Jewish folk singer Debbie Friedman, 59, dies in California

[villager]

Source: Daily News


Jewish folk singer Debbie Friedman, 59, dies in California

LOS ANGELES -- Debbie Friedman, a folk singer who set Jewish prayers to contemporary music and created songs that are sung in synagogues throughout the world, has died. She was 59.
Friedman died Sunday at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, said Jerry Kaye, a family spokesman.

Friedman had returned to California from England, where she was teaching and performing, before going into the hospital on Jan. 3 with breathing problems diagnosed as pneumonia, Kaye said.

"It turned into some sort of infection," he said. "She was a musician and a composer and traveled a great deal and fatigue is a normal course of that lifestyle."

Friedman began composing songs in high school, and her first albums came out in the 1970s. She combined traditional Jewish liturgies with folk music style, using lyrics in Hebrew and English.

"She was looking for ways to better understand them herself and by doing that, she made it so much more available to anyone," Kaye said.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_17057964?source=rss

---

For those that knew her work...

[Gothmog]

1. She preformed at my Temple several years ago

It was a great concert. I am so sorry to see her go.

[frazzled]

2. Her version of the traditional prayer "Mishebayrach" would be ...

very appropriate to "the renewal of body, the renewal of spirit" we all wish for the remaining victims of this Arizona shootings this weekend. It's a prayer of healing, for all who are ill. I enjoyed her music for many years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUp2MTfyfrI

[villager]

3. Thanks...

n/t

[Gothmog]

4. Thanks for sharing this

This song/prayer is part of my Temple's service.