Winners of 2nd Annual Jewish Music Awards
We thank George Robinson for this info:
The Second Annual Jewish Music Awards were given out Monday, September 11, before a sparse but enthusiastic crowd at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. It was a big night for Pharaoh’s Daughter, with the band winning awards as Best Middle Eastern Blend and Best World Music Group, and for the local label Modular Moods, whose founder DJ Handler was pronounced Best DJ while his labelmate Y-Love received the Best Hip-Hop act nod. JDub Records also enjoyed the evening, with victories for Golem (Best Rock Band) and SoCalled (who tied with Idan Raichel in the Best New Approach category). Ironically, JDub’s former star Matisyahu won the Best Cross-Over artist award, but wasn’t present to receive it.
The controversial Hasidic rapper wasn’t the only famous absentee. Bob Dylan (Best Singer/Songwriter) and John Zorn (Best Jazz and Heritage Blend) weren’t around to pick up their awards either. But Lorin Sklamberg was happy to accept the Best Klezmer Band award on behalf of the Klezmatics, joking, “It took twenty years for a Jewish organization to give us an award. We won a gay and lesbian music award ten years ago already.”
Note that the Klezmatics appear on Sunday, Sep 17, in Chicago in a concert featuring their Woody Guthrie material.