Mama Doni Brings The Heart of Chanukah
to the Hilltown Family Variety Show
On Saturday, Dec 17th, 9-10am

Chanukah is about hope and spiritual light, and it's a time to be with friends and family and celebrate the light in our lives. We eat lots of fried food on this holiday, like latkes (pictured here) and jelly donuts (called sufganiyot) to remember the miracle that happened with the oil, and we play a game called dreidel with Chanukah gelt (small coins, either real or chocolate)!! So much fun!'

Hot on the heels of a tremendously successful summer tour, the fall/winter Mama Doni National Tour has begun! Parents’ Choice Award winner, Mama Doni is thrilled to come home for the holidays, highlighting the Chanukah season with a number of festive concerts in December, and she’ll also be “Guest DJ” for a  special “Heart of Chanukah” radio broadcast of Hilltown Family Variety Show on Northampton radio station WXOJ-LP (Valley Free Radio)  on Saturday, December 17 at  9am and Sunday, December 18 at 7am. 

Looking forward to conveying the joyous spirit of Chanukah in a fun and warm-hearted way on her Hilltown Family Variety Show segment, Mama Doni explains, “The Jewish holiday of Chanukah literally lights up our homes! Chanukah is also called ‘The Festival of Lights,’ referring to the flames that we light on our menorahs on each of the holiday’s eight nights. The story of Chanukah is a celebration of the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple. It also commemorates the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days when there was only enough for one day.

Mama Doni plans a lively program of songs and stories for Chanukah, including musical selections from Sha Na Na, The GrooveBarbers, and Woody Guthrie, along with Mama Doni Band originals, including “Chanukah Fever,” “Latke Man,” and “Honey. This Ain’t Money.”   She’ll also read a Chanukah story,  offer some great family activities for the holiday, and share some of her favorite Chanukah recipes, such as Judah Mac-N-Cheese and Choco-latkes.

Podcast and playlist will be posted to www.HilltownFamilies.org immediately following Saturday’s airing on Valley Free Radio at 10am on Dec. 17th, 2011.

ABOUT DONI ZASLOFF THOMAS

Doni Zasloff Thomas, a.k.a. Mama Doni, is the lead singer/songwriter of The Mama Doni Band, honored with a 2011 Parents’ Choice® Award for their recent release, Shabbat Shaboom, and winner of the Simcha Award for “Inspiring Joy Through Music” in competition with more than 100 bands from 15 different countries at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam. The band celebrates Jewish culture with irrepressible zest in its interactive family rock concerts filled with catchy pop songs that break the mold of traditional Jewish music. Quirky, offbeat, and unpredictable, The Mama Doni Band offers up a contagious and unexpected blend of reggae, rock, disco, Latin, klezmer and “Jewgrass” – all woven together with a hip Jewish sensibility. Enthused the Miami Herald, “Not since Woody Allen’s Radio Days has American Jewish youth culture been celebrated with such a sublime mix of silly and substantive.”

Mama Doni’s recordings are available nationwide, as CDs and digital downloads.  Find out more at www.mamadoni.com.

[Photo credit: (ccl) Joshua Bousel)]