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Esther's Recordings

Smiling woman behind a confessional screen with the text “Esther Friedman” and “Cult Confessions” in stylized fonts.
Strange Blues by Esther Friedman" overlaid on a background of swirling star trails in a night sky

Music

I started writing songs in the mid-nineties after moving to Boston,
inspired by buskers who braved street corners and T stops.


In 1998, a compilation called Respond picked up my song "Moon Over The
Water". Both the compilation, and my song, received accolades from Billboard
Magazine
.
 

Encouraged, I recorded my first CD, Eve's Lament, with producer John
Sonntag of Thunder Pumpkin Records in 1999.
 

I decided to speak out & sing out, basically making myself the ex-cult
member poster child. By happy accident, when I rejected the
cult-imposed silence, I recovered my voice, mind, identity and life. My story
has now culminated into, Cult Confessions, the mini-musical—an
edutainment campaign about my 5 years in cult-lite: part public service
announcement, part entertainment, part education & counter to shame, stigma & victim blame.  

Cult Confessions—the soundtrack to my cultic misadventure—was produced by
Doug Kwartler at Hollow Body Music.

Upcoming Shows:

Sunday, November 30, 2025. 7pm
The Secret Sauce (Janet Feld, Esther Friedman, and Jackie Damsky)
Club Passim
47 Palmer St., Cambridge, MA
Tickets: $25
Click for tickets

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