Since completing her Ph.D. on Mizrachi and Arabic music in Israel at UT Austin, Galeet Dardashti moved to New York, obtained a Six Points Fellowship, completed the project “Voices Of Our Mothers: A Middle Eastern Musical Midrash For Today” and released “Naming,” a sensational musical CD based on the project.

“Naming” combines a feminist perspective, contemporary Mizrachi musical culture, the Hebrew language, midrashim, her Persian-Jewish family history, Jewish liturgical texts, fleshed out stories of biblical women often left nameless in our texts and Galeet’s incredible vocals. The stories of strong women give “Naming” its overarching narrative concept. On the CD we encounter Galeet’s great-aunt Tovah, who donned tefillin to say her morning prayers because she was childless (“Michal”); the matriarchs, who were given the right to name their children after childbirth (“The Naming”); the Queen of Sheba, who engaged King David in a battle of wits (“Sheba”); and the Witch of Endor, whom we remember from the Book of Samuel giving guidance to King Saul (“Endor”).

Distinctively Jewish and feminist, totally contemporary, and yet, traditional, Dardashti has fused the traditional culture of the Iranian Jews with modern world music. This authentic, exciting CD is one of the “must buys” of the year.