Hazkeni Voices: Hatikvah 'Hebraic Gospel' style

Hi folks, Shabbat Shalom and happy Shavout.

I haven't done my weekly 'get into the Shabbat groove' video in a couple of weeks. I've been way more frazzled than groovy. I'd already decided to kick it off again today when I ran into this video (courtesy of Mocha Juden, a blog and twitter feed "celebrating racial inclusiveness in the Jewish community."

The video is from the French group Hazkeni Voices. They're an interesting group, check out their bio after the video. This is them performing Hatikvah at a bar mitzvah. Rumor has it they have an album coming out in June. I'll let everyone know if I hear anything.

Gospel Meets Hebraic - HAZKENI VOICES

The Hazkeni Voices story...

"French from birth with African and Carribean roots, the members of Hazkeni Voices met while performing in gospel choirs throughout France over ten years ago. Ethel Adams and Guillaume Eyango, lead vocalists and founding members of Hazkeni Voices, were performing together at various Jewish celebrations and were introduced to the Hebrew culture by way of its music.

Ethel and Guillaume were immediately amazed by the beauty and the deepness of the traditional melodies...so full of emotions, so expressive and so simple at the same time. Singing these songs in Hebrew drove them to experience the same kind of feelings as when singing traditional gospel songs. They progressively realized how similar the Hebrew and Black communities were in regards to music--the significance of music in our spiritual lives, the way it helps in keeping the memories of the trials our people went through alive and most importantly, how music always brings us together to express our joys and our pains.

Thus was born the will to form Hazkeni Voices as a vocal ensemble based on the interpretation of hebraic traditional songs with Gospel music's feeling. They have created original vocal arrangements and new instrumentations of some of the most popular Hebrew songs.

They are about to release their debut CD in June 2009. A sincere labour of love, the fruit of a spiritual and musical crossing."

Hat Tip to YouTube user geyango for posting the video

Joshua Nelson & Kosher Gospel

Shabbat Shalom, everyone.

I love it when my preconceptions and biases get blown away. Check this out. Joshua Nelson grows up in an African American synagogue. I didn't even know there were African American synagogues. He draws on the history of African American gospel music to compose his own versions of Jewish liturgical music and has played at Jewish events all over the world. This is wild, beautiful stuff.

I really wanted to post Nelson (and his Kosher Gospel band's) version of Adon Olam, but I'm not allowed to. You can go hear it at YouTube. Go check out Nelson's web site for a lot more information.

Kosher Gospel 1 (L'cha Dodi)


The thing about Nelson's music that is really making me think about Jewish music is that I get really grumpy when I hear Christian groups (particularly Messianic Jewish / Christian groups) using Jewish music for their own purposes. I'm primarily annoyed because I consider that appropriation to be either a) for the purpose of evangelism, see..you can be Christian and still do Jewish stuff, or b) because somehow incorporating Jewish motifs makes Christians feel more authentic. If you want to be Christian, be Christian, but leave the Jewish stuff to Jews. (BIG EXCEPTION: A non-Jew of any type that plays or listens to Jewish music because they like the music is just fine, it's the religious uses that bug me).

Anyway, this kind of turns it around. What should I make of a Jewish musician appropriating a classic American Christian music into Jewish religions practice. Not that this hasn't happened before, mind you. It's still something that feels odd and makes me feel a bit like a hypocrite. Oh well, lots to think about.

Hat tip to ScotBloke for posting the video.