Artist: Frank London and Rob Schwimmer featuring Joshua Nelson

About The Artist:

A founder of The Klezmatics, Frank London is a Grammy award winning composer and trumpeter. He is featured on over 200 recordings with John Zorn, LL Cool J, Mel Torme, They Might Be Giants, Jane Siberry, and Itzhak Perlman. He was musical director for David Byrne and Robert Wilson’s The Knee Plays. He’s composed music for Tony Kushner’s A Dybbuk and Vit Horejs’ Lower East Side epic, Once There Was a Village. Frank appears with keyboard wiz Rob Schwimmer (Paul Simon, Polygraph Lounge) and ” kosher” gospel sensation Joshua Nelson. One of the founders of the legendary Polygraph Lounge, Rob Schwimmer is a composer-pianist and thereminist who has performed and recorded throughout the world. His compositions have been featured in theater, television series and movies, documentaries and feature films including the 2008 Academy Award Winner Freeheld. Rob has worked with Wayne Shorter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin, Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, Simon and Garfunkel, Laurie Anderson, Bette Midler, Queen Latifah, Adam Guettel, T-Bone Walker, Sam Rivers, Marc Shaiman, The Klezmatics, Matthew Barney, Ang Lee, Mary Cleere Haran, Maria Schneider, Josh Groban, Gwyneth Paltrow, The Roches, Marshall Brickman, Mabou Mines, Geoffrey Holder, John Cale, Tommy Tune, Steve Buscemi, Burt Bacharach, Edie Brickell, Teo Macero, Hal Willner, Vernon Reid, The Everly Brothers, Ethel, Kurt Vonnegut, Odetta, C&C Music Factory and Sammy Davis Jr.

Song: Gam Hayom

Contribution to: Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

“Gam Hayom” played an important role in the popularization of “Palestinian folk songs” outside of Eretz Yisrael. It was one of several songs that the Jewish National Fund printed on post cards to facilitate easy distribution and dissemination in the early 1930’s. Of course, the song was not an anonymous “folk song” at all (despite its striking resemblance to “Hatikvah”) but was actually composed by Shalom Postolsky (1898-1949) with lyrics by Levi Ben-Amitai (1901- 1980). Both were strongly affiliated with the kibbutz movement, Postolsky at Ein Harod, and Ben-Amitai at Kibbutz Degania Bet. Levi Ben-Amitai (ne Lipa Bravda) was born in White Russia and made aliyah in 1920. His poetry exalts the workers whose efforts helped to build the Jewish homeland, comparing the simple kibbutznik to the Priests and Levites of the Temple in Jerusalem. Postolsky was similarly devoted to evoking and enhancing the culture of the kibbutz, and much of his music is used for kibbutz festivals and holiday celebrations.

About Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was founded in 1998 by identical twin sisters Kathy Giusti and Karen Andrews shortly following Kathy’s diagnosis with multiple myeloma. The mission of the MMRF is to urgently and aggressively fund research that will lead to the development of new treatments for multiple myeloma. The MMRF is one of the most effective and efficient organizations of its kind, as evidenced by our exceptional accreditations. In 2007, nearly 93% of every dollar of revenue raised was directed toward myeloma research and related educational programs. The MMRF’s approach, with a focus on speed, innovation, and results, is widely recognized across the medical and scientific communities, as well as by several prominent publications, as an optimal model to accelerate medical research and drug development across various cancers and diseases.

Gam Hayom

by Frank London and Rob Schwimmer featuring Joshua Nelson