• Mama Doni MySpace Page

• The Mama Doni Official Website

Doni Zasloff Thomas is a talented and hip Jewish mother of two, who has been singing and dancing since she was a little girl. She has been entertaining kids for years, from teaching at camps and schools, to serving as Creative Director for a children’s media company. When her children’s preschool asked her to be the music teacher last year, she agreed and creative juices started flowing. She started writing and recording her own songs, and then the album “I Love Herring” came to be - which was just completed, and not yet released to the public.

Doni breaks the mold on traditional Jewish music with a new genre that brings an unexpected and playful twist to Jewish culture, humor, and traditions. The music includes reggae, folk, country, klezmer and “Jewgrass” all woven together with Yiddish terms and a Jewish sensibility. This music appeals to “everyone from babies to bubbies” with its universal themes of love and laughter. 

Mama Doni wrote the melodies and lyrics, and Adam Nelson produced the music with drum machines, synthesizers, samplers and live instruments. Mama Doni feels passionately about preserving the Jewish spirit by conveying it with a contemporary vibe everyone can relate to.

Kiwi Magazine Review:

Mama Doni has two CDs which are being reviewed here.  I Love Chanukah is four fun songs which celebrate the festival of lights with  light-hearted humor.  Mama Doni laments the dreidel which has been carelessly left in a drawer and is lonely and a funky rap-inspired Funky Gold Menorah (ala Funky Cold Medina performed by Tone Loc- how’s that for a throwback?). And, in Latke Man, she describes a latke (potato pancakes) as a greaseball, off-the-wall potato-loving animal who is cousins with Mr. Knisch (which is a pretty accurate description of the ones we manage to fry up in our kitchen.)

I Love Herring is really fun and danceable album with a cheeky take on some favorite Jewish customs, words and food like herring, shofars and kippahs (yarmulkes - you know, the little skull cap thingys).  She also calls attention to Bubbie’s Big Bluff, a song about her grandmom who insists she is only 32 but has a son who’s 45 (universal theme).  

Despite all of the music styles Mama Doni imitates, she is part “Weird Al” Yankovic (for the hilarious and suprisingly insightful lyrics), part Sarah Silverman (but much cleaner and only the parts of the Sarah’s show where she innocently sings her little heart out) and that adorable mom down the street who manages to wear bright red lipstick and a cute track suit to put out the recycling at 6am.  Mama Doni - you had me at mazeltov.