Gila, Devora

Israeli. Singer/Songwriter. Clarinetist. former Spanish teacher. Native of Long Island, New York. nee Vicki Wiseblatt. B.A. in Linguistics from Harvard College, where she performed with a Renaissance choir, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, and hosted a jazz program on WHRB radio. While earning an M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College, she continued her interest in radio broadcast as a DJ for a Spanish music show on WRMC. She performed with award-winning political theater throughout the East Coast, produced an album in Spanish which made its debut in the Caribbean, and sang back-up vocals in Boston’s folk scene for singer-songwriter Pat Burtis. Among other interests, she is a former Kripalu yoga instructor and martial arts student. Devora Gila, a now frum vocalist, whose recordings are marked for “women only”, has one of the hippest religious recordings around, Hodu Lashem (2003). She writes: “I find the apparent restrictions of ‘Kol Ishah’ to be liberating. It creates an intimate spiritual musical community among women and connects us through the power of song.” Her studies in past years with various vocal traditions and techniques, including classical Indian singing with reknown Hindustani singer and composer Warren Senders, jazz, and “Spiritual Singing”, (a methodology developed by faculty of the Metropolitan House of Opera for vocal repair and retraining), has indeed paid off. Devora has a wonderful, sweet voice. Her co-producer, Naor Carmi also worked on the arrangements of her CD which utilize not only contemporary settings, but a variety of styles from Israel– from modern, to Arab, to classical guitar and Spanish influenced, to contemporary-easy. Particularly nice is the original song “Beloved”, based on Song of Songs. Devora’s CD is accessible music for anyone. She can be contacted athodulashem@yahoo.com