New Generation

Composer Boruch Sholom Blesofsky is firmly entrenched in the new generation of Jewish music. As a frum musician and composer he says he wants his music to be hip contemporary energetic — and an authentically Jewish experience.

I relate to the younger generation and we like our music geshmak with a good danceable beat. My music is fun yet you can play it for your children — it’s still Yiddish. It’s really important that we have this type of music otherwise there’s a gap waiting to be filled and you never know what will fill it.”

Blesofsky’s compositions have appeared on his own recently released album Bishvili Nivra Ha’olam (which includes the hartzig “Tefillah LeMoishe” and the postmodern “Lo Yemalet” plus the popular Chabad niggun “Shuva”) and he’s also composed for Benny Friedman’s new album Fill the World with Light (the song “Reb Yehoshua Omer”) and Levi Falkowitz’s Achakeh Lo (the song “Veyazor”).

During the day Boruch Sholom works in payment technology. “I sing and play all the time though. My heart is in music but I think my music is better because of my involvement in the regular working world. A musician can be in la-la land but staying grounded helps me grow and improve through appreciation of other people. It helps my music stay real and relatable. I would tell all artists to get a job.”

Despite the modern sound Blesovsky’s music is inspired by his own heritage of chassidic music. “In 1908 my great-grandfather was a teenager in the shtetl of Blezhov near Karlin. He used to sing niggunim for the Stoliner Rebbe. Then a local ruffian started up with his family. My elter zeide defended his parents and thus became a target for the revenge of the local Russian youths. They could have killed him. He escaped and built his family in America baruch Hashem. He gave us the family name Blesofsky and he also passed on a certain style of singing and phrasing words.”