Introducing, The Y-Studs

The great thing about college campuses is there's always another gang of vocalists ready to dedicate their vocal chords to imitating drum kits, guitars, and synths in the name of acapella music. In the Orthodox world, there is extra glory for the brave acappelites... they are single-handedly (single vocal-cordedly?) saving the Orthodox community from a boring music-free Sefira and saving concert promoters from having to rent back-line gear. 

While the Maccabeats may currently be reigning supreme in the Jewish acapella world, Yeshiva University's Y-Studs are on the scene with a new video and album out that should get then a lot of attention. The video, which is their adaptation of Reva L'Sheva's classic "Ahavat Israel Baneshama" (lyrics) doesn't have the breakout flair of the Maccabeats pop-music mashups. But the song choice is great, the vocals are fine and, if you're into Jewish acapella, it's well worth checking out. The video, I should note, is one of the stranger one's I've seen lately. Did someone turn the Village People loose on YU's campus? Just asking.

The Y-Studs, singing Ahavat Israel (Beneshama)

If you dig the song, it's worth checking out Reva L'sheva. They were a wonderful post-Carlbach group that was active from the mid 90's through the mid 00's. Their front man, Yehuda Katz is still active and put a new album out recently. Reva l'Sheva's albums are still available as well. 

Hanukkah Day 1: Maccabeats vs Six13 & NCSY in Hanukkah A Capella throwdown

Woot!!! Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah! My kids are spazzing out and I am too. I've been listening to Hanukkah music for a couple of weeks now and am ready to roll with a ton of great Hanukkah music. To kick this off, here's a battle of the bands between the Maccabeats and Six13, two great Jewish a capella groups. Both are whooping it up with a pair of fun Hanukkah rewrites of recent pop tunes.

First, here's The Maccabeats with Candelight, a redo of Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" (inspired by Mike Tompkins' a cappella version.) The video's been getting a lot of distribution, including a shout out from the Huffington Post.


Candlelight - The Maccabeats



Second, here's Six13 with I Light It, their redo of Justin Beiber's "Baby," Kanye West's "Heartless," and "I Like It" by Enrique Inglesias. The song was written in collaboration with NCSY, the Orthodox youth organization, as a Hanukkah howdy. Check the video website for full lyrics.


I Light It - NCSY Chanukah Musical Remix 2010


Hat Tip to Immanuel for emailing me about the Maccabeats video and Duvi Stahler of NCSY for emailing me about the NCSY/Six13 video.

Shircago at Detroit's JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music Fest

Ok. Back to the JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music fest. I'm on the committee after all, and am entitled to a few plugs for the festival. Shircago will be playing on Saturday March 13th at 8:30pm. They're an a Capella group whose repertoire ranges "from classical to pop, from English to Hebrew and even Yiddish and Ladino, from traditional melodies to original compositions and innovative arrangements." Good fun.

To give you a taste of their style, here's Shircago performing on Chicago's Rabbi Doug show.

SHIRCAGO on TAPED WITH RABBI DOUG

Kol Ish - Anim Zemirot

Shabbat Shalom folks,

My gang and I are having some folks over for Shabbat dinner tonight. We're really excited about it. Our guests are one of my daughters new Hebrew school friends and her family. We do lots of singing at our Shabbat table, I hope they're ready for it. My only annoyance is that a couple of months ago I had big plans of laying in a stash of the B'kol Echad bencher that we use. But, of course, I forgot. That's ok. We'll wing it.

So, to get in the spirit of singing tonight, here's the singing group Kol Ish performing at the University of Maryland Hillel in October. By the way, if you're in the Maryland area, they do simcha's. Give 'em a yell. (By the way, rumor has it that they travel!)

Kol Ish Anim Zemirot

Hat tip to YouTube user YoYo73188 for posting the Kol Ish video.

Staam sings V'Shamru

Here's another pre-Kabbalat Shabbat treat. A lovely mixed acapella performance of V'Shamru from Staamika Hannukah, Staam's annual Chanukah party. Staam is a Washington University based acapella group that's been around for over a decade. And they've released cd's and will play your event. Good fun.

According to their website, "We chose the name "Staam" in 1997. Hebrew slang for "just because," Staam has become our motto. We sing for the love of it, for fun, for friendship, and mostly, just because..."

V'Shamru at Staamika 07


Hat tip to Simps500 for posting the video.

Acappella for the Three Weeks

Back in May I wrote about the period of mourning (Sefira Part 1, Sefira Part 2)that corresponds with the Counting of the Omer and its traditional restrictions on instrumental music. We're now in the Three Weeks, starting July 3 and ending on July 24, the second major period of mourning in the Jewish year. It memorializes the destruction of the 2nd Temple and the beginning of the Diaspora and, by extension, symbolizes our longing for the time of the moshiach when the temple will be rebuilt and the Diaspora will end. In the traditional Jewish community, the Three Weeks has restrictions on instrumental music similar to those associated with the Counting of the Omer and has developed a similar tradition of acappella music.

In my Sefira posts I mention a number of Jewish acappella albums and link to some YouTube vidoes of acappella performances. Here are two more. The first is 8th Day, one of my favorite orthodox/chassid pop groups. The second is from Hassidic rapper Y-Love and beat-box artist Yuri Lane.

8th Day - Ayeh Mekom - Chabad Telethon


Y-Love & Yuri Lane Purim Beat Box Freestyle for Sefira

You can also listen to acappella group SIX13 recorded on the JM in the AM show, pickup lots of Jewish Sefira-friendly acappella albums at JewishJukebox.com, and check out these sites for more information on the Three Weeks:

1. Chabad.org "The Three Weeks and Tish Ba'Av"

2. OU.org "A Chronology of Destruction: The Three Weeks"

3. Aish.com "Tish B'av and the Three Weeks"

4. YU Torah Online "Rabbi Hartstein- Music, Shaving & Haircuts in The Three Weeks" (A recorded shuir, or lesson)

5. VBM Torah Studies "The Three Weeks and the Nine Days"



(Hat tip to The Jewish Music Review for the 8th Day video and the JM in the AM link)

Sefira and Jewish A Cappella Pt 2

Until I found out about the Sefira / a cappella music connection, I didn't realize that that Jewish a cappella music was such popular genre. And a genre that is enjoyed all year, not just on Sefira. I haven't been able to find a good history of the genre but Jewish a cappella seems to have taken off as performance music (as opposed to a liturgical music) in the early 1990's. It seems to have been sparked by the popularity of the Columbia University and Jewish Theological Socieity singing group Pizmon and quickly spread across college campuses and from there to Jewish professional musicians (such as Beat'achon). (If anyone can correct this history I'd appreciate it.)

Syracuse University's Oy Cappella


Barnard College's Smadar


Kol Ish Aids Benefit


A.K.A.Pella Riot - A Velt Premier

Sefira and Jewish A Cappella Music Pt 1

On the Jewish calendar, we're currently in the period of the Counting of Omer (Sefirat HaOmer), which starts on the second night of Passover and ends 49 days later on Shavout. (Today happens to be day 30.) The Counting is a Torah mandated ritual (Leviticus 23:15-16) for counting priestly grain offerings. Over it's history it has acquired a range of traditions. One of the most interesting, to me at least, is it's being characterized as a period of mourning with a subsequent ban on instrumental music and dancing. This ban has led to the development a significant contemporary genre of a cappella Jewish music, sometimes referred to as Sefira music. You can listen to Sefira a cappella online until Lag Ba'Omer on OU Radio or check out one of these albums:

Sefira Music - Jewish A Cappella

The restriction on music is associated with the first 33 days of the Sefira (the period from Passover to Lag Ba'Omer). This period has traditionally been considered a period of mourning and while specific observances vary by local custom, typical prohibitions include bans on weddings, dancing, haircuts and instrumental music. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed of the Yeshiva.Org.Il website offers an overview of the period of mourning and details of the customs.

"Because the custom during counting of the Omer period is to refrain from joyous celebration as much as possible, later halakhic authorities write that dancing, unless it is for the sake of a mitzvah, is customarily prohibited (Magen Avraham 493:1). Included in this abstention is the prohibition against performing and listening to music instruments. ... According to Ashkenazi custom, the prohibitions continue until the nightfall of Lag BaOmer."

There's a transcript of a great interview over at the Sameach Music Podcast site between Podcast DJ Sruly Meyer and Jewish a cappella singer and producer Jordon Gorfinkel. They discuss the connection of contemporary Jewish Sefira music with traditional Shabbat zemirot, the development of current genre's sound and touch on the argument about Sefira music going in the frum community.

The argument is one of those personal taste and local tradition things. The questions being argued are, roughly, 'to what degree can up-tempo music, even if a cappella, be considered appropriate for mourning' and 'to what degree can a recording where human voice has been intentionally made to sound like musical instruments be considered a cappella and appropriate for mourning." To hear a great example of this debate, listen to the JM in the AM host Nachum Segal interview (beat up on) members of the group AKA Pella. AKA Pella's new recording uses both clever vocal tricks and lots of computer mixing to get electric guitar solo's and a horn section into an a cappella album.

If want to know more abou the counting of the Omer Wikipedia, Torah.Org, JewFaq.Org, and Chabad.Org all offer good introductions. If you want to know more about Jewish A Cappella music, wait for Part 2 of this post. Hopefully tomorrow.

(hat tip to Life of Rubin for the link to Nachum Segal interview with AKA Pella)