Last Day To Win A Free Copy-Shabbat Shaboom--Mama Doni's Wacky Jewish Indie Rock For Kids

MAMA DONI’S BACK WITH A “CHALLAH-DAY” ALBUM!
ROLL UP THE RUG AND MAKE SOME ROOM
for
SHABBAT SHABOOM!

Here at ChiIL Mama, we're all about multiculturalism, and one of the richest, most colorful cultures out there are our Jewish friends.   Whether you're a traditional, practicing Jewish family, half Jews-as many of our friends' families are, or just curious about your friends' traditions, this is a fun CD to check out.

Enter at the bottom of this post for your chance to win your very own copy before the March 22nd release date!    Be the first in your neighborhood to hear Shabbat Shaboom!   Mama Doni effortlessly melds numerous musical styles over 21 tracks, truly providing something for everyone.   Through clever humor, and upbeat, catchy hooks, Mama Doni will have everyone dancing, laughing and shouting a rousing chorus of "Mazel Tov!"   


Timeless themes of family, togetherness, good food, and tradition are universal and celebrated in fine fashion.   While Shabbat Shaboom serves as a lighthearted, playful yet respectful primer on Jewish culture, language, and food.   We're particular fans of the song, Fahklempt,--a fabulously descriptive word that ought to migrate into more popular cross cultural usage.    Listeners are also treated to a mini lesson on Shabbat traditions, challah bread, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and Jewish grandma, Bubby.   


Mama Doni's quirky sense of humor and story telling, provide for a rollicking fun ride.    Jewish Cowgirl and The Coolest Friend I Ever Had Was A Chicken are absurdly laugh out loud funny.   Then the final two bonus tracks, The Friday Night Blessings and Saturday Night Blessings are lovely, melodic and completely different.

“Her stage name may sound as if it belonged on a jar of pasta sauce, but Mama Doni is an indisputably Jewish performer.  Doni Zasloff Thomas in real life, she specializes in putting a Jewish spin on all kinds of  musical styles, including reggae, rock, disco and Latin.”  – The New York Times

“A zany musical chicken soup of reggae, rock, disco, Latin, Kelzmer, and other styles.”  – The Boston Globe

“Wacky Jewish indie-rock for kids.”  - The Star-Ledger

“Mama Doni … is part ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic (for the hilarious and surprisingly insightful lyrics), part Sarah Silverman (but much cleaner and only the parts of Sarah’s show where she innocently sings her little heart out), and that adorable mom down the street who manages to wear bright red lipstick and cute track suit to put out the recycling at 6 a.m.”  – KIWI magazine 

The inimitable Mama Doni brings her special brand of “funky music with a Jewish twist” to a new “Challah-Day” album, with the March 22 release of Shabbat Shaboom (Mama Doni Productions, $15, run time 42 minutes, all ages). 

Doni Zasloff Thomas, aka Mama Doni, is the lead singer/songwriter in The Mama Doni Band.   Doni’s “wacky, Jewish indie-rock band for kids” won the Simcha Award for Inspiring Joy Through Music in competition with more than 100 bands from 15 different countries at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam. 

   

Quirky, zany, offbeat, and unpredictable, The Mama Doni Band expands the horizons of traditional Jewish music with a contagious and unexpected blend of reggae, rock, disco, Latin, klezmer and “Jewgrass” – all woven together with a hip Jewish sensibility.

The original songs and stories on Shabbat Shaboom transport listeners to a place where the album’s warmly sincere pop-rock title track happily melds with a Gloria Estefan-meets-Fiddler on the Roof conga line tune, "Challah-Day,” where the reggae-influenced “Mazel Tov” meets a disco ditty, “Sabbath Queen.”  Shabbat Shaboom touches on such aspects as lighting candles, being with family (mishpocha), celebrating bat mitzvahs, and even the “workout” that Mama Doni mischievously terms "synagoguersizing." 

 Shabbat Shaboom marks the first Mama Doni CD to showcase the entire Mama Doni Band.  Says Doni, “Shabbat Shaboom is really an evolution for us.  It’s a little less shticky than my previous CDs.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still fun!  But this album has a slightly different vibe.  It’s more sophisticated musically than my earlier work, a bit more soulful, you might say.”

The raison d'être of Mama Doni’s presentation goes deeper than surface “shtick.”  What’s important to Doni is the idea of giving children their own current and positive musical voice.  Doni lays out her mission: “I want to share with kids of all ages and backgrounds the humor and richness that effervesces throughout Yiddish language and Jewish culture. Through my music I hope that they can access the joy in this culture in a new way and have a rockin‘ good time in the process!”

MAMA DONI & THE MAMA DONI BAND in Performance
Highlights – Winter/Spring 2011

February 20                Congregation Emanu El                                               Houston, TX
March 5                       Congregation Beth Or                                                  Maple Glen, PA
March 6                       Young Limmud Philly/Gershman YMHA                     Philadelphia, PA
March 20                     Museum of Jewish Heritage                                        New York, NY
April 3                          Congregation Keneseth Israel                                    Elkins Park, PA
April 22                        Friedberg JCC/Mid-Island YJCC                                 Oceanside, NY
May 10                         Weinstein JCC                                                              Richmond, VA
May 11                         Simon JCC                                                                    Virginia Beach, VA

Enter HERE for your chance to win!   Entries accepted through midnight 1/8.   February is double disc month.   Tomorrow's Win A Disc Wednesday winner will receive both Mama Doni's Shabbat Shaboom AND Laura Doherty's Kids in the City.


Remember to check back at ChiIL Mama every Tuesday for free tickets in the Chicago area, and enter every Win A Disc Wednesday for free CDs (nationwide).   We'll have reviews, live performance videos, band interviews and introductions to great new music.   

chiIL Mama

because life doesn't end with birth.........