Basya Schechter

Basya Schechter is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, cantor, and music teacher. She is the lead singer and founder of the world/folk rock band Pharaoh's Daughter and has released two solo albums. She has also collaborated with the groups Darshan and The Epichorus.

Raised in the Hasidic Jewish community of Borough Park, Schechter left Orthodoxy after high school but maintained a love for the traditional Jewish music of her youth. Her own music often blends concepts from Jewish music with a variety of styles and sounds from Eastern Europe, the Arab world, and Africa, among others.

Early life Schechter was born to an Orthodox Jewish family and grew up in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Her father was in a short-lived barbershop quartet managed by Don Kirshner during the 1950s; after the group's demise, he returned to school and became an accountant. During Basya's childhood, he often sang with her on Shabbat and exposed her to Israeli artists like Tzvika Pick, Shimi Tavori, and Kaveret. After high school, she briefly attended an Orthodox girls' seminary in Jerusalem before being asked to leave due to her rebellious behavior; she subsequently spent time in Egypt, where she was introduced to Arabic music. Returning to New York, she attended Barnard College as an English major, during which time she began writing and performing songs. and was produced by her and Albert Leusink (Swingadelic, System Band).

In 2011, she released Songs of Wonder, an album of musical arrangements of the Yiddish-language poetry of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. She had been introduced to Heschel's poetry in 2005 after receiving a volume of it from a congregant at B'nai Jeshurun.

Other work Schechter is a cantor and musical director for the Romemu congregation. She has also been the cantor at the Fire Island Synagogue since 2012. She previously played percussion during Friday night services at B'nai Jeshurun Synagogue on the Upper West Side. Later that year, she appeared with writer Shulem Deen at a Jewish Week-sponsored literary forum at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on the subject of leaving Orthodoxy. She is a former arts fellow at the Drisha Institute.

Personal life Schechter was romantically involved with Rabbi Shaul Magid beginning in 2013 As noted in a review of the album in Musica Judaica, "Cantor Basya Schechter and Rabbi Shaul Magid developed a localized musical tradition of setting Kabbalat Shabbat texts to Appalachian old-time music... over the course of a decade" together at Fire Island, resulting in "a timeless, transcendent musical experience"

Discography

Albums

Solo Queen's Dominion (2004, Tzadik) Songs of Wonder (2011, Tzadik)

With Darshan

Deeper and Higher (2015) Raza (2017)

With Pharaoh's Daughter

Daddy's Pockets (1999) Out of the Reeds (2000) Exile (2002) Haran (2007) Dumiyah (2014)

With Mycale

Mycale: Book of Angels Volume 13 (2010)

Other credits The Klezmatics, Rise Up! Shteyt Oyf! (2003) – chorus (on "Yo Riboyn Olam") Frank London, Divan (2003) – vocals Anthony Coleman, With Every Breath: The Music of Shabbat at BJ (1999) – percussion, background vocals Various, W.O.W. Women of Williamsburg Project – main artist ("In A Box") Sanda Weigl, Gypsy Killer (2002) – hand percussion B'nai Jeshurun Synagogue, Tekiyah: High Holy Days (2004) – vocals, percussion Dan Zanes, The Welcome Table (2008) – vocals, oud EarthRise Soundsystem, The Yoga Sessions (2010) – featured artist, oud The Epichorus, L'Oud and the Abstract Truth (2016) – kanjira

Filmography

Documentary appearances Divan (2003) Leaving the Fold (2008) – Canadian documentary on young men and women who left the Hasidic Jewish community, featuring former Hasidic Jews in the United States, Israel and Canada. All of the Above: Single, Clergy, Mother (2014)

As composer Thunder in Guyana (2003) Beyond Eyruv (2006) Leaving the Fold (2008) Fidelity (2008)