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Monterey's Alisa Fineman rarely makes it to Berkeley, and when she does it's usually to sing her quietly radiant folk songs. But on Tuesday (the first night of Hanukkah) at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage, she teams with acoustic guitar wizard Alex de Grassi in an evening of ancient Jewish and spiritual texts with New World arrangements. Some of the music comes from Fineman's new CD, Closing the Distance -- Poems, Prayers & Love Songs, on which she sings in Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino, and English. The duo will join a band that mixes folk and Middle Eastern strains: instrumentalists Kimball Hurd (of City Folk) and Tim Rayborn, and guest vocalists Elias Lammam and Eliyahu Sills. Fineman says the CD is meant to inspire "spiritual commonalities among all people," and the music is as exquisite as it is sensitive. $15.50, 8 p.m. 510-548-1761 or TheFreight.org (LARRY KELP) - Backroads Music Review

ALISA FINEMAN "Closing the Distance"
Subtitled "Poems, prayers and love songs of the Jewish Tradition," these precious and moving songs make for a splendid new CD. Alisa's voice is powerful yet delicate, and her singing makes the listening experience a pleasure regardless of which language she is singing. Alisa expresses the power to move the soul which is inherent in the Jewish language and culture. The meaning of the words becomes less significant than the feel and emotion behind the words. With the preeminent Alex DeGrassi as producer, as well as a main contributing musician, there is a high quality feeling to this CD like a fine wine. Other highly skilled players contribute to the colorful instrumentation, accompanying Fineman's voice in a universal expression of world sounds.

DOWNLOAD THIS PDF of The Jerusalem Post and read a review of Alisa's CD.

Very cool mix of the Jewish Diaspora!
- Laney Goodman, Women In Music / National Public Radio

Alisa Fineman has extended an olive branch to all religions with her new CD. Closing The Distance is a gift to the world and all of its people. Unwrap it and listen. - Tom Leyde - Salinas Californian

Fineman's latest CD - produced by Alex de Grassi- blends modern rythyms and ethnicity, original compositions and liturgical adaptations sung in Hebrew, English, Arabic and Ladino.
- Sharon Sullivan - Free Press; Grand Junction, CO