Cantor-to-be navigates art and pregnancy in new album ‘Yaladati’

(Artwork by: Aaron Herrera/Videos courtesy of Jenni Asher)

Thirty-four-year-old Jenni Asher took up the violin at the age of four. Throughout her professional career she has played classical, folk, jazz and soul music, and has performed at the Wilshire Ebell, Forest Lawn Memorial Park and the Royal Albert Hall in London. She also released two albums “Freedom” and “London,” documenting her musical growth and experiences.

Simultaneously, she said, she was finding God in communal spaces. Today she is a third year cantorial student at the Academy for Jewish Religion CA (AJRCA). Three years ago she started composing music to cope with navigating and balancing her artistic life with her then pregnancy. That album titled “Yaladati” (Hebrew for I gave birth) was released Aug. 1.

The self-produced album  — a skill Asher picked up while singing and playing violin, viola and cello for Shomrei Torah, Temple Judea, Wilshire Boulevard Temple and Temple Beth Am’s High Holy Day services in 2020 —  is comprised of 12 songs, in which she plays violin, erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument), piano, viola, cello, double bass and percussion.

Every song is instrumental with minor vocal accompaniment. The melodies are associated with themes of hope, sadness and perseverance —  emotions Asher said she worked through when creating the album. 

Another of her songs is “Kavod”, which means both “holy” in Hebrew and is also the root of “kaved” (heavy). Asher said it’s about aching for a relationship with a parent that is different from reality.

Her daughter, Talli, who is now a toddler, makes an appearance on the song “Chemdati” (Hebrew for my precious), laughing in the background.

Now expecting her second child with her husband Aaron, Asher said, “I was about as pregnant as I am now (seven months), three years ago when I started [the album].” “This [album] was specifically spurred on [because] I was afraid of losing my artist self when I became a mom. And I thought ‘If I start [this] project, then I will probably keep going with it, and that will give me a reason to get to the recording studio, even with a small child.’ And it worked. It made me feel like I was still creating and doing something just for the sake of creation.”

Asher said she hopes others find comfort in the album and can relax and reflect when they listen. The album, she added, is “like an audio diary. Every time I listen to a song I remember how I felt when I wrote it. It doesn’t feel like I’ve outgrown it.” 

“Yaladati” is available here.