everything was done through a really loving Jewish lens.”
Kline spent her childhood in Colorado Springs, where the synagogue was both “Reform and Conservative. I was born into a full spectrum of praying.”
Kline attended Sarah Lawrence college, where she continued to teach music, and since then has “been doing music non-stop,” she said.
“I started out mostly [working] with adults, leading services,” she said. Kline also “leads and teaches Jewish music meditation.”
But then she found a position as a music teacher in New York City, where she currently lives. “That was the beginning, about five or six years ago.”
Since then, Kline said her work has been “really to inspire children and adults alike to open up. Music is a gateway, a medium for the soul, otherwise known as the imagination.”
”When they are singing and dancing, they are praying,” Kline said. “It really is a joyous experience.”
Families can come before the concert for a light bagel, cream cheese and peanut butter dinner from 5 to 6 p.m. Cost for dinner is $3.50 per person; registration is required.
Cost for the concert is $5, children under two will be admitted free. For more information or to register, contact Goodman at 414-967-8195 or igoodman@j ccmilwaukee.org.
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