95: Jon Madof (Zion80)

95: Jon Madof

Leo Sidran with Jon Madof

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Jon Madof was already starting to search when he was in highschool. Musically, he was drawn as much to Freddie Hubbard as he was to Fugazi. In college he studied Japanese and traveled to India, but also talked his way into the jazz department to take guitar lessons. Raised in a secular Jewish household, his spiritual exploration began with Zen Buddhism, and eventually led him to embrace Judaism. 

He’s a persistent guy. When he eventually moved to New York city, he promised himself that he would play with his hero, saxophonist John Zorn. And it didn’t take long. 

Several years ago, Jon started Zion80, after he had an idea while he was getting ready to take his kids to synagogue on Shabbat morning and started humming a song by Shlomo Carlebach. He had been listening to the music of Fela Kuti the night before, and the afrobeat rhythms were still in his head. The light bulb went off! What if he created a band that sounded like Fela Kuti playing the songs of Shlomo Carlebach (who is sometimes called The Singing Rabbi)?

Here he talks about how music and spirituality are related, what it means to create your own kind of authenticity, the difference between a job and a mission, and whether or not an artist’s work can be separated from their personal behavior - a theme that is particularly resonant today.

with Jon Madof at Third Story Headquarters, January 2018

In November of 2017 Jon and his partner Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz started Chant Records, a new label to highlight the music he loves, and his musical community. 

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Stream/Download 101 Tracks at https://chantrecords.com/ We would like to send a big thank you to all of the artists that contributed to the first official Chant Records release - STRENGTH IN NUMBERS - it means so much that you are involved. Artists: Alberto N. A.

Stream/Download 'Ocho Kandelikas' https://niguniminclave.bandcamp.com/track/ocho-kandelikas Performed by Jon Madof & Marlon Sobol of https://Zion80.com/ with Dan Saks of http://ilovedeleon.com/ written by Flory Jagoda "Ocho Kandelikas" (English, Eight Little Candles) is a Jewish song celebrating the holiday of Hanukkah. The song is sung in Ladino, a Spanish-derived language traditionally associated with the Sephardic Jewish community, whose ancestors lived in Spain before the 15th century CE.

Warriors featuring 'Pardes' is out now on Chant Records Listen/download at https://chantrecords.com/releases/zion80-warriors/ Zion80: https://zion80.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZION80band/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZION80band Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonmadof/ On Tour: https://zion80.com/shows/ More videos from Zion80: https://www.youtube.com/user/jonmadof Chant Records: https://chantrecords.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chant_records Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chantrecords SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/chantrecords Get the 101-track STRENGTH IN NUMBERS compilation for free download/stream when you sign

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