Sheila Dardashti
The pandemic made lots of people do lots of unusual things. It made Sheila Dardashti, a 78-year-old grandmother of seven, do something she’d never done before: write songs. And now, these songs have blossomed into Sheila’s very first album, a collection of beautifully composed and arranged contemporary folk and rock songs called Build Me a Home.Not that Sheila was new to music – in fact, singing folk songs and playing guitar has been a crucial part of her life since she was a little kid back in the 1950s. Raised by lovers of folk music in Queens, New York, Sheila (born Sheila Heifetz) counts among her earliest musical memories learning Yiddish folk songs at her grandparents’ bungalow colony in Lake Mohegan, performing on local stages as part of the Heifetz Sisters duo, and singing Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid” in a Catskills hotel lobby while ILGW union president David Dubinsky cheered along.While studying classical guitar at New York City’s High School for the Performing Arts, Sheila started singing international folk music as part of a duo with a young man named Farid, who had a magnificent tenor voice and had newly arrived from Iran to attend college. Together, Farid and Sheila grew their partnership into a marriage (now 57 years strong) and, eventually, in a family performing act – The Dardashti Family – with their three daughters, Danielle, Galeet, and Michelle. Through the 1970s and ‘80s, the Dardashti Family performed their repertoire – mostly show tunes and folk songs with an international flair – throughout North America, at synagogues, festivals, and other venues.While the kids eventually grew up and Sheila and Farid kept busy in other pursuits – she as a beloved music and reading teacher, he as an acclaimed cantor – Sheila kept singing songs whenever the opportunity arose and performing family concerts around holiday themes. And once her oldest grandkids were ready, she teamed up with them – Uri and Raquel Sarig, then Yaniv and Adin Dardashti-Weisz – as well as her son-in-law Roni to create a new generation of performers, the In-Laws and the Outlaws. The first decade of the 2000s saw Sheila once again performing her folk music with family at libraries and senior centers around the New York area.Yet through a lifetime of singing and performing, Sheila remained a true folky – adapting and rewriting songs, but always relying on the existing body of traditional music as her basis. When COVID hit, however, Sheila suddenly felt inspired – and had lots of time – to compose a few songs as tributes to family members. Her family loved these new compositions and encouraged her to write more – one son-in-law suggested she write one song about every member of her family to create a single thematic work. The songs flowed out, and soon she had 10 songs – one for each of her children and sons-in-law, and two each for her grandchildren and husband. Over 2023 and 2024, Sheila recorded the songs – with family members and a group of first-rate professional musicians – at studios around the New York area. Thus, Build Me a Home became a reality.Even if you don’t know the people who inspired the songs, it’s easy to love Sheila’s heartfelt, stirring, and catchy music. She hopes to enrich people’s lives with her songs, but more than that, Sheila wants her story to serve as an inspiration and a challenge: It’s never too late to find that creative spark and discover your own voice.