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olk-rock is the“F best way to describemy music,” says22-year-old MayaIsacowitz of TelAviv, whose first album,‘Safe and Sound’,came out in the latterhalf of 2009. TheCD, which has elevennumbers in Englishand four in Hebrew, is all herown material.Maya praises the “overwhelmingsupport” she receivesfrom her South Africanparents; both inspirational, andfinancial - “it is expensive toproduce an album.” Her fatherPeter, also musically talented,taught Maya to play the guitarMaya Isacowitzper forming her “folkrock”.at the age of fourteen.Peter makes and sellsethnic musical instrumentsin his studio-shop‘Woodsong’ in Rosh Pina.It’s well worth a visit.You’ll find handcrafteddoor harps, didgeridoos(a traditional Aboriginalwind instrument), Celticharps, marimbas and kalimbosfrom Africa. Theyare all handmade by Peterand he plays them all.The Isocawitz household provided a perfectenvironment for daughter Maya togrow up in and nurture her passion inlife - music.In Harmony: Mayawith Dad, PeterIsacowitz, in hisstudio/shop in RoshPinna.Maya, who played in clubs in New York,after completing her service in the IDF,has recently been playing at clubs in TelAviv and Jaffa. “It was really cool, whenmy dad joined me on stage recently andaccompanied me on his harmonica.”Asked how she compared New York audienceswith those in Israel, “The audienceshere are much warmer.”She is hardly alone in expressing that‘special quality’ of Israeli audiences.“Every time I come here, I get so superchargedwith energy,” expressed Mayafollowing her recent performance in TelAviv. “I truly believe that Israel is the energycenter of the world.” Who woulddisagree with that observation? •Listen to tracks on Maya’s album:http://www.myspace.com/mayaisacowitzor click to watch a video of Maya andher cousin Shai playing a song from thealbum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8GK8lfRppY&feature=related •JustSay“Yebo”Sounds of AfricaIn Israel less than three years andalready cutting his first single, 26-year-old Chanan Rosin made aliya fromJohannesburg in 2007 armed with a degreefrom Wits in Economics and InternationalRelations. “Fascinating stuff, but not exactlymy passion. Music is.” Although heworks in the field of Renewable Energyand Energy Management, “music takesup most of my day.” Seems to be payingoff.Together with four others, “all fromdifferent countries in Africa”, Chananformed a band called Majuda, which inZulu means ‘The Jewish Nation’.He took the name from a successful19continued on next page