Jeremiah Lockwood

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Hidden Melodies is a cross-cultural music project that revives and re-energizes Ashkenazic Cantorial music through recordings and the presentation of a multi-media Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) concert event. The Rosh HaShanah concert is first and foremost about music, and includes theatrical attributes of performance accentuated by a series of interludes including animated film, and storytelling.

Jeremiah draws the music of the master cantors of the pre-war era into the light of day, carving out of ancient archetypes an experience that is joyful, engaging and welcoming. The music of the Sway Machinery is unapologetically focused on the rediscovery of self in history and myth, and the group’s musical orientation is forward-minded, contemporary, and relevant to the tastes of contemporary audiences.

As acclaimed in the Village Voice, “Lockwood’s arrangements of Jewish cantorial songs whip up a frenzy wherein all the world’s music can do that which music does best: celebrate.”

In September 2007, the band premiered Hidden Melodies Revealed, a secret celebration of Rosh HaShana at Angel Orensanz Foundation. This multi-media concert celebrated the power of the Cantorial music tradition in an event that blurred the line between rock show and ritual. A second installation of this concert/event was performed at Le Poisson Rouge in 2008, and 2009 found the band bringing this unique concept to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The band’s debut full-length album, also entitled Hidden Melodies Revealed, has been released on JDub. The album was recorded at Le Petite Eglise, Aracade Fire’s private studio housed in an old church near Montreal, and finds the band striving for ever new heights of musical delving. The album delivers the goods and drives the glory down.

Son of composer Larry Lockwood and the grandson of the legendary Cantor Jacob Konigsberg, Jeremiah Lockwood began his musical career playing on the streets and subways of Manhattan performing with Piedmont Blues master Carolina Slim. Jeremiah is the front man for The Sway Machinery, an ensemble with a unique sound and focus on mining the historic Cantorial music tradition as a jumping of point for creating unique and exciting new music. The Sway Machinery released it’s debut album, Hidden Melodies Revealed, on JDub Records in April of 2009. A track from Hidden Melodies Revealed was featured on the hit TV show Weeds. The Sway Machinery performed at the legendary Festival of the Desert in Mali in January 2010 and recorded a new album in Africa, which is currently in post-production.

In 2007, Jeremiah was awarded the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists to develop his unique concept for a concert-event to celebrate Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, through a re-interpretation of the liturgical music of the holiday. These exciting and visceral events have been met with acclaim in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In addition to his work as performer, Jeremiah is a composer for film and theater, scoring the Adam Vardi film Mendy, a documentary piece on Israeli artist Miriam Cabessa, and working extensively with director Paul Andrejco’s Puppet Heap production company. Jeremiah has also toured extensively with Balkan Beat Box. Jeremiah’s blues-oriented solo album, American Primitive, was released by Vee-Ron Records in 2006. Jeremiah is currently artist-in-residence at the Jewish Daily Forward, creating a series of recordings based on historic Chassidic nigunim.

Jeremiah Lockwood lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Shasta and their sons Moses Lion and Jacob Ulysses.

Contact Info:

http://www.swaymachinery.com/

jeremiah @ swaymachinery . com