Erez Safar is the founder, director, and mastermind of Shemspeed, its sister label Modular Moods, and the producer of the wildly successful and annual Sephardic Music Festival. Safar began as a radio personality at WMUC (Maryland’s campus radio station) in 2003, alongside popular music insider Peter Rosenberg. Soon after, Erez created Modular Moods and his first signed artist debuted on the Top 40 CMJ Music Charts. He has since performed across the globe, negotiated deals with Warner Brothers and Sony, and continues to sign the most dynamic and emerging Jewish artists to Shemspeed Records. Safar has been selected by The Forward as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Jews and has been featured in countless publications and TV programs including the New York Times, CBS and BBC World News. His entrepreneurial venture has evolved into Shemspeed, a music production group that promotes Jewish identity, diversity and Israel involvement through recordings and dynamic programming. Shemspeed artists have performed with artists as varied as Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Idan Raichel and Eminem; they’ve been profiled in Rolling Stone, SPIN, The New York Times and XXL; and they’ve been seen and heard around the world on various TV appearances (Conan O’Brien, CBS and BBC World) and global radio. Through the arts and education, Safar aims to bring people together to celebrate both diversity and common ground.
Nina Safar is Shemspeed’s event programmer extraordinaire. She has seen the company rise from an tastemaker/hipster blog site to the multifaceted global label that it is today. Safar is one of the founders of our “40 Days 40 Nights” tour – an interactive, live music festival stopping at 30 colleges nationwide, exposing college students to the breadth and depth of Jewish music through educational workshops during the day and concerts and parties at night. Safar plays hostess at a slew of our clubbed out events. When not crazed with the clubs, Nina devotes her time to Shemspeed Tikkun by running “Project one C” which produces inter-faith, inter-generational, and inter-racial events and concerts to bring communities together by promoting dialogue and co-existence through the arts. You might find Nina satisfying her and others’ foodie cravings via her wildly successful Kosher food site, Kosher in the Kitch (kosherinthekitch.com).
Laura is a third year student at Drake University, studying International Relations and Public Relations. Laura has lived all over the Midwest, and currently resides in Michigan. Besides her love for boots she has a love for the culture and music of Shemspeed and is excited to bring her Public Relations skills to the Shemspeed team.
Brossard Wellington is a venture capitalist, stock broker, Pres. of Gentleman’s Row, and lover of 50’s war art. Wellington was one of the first to adapt ‘clean & green’ into the music industry, he started his own green corp which focused on venture investments in various technology sectors, most notably clean technology. Born in Quebec, Wellington, at the age of 15, purchased three shares of Cities Service Preferred at $38 per share. Shortly after buying the stock, it fell to just over $27 per share. A frightened but resilient Wellington held his shares until they rebounded to $40 and soon after shot up to $200. The experience taught him one of the basic lessons of investing: patience is a virtue.…Tabarnak
Ada Agronov | Marketing Assoc.
Ada was raised in Israel and moved to New York at age 13, she graduated from Brooklyn College with a Marketing degree. While furthering her education studying International Business and Marketing in Spain, she strengthened her fourth language, Spanish. While in College, she participated and helped organize Hillel’s annual fundraising fashion show. Since graduating she continued working behind the scenes, coordinating live music, fashion events, and special projects to promote sustainability. She also devoted a substantial amount of time in recent years to traveling and broadening her perspective of the world. Through her travels she developed a great appreciation for different cultures, and discovered their music along the way. Ada was introduced to Shemspeed in 2010, when she participated and modeled in the Sephardic Music Festival’s fashion and art rave.
Ben Chaidell | Associate Public Relations Coordinator @BenChaidell
Ben Chaidell brings to Shemspeed a keen eye for the written word and a passion for the revolution in Jewish music that Shemspeed is leading. With his experience in public relations and media affairs, Ben highlights the exciting work of Shemspeed artists. He especially admires the social consciousness of the label and its efforts to bring different groups together through the arts. Ben graduated from Yale in 2011 with a degree in religious studies and currently works as an Education Fellow at the Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Mississippi. He looks forward to building a Shemspeed fan base in the South!
Guy Emanuel | Shemspeed Daily Contributor
Guy Emanuel, the foremost ethnomusicologist in Belize, has been a huge fan of Modular Moods for decades, in fact he was the person responsible for resurecting the Juez opus from near sonic extinction. Years later Guy found Elsewhere, John Cusack and K. Ross inside a huge loft in the city of Belmopan. Emanuel was never able to make it inside, but with the help of his trusty pair of gold-plated binoculars (passed down to him by his mentor, the late Dr. Reggie Quartz), he saw through a window that the loft was empty, save the two DJs and Cusack. With a Solaris microphone and a styrofoam cup to the door, Guy recorded and released “Play Anything” which became one of the most influental genre defeying mixtapes of the past century. Following his love of diversity and discovery, Guy took on the important role of Shemspeed’s sonic scribe.
Ben is a Psychology student at Drake University. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a self-employed musician and plays with several groups in the Des Moines area. Ben first discovered Shemspeed in high school and instantly became obsessed. He is excited to actively help the hippest, most diverse Jewish organization around and can’t wait to spread the word about Shemspeed with all that it has to offer.”
Jason is a third year student at the University of Florida, studying Sport Management and Business. He currently works for the University of Florida Hillel and shares a deep passion for hip-hop culture with Shemspeed, where he became an intern this Summer. Originally from Plantation, Florida, Jason has a knack for developing marketing initiatives and throwing bangin’ parties.
Daniel Azneer is a second year Sociology student at the University of Florida. Daniel is from Tampa, Florida and is involved heavily in the music scene at the university. He loves the chutzpah Shemspeed is bringing to the music scene. He joined Shemspeed this summer as an Intern and is excited to spread positive vibes and jams..
Erez Safar is the founder, director, and mastermind of Shemspeed, its sister label Modular Moods, and the producer of the wildly successful and annual Sephardic Music Festival. Safar began as a radio personality at WMUC (Maryland’s campus radio station) in 2003, alongside popular music insider Peter Rosenberg. Soon after, Erez created Modular Moods and his first signed artist debuted on the Top 40 CMJ Music Charts. He has since performed across the globe, negotiated deals with Warner Brothers and Sony, and continues to sign the most dynamic and emerging Jewish artists to Shemspeed Records. Safar has been selected by The Forward as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Jews and has been featured in countless publications and TV programs including the New York Times, CBS and BBC World News. His entrepreneurial venture has evolved into Shemspeed, a music production group that promotes Jewish identity, diversity and Israel involvement through recordings and dynamic programming. Shemspeed artists have performed with artists as varied as Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Idan Raichel and Eminem; they’ve been profiled in Rolling Stone, SPIN, The New York Times and XXL; and they’ve been seen and heard around the world on various TV appearances (Conan O’Brien, CBS and BBC World) and global radio. Through the arts and education, Safar aims to bring people together to celebrate both diversity and common ground.
Laura is a third year student at Drake University, studying International Relations and Public Relations. Laura has lived all over the Midwest, and currently resides in Michigan. Besides her love for boots she has a love for the culture and music of Shemspeed and is excited to bring her Public Relations skills to the Shemspeed team.
Ada was raised in Israel and moved to New York at age 13, she graduated from Brooklyn College with a Marketing degree. While furthering her education studying International Business and Marketing in Spain, she strengthened her fourth language, Spanish. While in College, she participated and helped organize Hillel’s annual fundraising fashion show. Since graduating she continued working behind the scenes, coordinating live music, fashion events, and special projects to promote sustainability. She also devoted a substantial amount of time in recent years to traveling and broadening her perspective of the world. Through her travels she developed a great appreciation for different cultures, and discovered their music along the way. Ada was introduced to Shemspeed in 2010, when she participated and modeled in the Sephardic Music Festival’s fashion and art rave.
Guy Emanuel, the foremost ethnomusicologist in Belize, has been a huge fan of Modular Moods for decades, in fact he was the person responsible for resurecting the Juez opus from near sonic extinction. Years later Guy found Elsewhere, John Cusack and K. Ross inside a huge loft in the city of Belmopan. Emanuel was never able to make it inside, but with the help of his trusty pair of gold-plated binoculars (passed down to him by his mentor, the late Dr. Reggie Quartz), he saw through a window that the loft was empty, save the two DJs and Cusack. With a Solaris microphone and a styrofoam cup to the door, Guy recorded and released “Play Anything” which became one of the most influental genre defeying mixtapes of the past century. Following his love of diversity and discovery, Guy took on the important role of Shemspeed’s sonic scribe.
Ben is a Psychology student at Drake University. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a self-employed musician and plays with several groups in the Des Moines area. Ben first discovered Shemspeed in high school and instantly became obsessed. He is excited to actively help the hippest, most diverse Jewish organization around and can’t wait to spread the word about Shemspeed with all that it has to offer.”
Jason is a third year student at the University of Florida, studying Sport Management and Business. He currently works for the University of Florida Hillel and shares a deep passion for hip-hop culture with Shemspeed, where he became an intern this Summer. Originally from Plantation, Florida, Jason has a knack for developing marketing initiatives and throwing bangin’ parties.
Daniel Azneer is a second year Sociology student at the University of Florida. Daniel is from Tampa, Florida and is involved heavily in the music scene at the university. He loves the chutzpah Shemspeed is bringing to the music scene. He joined Shemspeed this summer as an Intern and is excited to spread positive vibes and jams..