Musical Newmark of excellence

"Go big or go home.” Those were words Cedarhurst resident Avi Newmark heard often growing up in Hillcrest, Queens, as his parents encouraged him to strive for excellence. Newmark, 33, took his parents’ advice to heart, as his recently released seventh album, Nagila V’Nismicha featuring superstar Benny Friedman, sold out its first printing in just two weeks.

Nagila V’Nismicha synthesizes the best elements of his much sought after Nagila Orchestra with his unparalleled abilities as an album producer. The result is a wedding theme album full of surprises, combining an eclectic mix of musical styles in an assortment of new songs, wedding standards and classic selections hand-picked from a diverse collection of albums.

Nagila V’Nismicha is quintessential Newmark, with cutting edge arrangement by Avremi G, a unique song selection from a star-studded list of composers including Yossi Green, Yosef Karduner, Elimelech Blumstein, Naomi Shemer, Pinny Weber, Yigal Calek, Aaron Razel, Mona Rosenblum, Udi Davidi, Yitzy Waldner and more. Benny Friedman transitions seamlessly from Hebrew to Yiddish to English. Enhancing Friedman’s energetic yet heartwarming vocals is stellar choir work by Moishy Roth and Yitzy Spinner and the entire package is polished to perfection by both Newmark and engineer Ian Freitor. Vocalist, HALB second grader Benjamin Newmark, who at just eight years old is clearly following in his father’s very musical footsteps.

Described recently by one Jewish magazine as “the producer’s producer,” the secret to Newmark’s success is his unique gift for recognizing talent combined with his ability to bring out the best in every song. Surrounding himself with Jewish music’s elite, Newmark consistently produces one hit album after another by skillfully weaving the tapestry of those unique talents into a body of work that is nothing short of pure musical goodness.

“The biggest names in the Jewish music trust me to handle their music on a daily basis,” said Newmark. “It is an honor and a pleasure to be able to bring the same caliber music to every Nagila simcha.”