The Jewish FunkeyMonkeys

This was a tough weekend. My wife and I and the wigglers had to fly east for a funeral. The kids did great, better than us adults did. My older girl understood what was going on enough to keep trying to explain it to the younger one. It was an open casket Episcopalian funeral (there's a big Christian contingent on one branch of the family) which made for some interesting explanations...

The little one "How come she's lying down?"
The older one "Because she got old and died."
The little one "Oh"
...5 minutes later
The little one "How come she's still lying down?"
(repeat)

The one nice thing was seeing a bunch of the near and extend family. At the post-funeral reception I introduced myself to a nice fellow I hadn't talked to yet. It turns out he's a) Jewish and b) a musician who is working on a kids music project (though not a Jewish project). We hit it off and had a great chat.

While he's not doing a Jewish music project, one of his friends is. The Jewish FunkeyMonkey's is the brainchild of Joshua Sitron, composer of the Dora The Explorer music (which is much loved by my kids). According to Sitron,

"The original inspiration for Jewish FunkeyMonkeys came in 2000, before the live band even existed. While recording music for Dora the Explorer with Boots the Monkey (the then 8-year old, Harrison Chad), the two started spontaneously jamming on a funny and funky version of 'Ma Nish Tanah: the Passover Four Questions song' in the recording booth (while waiting in between takes of Dora dialogue: 'bridge, gate, big red hill'.)

I haven't heard the full album yet, but the CDBaby sound clips are interesting. In particular, I liked the clips for "Shavlom Rav" and "Oseh Shalom." The other clips seem a little over-produced and a bit forced, but I'd like to try them out on the wigglers and see what they think. They might dig it. Check 'em out on CDBaby or the FunkeyMonkeys website and let me know what you think.