02 June 2009

Tara Tpdras-Whitehill

Associated Press

RAMAT GAN: On a fog-filled stage last week, the six women of the band Ashira ("I will sing" in Hebrew) are rocking their die-hard fans. A man enters the auditorium and is promptly asked to leave. Ashira has been playing together for three years, and the crowds have grown steadily in numbers but the band has held fast to one golden rule: No men allowed.

The band's members are all Orthodox Jews. As they're guided by a rabbinical injunction saying it's immodest for a man to listen to a woman's voice in song, they perform only before other women.

Ashira's members say they are answering a dire need in the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel, where entertainment options for women are often limited. Orthodox communities sponsor activities like women's-only lectures, swims, dancing or traditional music, but modern day rock is a novelty.

"There's no other band that plays the way we play," Pnina Weintraub, the band's 24-year-old founder, said of Ashira's blend of rock, blues and Irish-style [sic] folk songs. "It isn't 'girls' music,' but it is an alternative that allows girls to perform in a kosher and proper way."

So Ashira has booked bars that lock out all men on nights they perform. Their Hebrew songs all revolve around biblical themes. Their forthcoming album will include a warning label against men opening the disc. Their business card says "with the help of God" in one corner and "for women only" on the other. For religious reasons, they also decline to be videotaped.

Weintraub, the sextet's violinist, says "the sky is the limit," and hopes to branch out to draw giant crowds of women. She said the band represents a "new genre," and the chromosome-X crowd seems to appreciate it. By the end of their 90-minute gig at Bar-Ilan University, a religious-leaning university outside Tel Aviv, women in the audience were dancing, waving their arms over their heads and singing along.

"Whoever invented rock did it for people to let loose," Weintraub said. "It's not just sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Our music is very liberating, and that is very important for our community."

Weintraub performs with a lead singer, drummer, bassist, electric guitarist and flutist, who is nine months pregnant. They're a bit like the Dixie Chicks with a proviso for modesty - Ashira's three married women have their heads covered.

Ashira has composed eight original songs and performs covers for other Israeli songs. They prayed before taking the stage before some 150 fans.

"It is a new thing, a new concept," said Navea Mashraki, a devout 29-year-old songwriter who came to last week's concert. "What we, as religious girls, have to do is bring something new without breaking tradition."

The band insists it strictly abides by Jewish law, and has faced a surprised, but not disapproving, reaction from their strait-laced community. "I would feel uncomfortable performing before men," said 22-year-old bassist Inbar Presser. "I'm glad we can provide a venue for girls to come and sing and dance freely."

Copyright The Daily Star 2009.