HAMILTON — Temple Anshe Sholom, Hamilton’s Reform synagogue, and its religious school are presenting the Juno-award-nominated band Jaffa Road as part of its annual Chanukah fundraiser this year.

Jaffa Road is a Toronto-based world music group that plays an eclectic combination of music, including Jewish, classical Arabic and Indian, modern jazz, electronic, rock, pop, and dub.

According to Anshe Shalom’s cantor and educator, Rebecca Moses, “it’s impossible not to want to dance while you’re listening. I think adults will appreciate the eclectic sound and the beauty of this unusual music, and kids will find the rhythms infectious.”

Before the concert, there will also be a “Nuts and Bolts of Chanukah” party and a chance to put together gift bags for Hamilton’s Out of the Cold program.

Sunplace, Jaffa Road’s debut CD, was nominated for a 2010 Juno award for world music album of the year. Tracks have been played on many regional and national programs on CBC Radio, and it has earned the No. 1 spot on the CIUT world music chart.

Their song L.Y.G. recently won grand prize as well as a Lennon Award in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. At the 2010 Toronto Independent Music Awards, they were named best world music artist.  

Their multilingual lead singer is Aviva Chernick. She is accompanied by Aaron Lightstone, who plays the oud, as well as bassist Chris Gartner, saxophonist and flutist Sundar Viswanathan and percussionist Jeff Wilson.

Refreshments at the Chanukah party will include homemade latkes and sufganiyot. Children will be able to create their own chanukiyot out of nuts and dreidels out of bolts. There will also be the opportunity for children to make kippot out of their choice of several materials.

“It’s a simple pattern,” says Moses, “but this way they can make something truly unique.”

Hamilton’s Out of the Cold program provides hot meals six nights a week from nine locations and three breakfast meals at the Wesley Centre, a drop-in centre for homeless and at-risk people. The service is for families and individuals in need and runs from November to March. The gift bags made at the Chanukah party will contain shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes, as well as warm new socks and a hat.  

The Nuts and Bolts of Chanukah party will be held Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. at the temple, and the one-hour concert will begin at 2:30.