Beth Hamon
The daughter of nightclub musicians, Beth Hamon is a bicycle-loving, musical autodidact whose contemporary folk songs straddle the line between Jewish and secular themes of justice, hope, renewal and love. She travels the country visiting synagogues, camps and community centers as an artist- and scholar-in-residence. When not traveling, she serves as a music-leader at Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon.
Because Beth's parents were secular Jews, she didn't grow up connected to Jewish community, and only found her way in after her mother's passing in 1996. From there it's been an exciting and often wild ride, as Beth learned about Jewish holidays, Shabbat observance and so much more in a short time.
Beth cut her songleading teeth in Girl Scouts, so the transition to Jewish songleading was simply a matter of learning as many new songs as possible. (Beth would like to thank all of her music teachers from grade school through college for instilling in her the work ethic that helped her to become a good sight-reader!)
Since then, she has also written dozens of Jewish-themed folk songs for adults and for kids of all ages, deeply informed by her experiences of growing up as the "other" -- and often as the only Jew in her community.
Beth has recorded and produced two CDs: City of Love and Ten Miles. Both collections of original Jewish folk-roots music include liturgical settings now in use at synagogues and camps across the country. Beth also performs in the Portland-Vancouver coffeehouse circuit as a solo artist and has been a repeat performer at the Northwest Folklife Festival.
In 2013, her song, “City of Love/Ahavat Olam” was selected as a finalist composition at the 5th Shalshelet International Festival for new Jewish Music. Beth was selected in 2015 by Forward Magazine as one of the top five New Voices in Jewish Music. In Summer of 2016, a setting of a new egalitarian version of the priestly benediction was commissioned from her by Women of the Wall; and is now in use at their monthly gatherings at the Kotel [Western Wall] in Jerusalem. Her music has been featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting, NPR and Jewish Rock Radio and is now in regular rotation on independent Jewish radio programs around the country. A graduate of Portland State University, Beth has extensive teaching experience in the fields of instrumental music, Judaic Studies and Hebrew.
Beth is currently writing songs for her third collection of original Jewish music, to be released in late 2018.
Prior to making Jewish education and music her primary career in late 2012, she spent nearly twenty years as a mechanic, purchaser and small business owner in the bicycle industry. In her spare time, she still enjoys finding, repairing and donating bicycles for use by low-income adults as sustainable transportation. She also creates quirky, beautiful Judaic art from recycled bicycle parts. Some of her pieces are part of the permanent collection at the Yeshiva University Museum in New York.
Beth is married to writer and music scholar Liz Schwartz. They live in a small -- but not tiny! -- house in Portland, Oregon, where they grow their own vegetables, recycle their plastics and are grateful every day for not being hipsters.
Beth travels everywhere locally by bicycle and public transit and has happily lived without a car of her own for decades.
The daughter of nightclub musicians, Beth Hamon is a bicycle-loving, musical autodidact whose contemporary folk songs straddle the line between Jewish and secular themes of justice, hope, renewal and love. She travels the country visiting synagogues, camps and community centers as an artist- and scholar-in-residence. When not traveling, she serves as a music-leader at Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon.
Because Beth's parents were secular Jews, she didn't grow up connected to Jewish community, and only found her way in after her mother's passing in 1996. From there it's been an exciting and often wild ride, as Beth learned about Jewish holidays, Shabbat observance and so much more in a short time.
Beth cut her songleading teeth in Girl Scouts, so the transition to Jewish songleading was simply a matter of learning as many new songs as possible. (Beth would like to thank all of her music teachers from grade school through college for instilling in her the work ethic that helped her to become a good sight-reader!)
Since then, she has also written dozens of Jewish-themed folk songs for adults and for kids of all ages, deeply informed by her experiences of growing up as the "other" -- and often as the only Jew in her community.
Beth has recorded and produced two CDs: City of Love and Ten Miles. Both collections of original Jewish folk-roots music include liturgical settings now in use at synagogues and camps across the country. Beth also performs in the Portland-Vancouver coffeehouse circuit as a solo artist and has been a repeat performer at the Northwest Folklife Festival.
In 2013, her song, “City of Love/Ahavat Olam” was selected as a finalist composition at the 5th Shalshelet International Festival for new Jewish Music. Beth was selected in 2015 by Forward Magazine as one of the top five New Voices in Jewish Music. In Summer of 2016, a setting of a new egalitarian version of the priestly benediction was commissioned from her by Women of the Wall; and is now in use at their monthly gatherings at the Kotel [Western Wall] in Jerusalem. Her music has been featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting, NPR and Jewish Rock Radio and is now in regular rotation on independent Jewish radio programs around the country. A graduate of Portland State University, Beth has extensive teaching experience in the fields of instrumental music, Judaic Studies and Hebrew.
Beth is currently writing songs for her third collection of original Jewish music, to be released in late 2018.
Prior to making Jewish education and music her primary career in late 2012, she spent nearly twenty years as a mechanic, purchaser and small business owner in the bicycle industry. In her spare time, she still enjoys finding, repairing and donating bicycles for use by low-income adults as sustainable transportation. She also creates quirky, beautiful Judaic art from recycled bicycle parts. Some of her pieces are part of the permanent collection at the Yeshiva University Museum in New York.
Beth is married to writer and music scholar Liz Schwartz. They live in a small -- but not tiny! -- house in Portland, Oregon, where they grow their own vegetables, recycle their plastics and are grateful every day for not being hipsters.
Beth travels everywhere locally by bicycle and public transit and has happily lived without a car of her own for decades.
