I was catching up on Jewish music vids to hit Google recently and stumbled across this gem. The Wondering Jew, an anonymous "Benjamin something-that-sounds-like Chielminitzy", an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, recently started a video blog. One of his first topics is frum Jewish Music, and why he just can't get into it. If you want a crash course in contemporary frum Jewish Music that's laugh-out-loud funny in spots and dead on accurate, check it out.
To be fair, there are some really good and really interesting musicians who are frum and playing to frum audiences. Yosef Karduner may not be Sting, but his voice and music work are as deep as it gets. And I have to differ...I really dig Lipa and actually listen to Carelbach for the music as well as the stories. Really. But still, this is priceless.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
He's not anonymous, he gives his name right up front - Benjamin something-that-sounds-like Chielminitzy.
Come now Benjamin - putting aside the Jewish music issue - how long can you listen to Nirvana, Clapton or Guns n Roses and the like?
Which brings us (me, anyway) to the question, what's music for anyway?
Dovid...good catch. When I was writing the post I couldn't find any info on his YouTube page and forgot he'd given his name at the beginning of the video.
Yesterday I watched a documentary about Jewish music and Roots music. I do not understand why Jewish music artist said that roots music origin are of them !
I'm a Conservative Jew living in a Christian farm town in Michigan, USA. For me, Jewish music used to be Adon Olam, Hava Nagila, and Fiddler on the Roof. I started getting a clue a few years ago. Jewish music is Klezmer dances, Sephardic ballads and Chassidic niggun. It's thousand year old hymns, three hundred year old Shabbat table songs and 60 year old partisan resistance songs. It's contemporary hip-hop, punk rock, electronica, jazz, and chamber music. In addition to loving its musical and spiritual qualities, Jewish music helps me connect my family with a much broader and diverse Jewish culture than is available locally. The Teruah blog helps me document my exploration and share it with others. Why the name Teruah? Teruah is a call on the shofar on Rosh Hashanna.
Hear me interviewed on the Israel National Radio show "The Beat with Ben Bresky" Please email me about your band, event, album, blog, podcast, research or favorite Jewish music obsession. I'd love to hear it or about it.
3 comments:
He's not anonymous, he gives his name right up front - Benjamin something-that-sounds-like Chielminitzy.
Come now Benjamin - putting aside the Jewish music issue - how long can you listen to Nirvana, Clapton or Guns n Roses and the like?
Which brings us (me, anyway) to the question, what's music for anyway?
Dovid...good catch. When I was writing the post I couldn't find any info on his YouTube page and forgot he'd given his name at the beginning of the video.
Yesterday I watched a documentary about Jewish music and Roots music. I do not understand why Jewish music artist said that roots music origin are of them !
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