A meandering musical journey gave Moshe Sobol's spirit new rhythm
The atmosphere here is festive as families enjoy the Chabad of Greater Monmouth’s Sunday retreat. The lawn is covered with blow-up kiddie slides and tunnels, and in a space nearby, folding chairs are set up in a semicircle. Out in the parking lot, burgers and chicken tenders sizzle over a grill next to long tables heaped with fries, salads, and rice. There’s a station for cotton candy and another for make-your-own-s’mores. Kids and parents eat, play, and enjoy the sunshine while a couple of bochurim dressed as clowns circulate among the crowd.
As the adults eat their fill and the kids get their energy out, the driver — here to provide the event’s entertainment — takes in the scene. But before he starts what’s been billed as, “an interactive drum circle led by percussionist Moshe Sobol,” the star of the show has one final preparation: his getup. He had arrived clad in a white shirt, and now, like Superman, he whisks it off for the gig, transforming into his musician avatar with a dark T-shirt. Moshe dons a small black fedora and he is ready to go.
“Everyone welcome world-renowned drummer Moshe Sobol!” shaliach Rabbi Yosef Carlebach calls out to the attendees. They sit, and following his cue, Moshe steps forward to take command of his spot of lawn facing the crowd.
He begins by telling them a little about percussion, doing a brief show-and-tell of instruments including a tambourine, a guiro (a notched gourd played with a stick), a cowbell, agogo bells (metal, cone-shaped), an overturned bucket, and a melodica (a keyboard played by blowing air through a tube). Then he practices rhythm with the crowd.
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