Ashira Is

Gil Melmed

Gil learned to play cello at a young age through the Suzuki method, to which he attributes the development of a love for music that seeks expression in-between juggling family, friends, and a medical career.  He was born in Israel and raised in Los Angeles, where his musical beginnings were fostered at the Akiba Academy school orchestra.  Gil and Hetty (a native Los Angeleno) have known each other since high school, are avid Billy Joel fans, and have 3 children.  Gil's passion is sitting at the piano, late at night, playing old tunes and experimenting with new ones, and is thrilled with the prospect of playing and recording with Ashira!

Shep Rosenman

Injecting Hendrix and Cream into the frailach mix in Jewish wedding bands garnered Shep the nickname "Cheavy Metal Guy," which was odd since Shep didn't have enough hair for that moniker.  Succumbing to parental pressure to find a career so he could get married, Shep went to law school. 
 
Shep moved to LA in 1991 because it was the only place he thought he could maintain the dual identity of lawyer and musician.  Blithering Heights was formed (go to http://www.garageband.com/artist/blitherers for a sense of that chaos), with Dan Day and Scott Sadlon, who added bass and drums on the Ashira CD.  BDJ tapped him to play kumsitzes, which lead to him to playing with Ashira.
 
Shep is still writing, recording and performing with kids, with David Steinberg (Shep n' Dave) and with Gil and others on a web-resource so that anyone can easily download and learn the most common zemirot (www.zemirot.org ).  He also entertains his partners at the boutique entertainment law firm, Katz, Golden, Sullivan & Rosenman, LLP (www.kgs-law.com ) .

Lamelle Ryman

Lamelle began Suzuki violin training at the ripe old age of 2, and has been singing and playing the violin ever since.  Lamelle’s Grandpa Rawlins was a country fiddler in rural Iowa and Missouri, and Lamelle has carried on the family tradition.  By the end of high school, she had toured Europe with a youth symphony, spent a summer at Interlochen Arts Camp, performed in professional productions of The Sound of Music and The King and I, won awards in the junior division of the Illinois State Fiddle Contest, played with the Illinois All-State Orchestra and taught violin for beginners after becoming certified to teach the Suzuki method.  Music went on the back burner in college, but after a year in Israel and an immersion in Carlebach melodies and other traditional tunes, playing and singing with Ashira has reunited Lamelle with her passion for music.  Lamelle is married to her college sweetheart, Rob (founder of the Society for Ashira Groupies), and is thrilled to be a full-time mama to Neshama, age 1. She is also the creator of an online resource for women’s reproductive health and parenting, www.journeymama.net.

Dan Shere

Dan started playing guitar at age thirteen and began writing music at age fourteen because it was easier than learning other people’s songs.  After dabbling briefly in heavy metal in high school, Dan and his brother, Jeremy, performed as an acoustic duo in Ann Arbor in the ‘90’s and later recorded an album of their original tunes (www.sheremusic.com ).  When Dan married a rabbinical student, Rachel, it was just a matter of time before he caught the Jewish music bug.  Dan is thrilled to play guitar and sing with Ashira, a band out out to prove that observant Jews rock…but not on Shabbos.  

Eric Weissman

 

SPECIAL THANKS/OTHER CONTRIBUTORS:  Jim Wright (engineer and slide guitar on V'eirastich li), Dan Day (bass), Scott Sadlon (drums), Wanda Warburton Peretz (cover art), Kyoko Yamamura (graphic design - kyoko.yama@gmail.com), Jeff Lawson (web design).