Neranenah’s Summer Showcase Features Local And Nationally Acclaimed Jewish Artists
Neranenah, the Jewish concert series previously known as the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, returns at the end of the month after its hiatus last year due to the pandemic — rebranded and reinvigorated with a new name and expanded concept. This year’s festival takes place July 30 through August 1, with three nights of live performances at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Pianist and Executive Director of Neranenah Joe Alterman joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to talk about the meaning of Neranenah, this year’s festival line-up and the important place Jewish culture holds in the history of American music.
An accomplished jazz pianist, having performed alongside Les McCann, Ramsey Lewis and other luminaries, Alterman joined the festival staff as Executive Director in 2019. He brought new curiosity to the project and a willingness to reexamine fundamental concepts. “When I came on to this job, I was always asking, ‘What is Jewish music?’ I ask 300 people the question, I get 300 different answers,” Alterman said. “I think all of them are right, but none of them are right at the same time. To me, the Jewish part of the music was really the story about the music, not necessarily the music itself. So to me, that was really Jewish contributions to music, much less Jewish music.”
He went on, “I felt like the name basically didn’t reflect what we were doing anymore, and I realized too, it felt kind of exclusive to Jews and non-Jews… I realized we needed a name that better reflected the inclusivity of our programming, better reflected what we’re trying to do, and better reflected the idea that while this is a Jewish organization, it’s for everyone.”
“We found the word, ‘Neranenah,’ which comes from the popular song of Jewish celebration, ‘Hava Nagila’ — for those not familiar with that, that’s the song you’ll hear at a wedding when everyone’s getting thrown up in the chairs and everything,” Alterman said. “It means, in Hebrew, ‘Let’s get together and sing.’ So I think it’s very reflective of everything we’re trying to do.”
These reflections eventually inspired Alterman to bring an expansion in repertoire to the festival, with the addition of live comedy. “I didn’t think, going forward, that the differentiator should necessarily be books, film and music. I realized that music would always be our main thing, but… what we really have is the live performance arena. And to me, music and comedy have always gone together in the Jewish world and in America,” Alterman said. “So we have four programs, and three of them are music-related, but one is our first foray into comedy.”
The featured comedians on this year’s roster are Judy Gold, a former writer, and producer on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, and Eddie Brill, the longtime warm-up act for the Late Show with David Letterman — two comics with their own history in music, a choice Alterman felt would make for a “good segue.”
The festival’s four showcases debut on Friday, July 30, with the first night’s event “The Wind Down: Shabbat On The River” hosted by Micah Lapidus, accompanied by his Hello, Goodbye, and Peace Ensemble. Saturday night features jazz trio, Duchess, performing music from the Jewish American Songbook and, before the evening’s comedy sets, Sunday afternoon brings a teen music showcase to the stage.
“I see it as an opportunity to practice performing for young performers. This is going to be hosted by a wonderful rising senior from Centennial High School named Mirah Mersha… There will be between six and eight teenage performers that afternoon, and it’ll be all kinds of music. It’ll be mostly singer-songwriters… but I’m anticipating a few instrumentalists as well,” Alterman said.
Information, schedule and tickets are available at www.neranenaharts.org.
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