In 2013, Time magazine listed the group among "10 Stars of the New Jewish Music", alongside acts including Rick Recht, Joshua Nelson, The Maccabeats, and Dan Nichols.
[2][3] The Epichorus was founded in 2011 by musician and Rabbi Zach Fredman, who had begun playing oud music inspired by Hamza El Din and wanted to explore it in a modern context.
[4][5] He met singer-songwriter Shir Yaakov at a jam session;[5] other founding members included violinist Megan Gould, flautist Hadar Noiberg, and bassist Daniel Ori.
[13] Later in the year, they performed High Holidays services at First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn to launch Fredman's Temenos Center for Art and Spirit[14] and at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
[6][3][11] Fredman was heavily influenced by Sudanese oudist Hamza El Din,[6][5] as well as Malian vocalists Khaira Arby and Oumou Sangaré, American artists like Aretha Franklin and the Grateful Dead, and musical forms including Indian raga.