Roughly 400 concertgoers filled the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre at the Jewish Community Campus to hear Avraham Fried perform on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
Some dancing, most clapping, the crowd enjoyed a two-hour cross-section of hits from Fried's 23 albums, plus a number of surprises tailored to the Kansas City audience.
Fried's legendary, 25-year career has taken him from Crown Heights to Australia, and from the Kremlin to Carnegie Hall. The Kansas appearance of a man whose concerts have drawn over 100,000 at a time in Jerusalem may have been facilitated by his local ties - Rabbis Ben Zion and Chonie Friedman are his brother and nephew, respectively. But then, there is hardly a place in the Jewish world where this peripatetic songbird has not flown.
Fried's popularity was built on the quality of his voice - a high, clear, ringing tenor. But his longevity as a top performer reflects his ability to entertain multi-age audiences with dancing and stories, with prayer and shtick, and with a warm awareness of his audience as fellow Jews.
The entirety of Jewish experience is his playground. From shtetl to suburb, Fried understands the aspirations of ordinary Jews, and the historic tensions against which they have played out. In "Hupp Cossack!" he describes the dangers our grandparents endured under czarist oppression. In "Boruch HaBoh," he expresses our faith in ultimate liberation.
"People tell me I give them chizuk (encouragement)," Fried said. "But the truth is, I get it from them."
From New York, Fried brought his trusted guitarist and drummer. They were supplemented by a skilled group of pick-up musicians on saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone, enabling the ensemble to weave deftly between the klezmer texture of old tunes, and the full-band sound of contemporary Jewish pop. The performance included such popular songs as "Chazak," "Yerushalyim," "Shalom Aleichem," and (by request) "Tanya." Being in close proximity to Chanukah, he also sang a medley of traditional Chanukah songs.
Fried entered the stage against a background of full-screen audio-visual clips. They showed him as a Jewish boy in old Crown Heights - the child who used to serenade the Lubavitcher Rebbe from his father's balcony. Later, the same screen was illuminated by touching portraits of mothers and daughters at their Shabbat tables, as he beautifully sang "My Mother's Shabbos Candles." Indeed, the rapid alternation between sentiment and exhilaration is this performer's stock-and-trade.
Fried, the musician, regards himself as a shaliach - an emissary of Yiddishkeit, to bring hope, joy and spiritual healing to Jews the world over. Kansas City was fortunate to receive a taste of his magic.
Reuben-Lev ben Herschel is the Hebrew name of a freelance writer who lives in Overland Park, Kan.
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