One of the greatest singers died last month and I only learned about it
April 1 in the SF Chronicle. Judy Frankel was perhaps the finest singer
of Sephardic Jewish music of our time. Obviously that's a bias as there
were others, but she was exceptional in every way to me. I foolishly
neglected to list a convenient contact for her in my previous post.

When I first heard her at a little club on Valencia Street in San
Francisco called The Marsh in the early nineties I was stunned to hear
someone with a voice and natural ability I hadn't heard since first
hearing Joan Baez. She didn't do anything to compromise or otherwise
make the music more contemporary, she gave it the dignity and integrity
that all exquisite musical traditions deserve.

There are obituaries to be found on Google but a very nice personal
recollection with musical links is to be found at
http://www.alfassa.com/judy.html She was only sixty five.

There are few pleasures in life that equal turning people on to new
music that they can also be inspired by as I am. I guess it's a way to
communicate by saying, "check this out-this is rare and beautiful" and
then sometimes someone says "my god, you're right, thank you for the
gift!" and in a tiny way we make the world a more civilized place simply
by sharing and spreading beauty and truth. Sounds corny but I can't
think of another way to say it. Judy Frankels' music was beauty and
truth without parallel. Go listen.
Peter Ashlock