Guitarist/song writer Steve Klaper and daughter, Caitlin, record and perform original Jewish music that combines spiritually uplifting stories with high energy pop, jazz, folk, blues, reggae
and Latin rhythms.

Caitlin and her father have played together since she could talk, and
the overwhelming response to her
rich vocals and musical interpretation
has led to her prominence in live
performances and studio work.

Steve was raised in an Orthodox
Jewish family in Detroit, MI. Although
he wandered away from that style of worship, he has maintained an appreciation for and connection to the prayers and music he heard in shul as a child. In his early 30s, he took up his
guitar and began arranging the Jewish music of his youth, adding jazz rhythms and syncopated beats to the eastern European nusach and traditional melodies he’d sung with his father. Later, as Youth Choir Accompanist at Temple Emanu-El, Oak Park, MI, Steve was challenged to come up with new material for the kids
he played with - including his then 10 year-old daughter. In a few years he
had enough material to produce his
first CD, Azamra!

In addition to recording and concert performances, Steve has developed a Song & Spirit Shabbat service that he and Caitlin have brought to many diverse congregations. He currently serves as Music Director of Temple Emanu-El, is High Holiday Cantorial Soloist at Cong. Shir Tikvah and has written hundreds of Jewish-themed songs.

Caitlin M.G. Klaper grew up surrounded by music of all kinds and was first recorded singing at the age of three. Years of music camps, youth choirs, musical theater and voice lessons led her to complete a BA in Music in 2007. She began performing and recording with her father at the age of 15 and continues to serve as lead vocalist at their live performances and Song & Spirit Shabbat services.

Caitlin serves as High Holiday Cantorial Soloist for Congregation
Kol Chadash in Solon, OH., teaches Jewish music to the children of Temple Beth El and Temple Israel in metro Detroit, accompanies
the High School Choir at Temple Emanu-El, Oak Park and
teaches elective music classes at Birmingham Covington
School in Bloomfield Hills, MI.

This unique father-daughter duo has released three CDs of contemporary Jewish music: Azamra! (2001); Kavanah (2002); and Azamra! LIVE (2003). In 2005 they released an award-winning collection of children’s music, “I Have a Little Shadow,” featuring Steve’s original melodies and the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson. In Spring of 2006, Steve released “Prayers & Melodies,” a collection of 27 songs for worship, including several melodies written specifically for Mishkan T’filah, the new prayer book for the URJ. They have performed at CAJE, at URJ Regional Biennial conferences and at synagogues and temples throughout the Midwest.

For information about concerts, Artist-in-Residence weekends,
or their Song & Spirit Shabbat service, contact Steve: azamra@klaper.com.