Vocolot is a contemporary Jewish women's a cappella ensemble based in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, USA.

History

Vocolot began in 1988, when singer-songwriter Linda Hirschhorn informally assembled a group of musicians to record some of the songs she had written for four- and five-part vocal harmonies. When they had finished recording those, for the ''Gather Round'' album, she asked the singers to join her in an ongoing group. The founding members were Rosalind Glazer, Max Ventura, Tay Holden and Linda Hirschhorn. Vocolot has gone through many incarnations as new members joined and prior members left to start families and pursue other careers. Besides the current members and the founders, there were Kirsten Zerger, Alisa Peres, Helen Cohen, Ellen Robinson, Gale Kissin, Judy Larson, Sharon Preves, Abbe Lyons, Naomi Hannah, Judith-Kate Friedman, Fran Avni, Jennifer Karno, Alison Lewis, Felicia Sloin, and Julia Bordenaro. Although Vocolot performs mostly a cappella, in the early 1990s they began incorporating percussion into some of their songs, with Helen Cohen, Gale Kissin, Ellen Robinson and Liz Stuart on doumbek and frame drums, and their song, "These Hands", integrates body percussion. They were the only American group to make it to the finals at the 2008 International Jewish Music Competition in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Musical style

The group performs original compositions and arrangements of traditional

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

, and world-music songs in English,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

, Ladino, and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

. Mixing folk, classical, cantorial and

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

idioms in a polyphonic style of intricately interwoven voices, the women perform ''a cappella'' blended with

hand drum A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. Types The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are a ...

s and

Body percussion Body percussion may be performed on its own or as an accompaniment to music and/or dance. Examples of countries' folk traditions that incorporate body percussion include Indonesian saman, Ethiopian armpit music, palmas in flamenco, and the hambone ...

. The ensemble has been compared to the group

Sweet Honey in the Rock Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song, dance, and sign language. Originally a four-p ...

. Many of Vocolot's songs share themes of peace and justice, and Vocolot has sung at numerous rallies and fundraisers on behalf of women's empowerment organizations, MLK Day and Civil Rights events, El Salvador,

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

, the homeless,

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s, Darfur, and at many anti-war demonstrations. In addition, they commonly perform at festivals, conferences and conventions, folk music clubs, Jewish community centers and federations, colleges and universities, churches and synagogues throughout the U.S.A.

Name

The name 'Vocolot' () is a bilingual pun on the English word 'vocal', and the

word קולות , meaning "voices". The name was chosen by the founding members in November 1988, at a time when the politically active group was encouraging electoral participation with the slogan "Get out the local vote with Vocolot!" at their performances.

Personnel

Current members

, the Vocolot lineup was: * Linda Hirschhorn (director) * Elizabeth Stuart * Talia Cooper * Shana Levy

Former members

* Rosalind Glazer (1988–1997) * Max Ventura (1988–1991) * Tay Holden (1988–1989) * Kirsten Zerger (1989–1992) * Alisa Peres (1989) * Helen Cohen (1992) * Ellen Robinson (1989–2005) * Gale Kissin (1991–1992) * Judy Larson (1990–1991) * Sharon Preves (1991–1992) * Abbe Lyons (1992–1995) * Naomi Hannah (1992) * Judith-Kate Friedman (1995–2003) * Fran Avni (1996) * Jennifer Karno (1997–2006) * Alison Lewis (1998–2003) * Felicia Sloin (2003–2005) * Julia Bordenaro (2004-2010)

Discography

Vocolot has produced five albums. Their work is distributed under the Oyster Albums label by Kehila Productions in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. Their songs are registered with BMI. * ''Gather Round'' (1989) * ''Roots & Wings'' (1992) * ''Behold!'' (1998) * ''Heart Beat'' (2002) * ''Vocolot at 25'' (2012)

Awards

* International Jewish Music Festival 2008 Amsterdam Competition Finalist * Harmony Sweepstakes Bay Area Regional 2nd-Place Winner * Just Plain Folks 2006 Music Awards Nominee, for ''Behold!'' * Just Plain Folks 2017 Music Awards Nominee, for ''Vocolot at 25''

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1988 establishments in California A cappella musical groups American world music groups Jewish American musicians Jewish folk singers Jewish women musicians Jews and Judaism in California Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups from California Women in California Women's musical groups