Jerusalem’s Hazelnuts appear here

By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN

The close jazz harmonies of New Orleans’ own Boswell Sisters have made an indelible impression on a succession of well-known performers – from the Andrews Sisters to Ella Fitzgerald. And now the herald call of “Sing, Sister, Sing!” has been heard by The Hazelnuts, three recent graduates of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, who have journeyed from Israel to New Orleans this week to honor Vet, Connee and Velma Boswell and participate in an international gathering of artists who, similarly, have been influenced by them.

Enjoying the Lake Pontchartrain seawall are (from left) Shira Z. Carmel, Yifeat Ziv and Talya Amzaleg, colectively known as the Hazelnut Sisters or the Hazelnuts.(Photo by Alan Smason)

Shira Z. Carmel, Yifeat Ziv and Talya Amzaleg have been classmates for four years, but have only been performing Boswell Sisters songs for the past two years.

At first they were looking for anything that would allow their voices to harmonize. “We were amazed like how our voices were going together,” Carmel, the oldest in the group, explained. “We started looking for more advanced or close harmony singing.”

One of them chanced to find some of the Boswell Sisters vintage recordings on YouTube. It wasn’t long before “Heebies Jeebies” and “Crazy People,” two of the Boswells original standards, became part of The Hazelnuts’ repertoire. They clamored for more.

“I think it’s safe to say that all three of us were extremely impressed by their musicality,” said Amzaleg, the only non-native Jerusalemite in the group, about the Boswell Sisters. “The New Orleans essence is present in their musicality – how they express themselves and how their three voices merge.”

All three singers point to their unique phrasing, rhythmic games in the lyrics and the unusual mimicry of instruments that made the Boswell Sisters the national stars they were in the late 1920s and early 1930s. “You don’t hear those things in Israel,” she admitted.

In their native Jerusalem, the Hazelnuts at a Baka coffee shop. (Photo by Alan Smason)

Although not technically sisters by blood, their translated name from Hebrew would be translated as “The Hazelnut Sisters.” They chose their name because they were close to each other in many others ways than blood connections. “It’s very important to say before we were singing together we were very good friends,” Ziv added. Beyond being feminists, they also have a closeness that few non-related girl groups enjoy. “We didn’t’ grow up together but there is the essence of being very close, caring for one another and being considerate whenever we are doing things.” And she added: “We practice a lot.”

An international festival of groups who emulate the Boswell Sisters was organized in conjunction with The Historic New Orleans Collection’s “Shout, Sister, Shout” exhibit that has been showing at the museum on Royal Street for the past six months. The granddaughter of Vet Boswell, Kyla Titus, helped organize the event and invited The Hazelnuts along with many other groups from as far away as Australia and Europe to perform over the course of this weekend in a final tribute to the Boswell Sisters titled “The Boswell Sisters: The Music Goes Round and Round.”

Although The Hazelnuts have never been to the United States or New Orleans before, they have not been wasting much time soaking up the culture. They have been taking in the sites of the French Quarter and other musical areas such as Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny and Oak Street in the Carrollton section. They’ve caught several acts including Charmaine Neville and the Rebirth Brass Band and have performed karaoke at The Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Street.