Biography

Jill Rogoff
singer-songwriter, traditional & early music
therapeutic harper

A WORLD IN ONE VOICE

Whether accompanying herself on guitar and troubadour harp or singing a cappella, Jill Rogoff brings to her audiences a rich tradition of music from around the world. Originally from New Zealand, she currently lives in Jerusalem, and has mined the musical heritage of many cultures. Her repertoire embraces traditional Celtic and British Isles songs, Jewish music from various communities, early music, and contemporary material that also includes her own songs. Over many years, Jill has appeared at a range of musical festivals around Israel and has featured on several radio and television programs in Israel, North America, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and New Zealand. While she usually sings solo, she has also sung with musicians in Israel, Great Britain and Europe.

Jill also sets to music poems in different languages. One setting was chosen as the theme music of a documentary about Beit Agnon in Jerusalem, a meeting-place for local writers, and in 2004 she was commissioned by Ben-Gurion University of Beersheva (Israel) to set to music a poem by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi.

Her study of early music has continued with participation in international workshops with members of The Dufay Collective, Vivien Ellis, Sirinu, The Boston Camerata and others.

Jill is mainly self-taught on the small harp and in 2007 was placed first in the harp competition at the Richmond Highland Games and Celtic Festival in the USA.

Her workshops and tours in the United States of America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand have all been highly successful. For many years, she has taken her programs into private homes (parlour concerts) in Israel, Australia and the USA, and has featured as an artist-in-residence in universities, schools and religious communities.

Jill has recorded nine solo albums to date. Through an Open Door [1990] features a range of traditional songs from England, Ireland and Scotland. (Out of print.) The Celtic Cradle [1994] is a rare and varied collection of traditional lullabies. The album was honoured in the USA in 1995 with the Gold Seal from (the National Parenting Publications Awards) and the Parent’s Choice Silver Honour Award. Most of the songs are sung in the original Celtic tongues (Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton). Her third solo release is Across the Narrow Seas [1997]. This collection focuses mainly on Ireland and Scotland. The King’s Well [2003] features some of her own songs and poem-settings. A non-commercial, live benefit album, In the Heart of Winter [2006], presents songs by the late singer-songwriter Ray Scudero and other contemporary writers. (Out of print.) Jill’s acclaimed fifth commercial album, The Voice of the Wanderer [2006], showcases traditional Jewish music from around the world in several languages. Her 2012 album, A Lone Voice, presents mainly traditional British Isles songs completely a cappella [unaccompanied]. For Healing and Harp Music for Babies [both 2013] cover part of the harp repertoire that she uses in therapeutic settings.

An album of new love songs in Ladino – on which Jill sings five tracks – was released in 2002, to international acclaim. Dí Ke No Es Tadre [Say It’s Not Too Late] features poems by Matilda Koén-Sarano set to music by Avraham Reuveni.

Jill was a founding member of the IFS, the national folk music association in Israel. In 2002, she helped to form Nevel: The Jerusalem Harp Network. As part of her involvement with Nevel, she trained and qualified as a therapeutic musician, and now works part-time with the sick and the terminally-ill in a local Jerusalem hospital and in private settings. She continues to give illustrated talks and interviews (both in newspapers and on television) about this aspect of her work whenever and wherever possible, and has published several articles about it both on her website and in the Harp Therapy Journal.

On the ethno-musicological side, Jill has completed a unique compilation of Jacobite songs, incorporating 302 songs in English, Lallands, Scots Gaelic, Gaelic, Manx Gaelic and Cornish, which she hopes to see e-published in the near future. Another recent project was the preservation of some rare traditional French songs, which will soon be available from her website. She is helping to preserve for posterity some little-known macaronic Jewish songs from the Balkans, and has been invited to do the same for the repertoire of para-liturgical music of the Italian Jewish community.