Challah & Latkes: Stories for Shabbat & Hanukkah

• Track Listing

This CD celebrates Jewish rituals, miracles and delicacies. Children and adults enjoy these enchanting folktales, all containing the nourishing ingredients for food for the soul: captivating voices, infectious songs, and strong characters, all laced with a wonderful sense of awe. "Cindy Marshall serves up a seven-course feast of stories interspersed with music, celebrating the Sabbath and Hanukkah. This is a nice collection of stories from traditional sources, as well as original works. Marshall's knack for storytelling will enchant children, as well as their parents. She delivers a lively, well-paced narrative and masterfully alters her voice to distinguish her characters. Punctuating the stories are clarinet and violin solos and songs. The package comes with brief, informative liner notes that provide story sources and a glossary of Jewish terms." - Steven E. Steinbock, Audiofile Magazine, December 1999/January 2000 "[This]delightful collection of folktales, some traditional, some original, will entice all ages. The lyrical vocal, violin, clarinet and psaltery music give the tales a nice touch. The narration is clear, and the Hebrew songs are an added delight. Each tale is rich with Jewish history and tradition." -School Library Journal "Marshall conveys joy, sadness, humor and more." -Hadassah Magazine Musician and educator Victor Cockburn co-produced the CD. Accompanying the stories are Ben Pasamanick on clarinet, Derek Burrows on psaltery, and Ken Richmond on violin. Based in Newton, MA Ms. Marshall has been performing Jewish folktales and multicultural stories for children, family audiences and adults since 1989. Her work encourages a love for stories and stimulates an appreciation of the world's cultures that have given us the rich legacy of folklore. She enjoys the process of researching and seeking out variants of folktales. Ms. Marshall's background includes not only theater, dance and voice; she has also studied Jewish stories extensively, and her repertoire includes a range of Jewish stories, including Biblical midrashim, legends, Talmudic stories, Hasidic stories, and folktales from the diaspora. Currently co-chair of the Jewish Storytelling Coalition of New England, Cindy Rivka Marshall has performed at festivals, synagogues, schools, libraries and senior residences since 1989. Her recording "Challah and Latkes: Stories for Shabbat and Hanukkah" won a National Parenting Publications Gold Award and a Storytelling World Honor Award. Her latest recording "By the River: Women's Voices in Jewish Stories" won a Parent's Choice Recommended Award and a Storytelling World Winner Award. In addition to performing, Cindy teaches workshops in storytelling skills and oral history techniques. A former filmmaker, some of her documentaries are still in distribution nationally, including "A Life of Song" a portrait of Yiddish folksinger Ruth Rubin, and "Key Changes: A portrait of jazz singer Lisa Thorson."