Mama Doni

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Our Next Show Is...

03/14/10 - JCC of Allentown (Allentown, PA) 3:00pm

Upcoming Shows...

03/21/10 - JCC Wyoming Valley (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 4:00pm
04/01/10 - Westchester Jewish Center (Mamaroneck, NY) 10:00am
04/25/10 - Benefit Concert for American Cancer Society - Relay For Life (Montville, NJ)
05/02/10 - Temple Emanu-El of Closter (Closter, NJ) 9:30am
05/02/10 - Temple Sha'arey Shalom (Springfield, NJ) 1:00pm
06/13/10 - Joan and Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center (Staten Island, NY)
06/30/10 - The Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester - Camp Discovery (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) 1:15pm
07/02/10 - Gesher Summer Camp (Livingston, NJ) 2:30pm
07/23/10 - Friedberg JCC - Summer Camp (Wheatley Heights, NY) 2:00pm
09/26/10 - Congregation Beth Or (Maple Glen, PA) 1:30pm
10/03/10 - Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael (Springfield, NJ ) 1:00pm
12/05/10 - Temple Israel (West Bloomfield, Michigan) 1:00pm
12/12/10 - United Jewish Communities of Metrowest New Jersey SUPER SUNDAY - JCC Metrowest (Whippany, NJ) 3:00pm

Past Shows...

JCC Manhattan - New York, NY
United Jewish Council of Greater Toledo - Sylvania, Ohio
Marlboro Jewish Center - Marlboro, NJ
YMHA - Wayne NJ
Pine Brook Jewish Center Nursery School - Montville, NJ
Family Day at The Jewish Museum of New York - New York, NY
Oheb Shalom - South Orange, NJ
Adath Shalom - Morris Plains, NJ
JCC Commack - Commack, NY
Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County - Newburgh, NY
"Little Kids Rock" Concert - Montclair, NJ
Miriam Apartments - Clifton, NJ
Stamford JCC - Stamford, CT
Purim show - JCC MetroWest - West Orange, NJ
Temple Bnai Abraham - Livingston, NJ
Purim Show - Morris Academy - Randolph, NJ
Shomrei Emunah - Montclair, NJ
Temple Emanu-El - Closter, NJ
Maplewood Jewish Center - Maplewood, NJ
Kol Ami - White Plains, NY
Temple Sha'arey Shalom - Springfield, NJ
JCC on The Hudson - Tarrytown, NY
BNAI Tikvah - North Brunswick, NJ
TEMPLE SHAREY TEFILO-ISRAEL - South Orange, NJ
WESTCHESTER JEWISH CENTER - MAMARONECK, NY
Temple Beth El - Rochester, NY
Miriam Apartments II - Clifton, NJ
Solomon Schechter - West Orange, NJ
Rosenthal JCC - Camp Discovery - Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Suffolk Y and JCC - Commack, NY
Henry Kaufman Campgrounds - Wheatley Heights, NY
JCC of Bensonhurst - Brooklyn, NY
Milton & Betty Katz - Margate, NJ
Westchester Summer Day - Mamaroneck, NY
Mid Island Y-JCC - Oceanside, NY
Friedberg JCC - Oceanside, NY
Parents Who Rock - Montclair, NJ
South Brunswick Music Festival - South Brunswick, NJ
Temple B'Nai Or - Morristown, NJ
Milton & Betty Katz JCC - Margate NJ
Daughters of Miriam - Clifton NJ
The Andrew Friedland Preschool - Temple Beth Rishon , Wyckoff NJ
The International Jewish Music Festival - Amsterdam, Holland
JCC Albany - Albany NY
JCC Houston - Houston TX
Katz JCC - Cherry Hill, NJ
The Museum of Jewish Heritage - New York, NY
Worcester JCC - Worcester, MA
Adat Shalom - Los Angeles, CA
Fox Hills Chaverim - Rockaway, NJ
The Shirley & Paul Pintel Nursery School of Fair Lawn Jewish Center - Fair Lawn, NJ
Woodlands Community Temple - Westchester, NY
Tikvat Israel - Rockville, MD
JCC of Middlesex County - Edison, NJ
Kol Ami - White Plains, NY
Congregation Agudath Israel - Caldwell, NJ
Bergen County YJCC - Washington Township, NJ
Temple Shaarey Shalom - Springfield, NJ
Children's Winter Holiday Party - Orange Lawn Tennis Club - South Orange, NJ
JCC MetroWest - West Orange, NJ
Bnai Keshet - Montclair, NJ
Jewish Community Campus of Kansas City - Kansas City, KS
Help Haiti Heal Benefit Concert - Rodeo Bar & Grill - New York, NY
The Frances & Herbert Brody Preschool of Temple B'Nai Or - Morristown, NJ
Shalom Family - Cincinnati, Ohio
Tempe Emanu-El - Closter, NJ
Bergen County YJCC - Washington Township, NJ
Congregation B'Nai Israel - Millburn, NJ
Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Ed. - Melrose Park, PA
Temple ShareyTefilo Israel - South Orange, NJ
Kaplan Preschool at United Synagogue of Hoboken - Hoboken, NJ

MAMA DONI IN THE NEWS

Jersey singer makes hip music for Jewish kids!

by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Features Editor

June 19, 2008

The sweltering temperatures on Sunday didn't keep the young fans away. Although the heat played havoc with the sound system at the outdoor June 8 mini-concert in Montclair, the Mama Doni Band provided cool relief to new fans and old. (On this 90-plus degree day, it was appropriate that one of the tunes was titled "Shvitzin'.")

Lead singer Doni Zasloff Thomas moved to Montclair with her family from Manhattan three years ago, and her entry into the business was serendipitous: About a year and a half ago, the head of her children's preschool at Child's Way*Derech HaYeled in West Orange heard her reciting Shabbat blessings with them and asked her to be the school's music teacher.

Doni wasn't content just to recycle the same old stuff. She wanted to write her own songs, but had never done so before.

"I went on-line and looked up 'how to write a song' on the Internet, but that didn't go well. Nothing came."

A week later, "The Kipa Song" "just came out of the heavens," she said – beshert. "The next thing you know, I was writing every day, three songs, just absolutely going crazy. And I put the album together."

Her effort, I Love Herring (and Other Fish Shticks for Kids), was released in May and includes such ditties as "Jewperheroes," "Bubbie's Big Bluff," and "Oy Yoy Yodel." The band – which includes guitarist Adam Nelson (who also serves as the group's producer), bassist Alex Tyshkov, and drummer/percussionist Ken Walz – won the Simcha Prize at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival, held May 9-12 in Amsterdam.

Doni admits her target audience is somewhat limited. She could have reached a wider audience merely by singing generic children's songs rather than tunes for Jewish kids.

"It's so important to me. I feel passionately about making Jewish culture hip and cool. Everything about being Jewish, I love so much, and I want to make it accessible for kids.

"I do these songs in my preschool class. The kids love it and the parents love it." Maybe that's because it reaches them on different, albeit still enjoyable, levels. The little ones love the energy that Mama Doni and company bring, while the parents and grandparents relate to it on a more thematic level.

"My demographic is Jews and people who dig crazy Jewish stuff."