East Rock Klezmer - live at the Shoreline Jewish Festival & the Cowboy Song

Sorry folks, it's been a slow week in Teruah land. I was traveling for work and didn't have much time for blogging. On the bright side, I was interviewed by Benyamin Bresky of Israel National Radio's "The Beat" program. There were about a dozen things I wanted to talk about and actually managed to remember two of them once the interview started. Hopefully I won't sound like an idiot. Ah well. It is supposed to air this coming Tuesday. I'll let everyone know when the interview is posted to their website.

Anyway, back to the music. Today's video is of the 'East Rock Klezmer' band playing at the Shoreline Jewish Festival. The video really caught my attention, both because of the musicianship and the instrumentation. Great stuff. Nothing like a low solid bass drum line as an anchor for the otherwise swirlytwirly violin, clarinet and accordion. Very well done.

I'm also partial to this video because the East Rock gang are from my home state of Connecticut and were on my short list of bands to hire for my brother's post-wedding wedding reception. (For a variety of reasons we hired Arnie Davidson who did a fabulous job.) This video is the third of three that East Rock posted to YouTube recently. Why did am I posting video 3? They're all great but I loved the moment, about half way through the video, where someone came up to the videographer and asked if he was with the press or just some random guy filming the show. A question now caught on tape forever.

East Rock Klezmer part 3 @ Shoreline Jewish Festival


If you enjoyed this video, YouTube has video 1 and video 2 to for your viewing pleasure.

I also have to point out that the East Rock Klezmer band is near and dear to my heard for recording a "Cowboy Song." As regular readers know, I have thing for Jewish Cowboys.

Cowboy Song (Live at the KlezKabaret 2007)

My Robot Friend - Walking Jewish

"there's just something 'bout a man with a talis bag..."

I've mentioned a number of times the absence of a Jewish presence on the radio. Growing up I'd hear all sorts of songs making reference to Christian religion and culture. Sometimes it was pretty explicit, e.g. Christmas songs, but often it more subtle, with lyrics spun from Christian Bible imagery or religious practice. (For some reason U2's 'One' and Tori Amos 'Crucify' jump to mind, but there are zillions). There are lots of Jews in music, where are the Jewish references? Something a little less alienating please? Anyone? Hello? (Thank you Leonard Cohen. Anyone else?)

So I'm pleased and delighted every time I hear a band let their (take their?) Jewish identity out on the public airwaves (or wires). Today I'm particularly delighted with "Walking Jewish" by the band My Robot Friend. Walking Jewish is as raunchy, rebellious, and in your face as it gets. The kind of thing that makes you jam your speakers against your dorm room wall, spin the volume to 11 and drive your neighbors out into the snow*. It's that gleefully obnoxious. The song lyrics are defiantly gay and Jewish at the same time.

"When I turned 13 the cantor took me by the hand. "Forget your Bar Mitzvah, kid, I'll make you a man."
....I may not have the foreskin, by you know I have the balls.

The singer is making a point. I'm here. I'm gay. I'm Jewish. I'm not going away. And the singer is making fun of himself too. C'mon, not only Catholics can have sex scandals. I'm a walking sex scandal. Rock and roll, even squawky, sample heavy, rock, is at it's best in songs like this. Dumb, loud, true to itself, unapologetic, brilliant. Whew. Play it again.



* umm. Don't ask about that one. It was justified. Really.

Hat tip to the ActioNext website for the music player.

Polish Chazzanut

Definitely my week for cantorial music. Shira, of the Shira bat Sarah blog just left me a comment on my post "Cantor Leib Glantz: The Man Who Spoke To God" pointing me (and us) to this wonderful cantorial performance. This is my favorite kind of chazzanut. Heavy on traditional nusach, light (or absent) operatic embellishments. Thanks Shira!

(From the YouTube notes) "This special piece of amazing "chazanut" was taken in an old & beautiful synagogue in Poland in a small village by the name "tiktin" the cantor is mr' Zvi Slonim - 7th generation to the old Rabbi of Lubbavivh the "Ba'al-Hatania"

Tzur Israel - Zvi Slonim

Hat tip to YouTube user noamlm for posting the video.

Shalom Aleichem on ancient temple lyre

Shabbat shalom everyone,

To help get us in the mood, here's Michael Levy (aka Klezfiddle1) playing Shalom Aleichem on ancient temple lyre. I first showcased on of Michael's videos (Yigdal) back in December. He wrote to me recently to let me know that he has a new album coming out soon, so if you like what you hear you should swing by his myspace page for more details.

Nproject - 1/Berechit - It's more than an album, it's an overriding urge...

I've got a new toy...Deezer. Deezer is a French music on demand service that, as you'd expect, has great coverage of the European scene. One interesting disc I ran across today is Nproject - 1/Berechit from Geneva, Switzerland. The disc has a variety of Jewish standards, mostly prayers and zemirot, done in a jazzy electronica style. The concept isn't exactly new, this territory has been mined in the past by Wally Brill's "Covenant", "Forgiveness: Traditional Jewish Prayers With Contemporary Electronic Music", and Gershon Kingsley's "God is a Moog" and a variety of others. But the style of jazzy downtempo that presented here works. Maybe not A list, but solid. But..as they said, it's more than an album. It's an overriding urge.

"NProject is more than an album, it’s an overriding urge to compose a collection of albums intended to build a musical link between men. The aim is to ask artists of all ages, from all different sorts of backgrounds, believers, atheists or agnostics, brought up in every kind of religion and tradition, to get together and merge their talents to create from traditional songs and prayers a sound that exceeds the individual and reaches out to the universe. Title after title, the collection will offer a trip round the world, visiting different cultures and questioning accepted ideas. The first album in the collection, Berechit (at the beginning), reexamines traditional Jewish prayers and songs, drawing up from the roots the juice that will revitalise the tree. Featuring singers and musicians of all ages – the youngest is only 10 and the oldest over 70 – and from all religious faiths. A soothing album, “Hebrew voices against a rich background of soaring electronic sounds and haunting jazz. From under the crushing millstone of the great religions, a breath of sweet air seeps out.” Gabriel Catagnier, Edelweiss, May 2008"

So of course, I have to grump here. (I feel like I've been doing a lot of grumping lately) While Mr. Catagnier, a reviewer, thought it was clever to be insulting to Judaism at the same time he waxes poetic about the merits of the "Hebrew voices", I can't imagine why the publishers of the disc thought it was clever to quote him. I guess you can only "visit different cultures" if you also "question accepted ideas" loudly and rudely. Whatever. But check the disc out. It's a good listen.


You can get more info about NProject through the albums Myspace page and record label webpage.

Heeb goes Jewish music bashing

As folks may know from my prior post "Diamond Days, or When Is a Jewish music fest not a Jewish music fest" I'm not so keen on Heeb magazine or the Diamond Days music fest. In my post I expressed my frustration with Heeb for sponsoring a fine, but completely non-Jewish music fest. While writing the blog post I exchanged email with Heeb editor and Diamond Days organizer Jay Diamond. Jay made it clear that he has great intentions for the fest, but that having it relate to anything Jewish wasn't one of them. Jewish magazine. Music fest with no Jewish music. Go figure.

I think that Heeb must be feeling a bit of heat about this. (The JewishSF also took them to task, as did Ari's KlezmerShack blog.) This week, though, in an interview in the San Francisco Bay Guardian Heeb magazine publisher Josh Neuman added more fuel to the fire. He said, and I quote,

"First of all, our goal isn't to showcase Jewish musicians (we couldn't care less if the musicians are “Jewish”) or "Jewish music" (a murky moniker that generally signifies some sort of backwards gaze at a mythical, "authentic" past). Like the magazine, the goal of the fest is to showcase emerging talent for an audience that identifies at some level as being Jewish."

Sigh. All of us who identify with being Jewish and do want to showcase Jewish musicians and Jewish music are looking backwards for mythical authenticity. Hmm. I like it. Maybe I should make a bumpersticker that says that. Any way, I'm a bit furious and my opinion of Heeb has dropped yet again. I posted a bit of a peeved reply to this comment on the SF Guardian website. You should too.

Here's what I said...

"Heeb repeatedly demonstrates that it is pretty clueless when it comes to Jewish culture outside of a narrow set of tired shticks. When Neuman comments that "Jewish music" is "a murky moniker that generally signifies some sort of backwards gaze at a mythical, "authentic" past)" he's demonstrating that he has no idea what's going on in the Jewish music scene. Jewish music has never been so forward looking as it is now, there are artists all over the country (and the world) exploring what Jewish music can become. Some of these artists draw on historic musical influences, some don't. Some draw heavily on contemporary music genres ranging including rock, hip-hop, jazz, country, chamber music and more. Some don't. Some are anchored in liturgical music and prayer, some are outspoken activists, many are great entertainers, no more, no less. The point is that they are, with no more lofty goal than making great music, creating a new American Jewish culture that is as vibrant as anything that has come before. But Heeb hasn't noticed and isn't interested. In Heeb's world being Jewish is nothing more than wearing a hip "tribe" t-shirt while laughing at your grandparents. Who's looking backwards?"

ok. off the soap box. stay tuned for some forward looking blog posts. I've got a ton lined up.

Traditional tradition vs happy clappy music. Or something like that.

My week for looking at and listening to cantors continues. (Check my previous posts on Cantors Leib Glantz and Erik Contzius.) I was just catching up on the JewSchool blog when I caught a set of posts about cantorial music. Go figure. Zeitgeist. Its in the air. Something like that.

It seems that the New Jersey Jewish News published an article on the state of cantorial music which first got a quick comment on JewSchool, which then got a long thoughtful essay on JewSchool. I'm going to briefly (BRIEFLY!) summarize the call and response here and add one or two of my own thoughts, but I mainly want to provide the links to the articles.

Ok. Here are the money quotes from each article

NJJN article "Sing to the Lord a new song" by Johanna Ginsberg :

• "As congregations seek to engage more unaffiliated Jews, many see music as the key. But to the chagrin of some cantors, the lure is not traditional liturgical music but more contemporary American styles and melodies — sometimes derisively referred to as “happy clappy” music."
• "The problem cantors are facing is actually twofold: traditional chanting styles being supplanted by the sounds of contemporary American music, and cantorial solos giving way to congregational participation. “This is the issue confronting the Conservative movement right now,” said Cantor Henry Rosenblum, dean of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary. “In the last 20 years, there has been an anticlerical move. You see this in the increase in the minyanim with no cantors and no rabbis. People say, ‘As long as we have tunes we can sing, we’ll be fine,’” Rosenblum said."
• Musical outreach poses a dilemma, she said. If contemporary music does indeed get “more people in the door,” is that worth “raising a generation of people ignorant of the depth of the traditional service?” asked [Cantor Erica Lippitz of Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange]. Her biggest concern, she said, is the “profound illiteracy of the American-Jewish community.”

The argument here is that we've moved away from operatic cantors because we're all anti-clerical and illiterate. The article also notes

• Cantor Jacob Ben-Zion “Jack” Mendelson of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY (and the subject of the 2004 documentary film A Cantor’s Tale), thinks so. At the Conservative movement’s Cantors Assembly convention — held this month at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa in Kerhonkson, NY — he led a session designed to show how to fuse the new and the old.

• Cantors aren’t adapting alone; the educational institutions behind them are also changing. As Rosenblum said, “Today, we have to teach students to be as eclectic as possible. They must do Carlebach, Debbie Friedman, Joe Black, and Craig Taubman —you have to make it all part of their repertoire. If it were all traditional hazanut, we’d lose people. Those who find a niche are the ones who say, ‘I’m flexible. You want vanilla today? I’ve got the best vanilla around.’”

So, cantors need to adapt, but adapting means being "vanilla."

JewSchool post #1 "Can you marry Yossele Rosenblatt and Debbie Friedman?" by Reb Yudel.

• This is pretty much old news, but one interesting tidbit describes the efforts of Cantor Jacob Ben-Zion “Jack” Mendelson of Temple Israel Center in White
  Plains, NY (and the subject of the 2004 documentary film A Cantor’s Tale) to merge the old and the new
• As a community, we at Jewschool are more likely to daven to Automatic For the People than to old-style nusach. Or are we? Surely there’s something worth rediscovering and renewing in the traditional melodies, isn’t there?

Reb Yudal main contribution was noting that there are attempts find hybrids and that we shouldn't loose the traditional melodies, even as we're drawn to new forms of liturgy. (By the way, he gets hero points from me for pointing me to someone who actually composed a Shabbat liturgy around one of my favorite albums. I don't know that I'd want to do it every Friday, but it makes me happy to know someone tried.

Ok, finally,

JewSchool Post #2. "Traditional Traditions" by BZ.

• The problem with the article, as I see it, is that even though it appears to present two views/values in tension, it presents them within a single frame, and accepts this frame (promoted by the cantorial profession) uncritically. The frame goes something like this: the ideal form of Jewish congregational prayer includes cantorial music, in a cantorial style, led by cantors. If all of us were wise and all of us were learned in Torah, then all of us would prefer this style of prayer. But because the present generation is so removed from Judaism and Jewish tradition, they prefer different styles (God have pity on their souls - they don’t know any better). And therefore, out of self-preservation, it’s sometimes necessary to adapt. But this adaptation is a necessary evil, it’s a concession to harsh reality, it’s bedi’avad, it’s kiruv for the tinokot shenishbu, it’s eit la’asot lashem, it’s “engag[ing] more unaffiliated Jews”, it’s marketing to get “more people in the door”. So the tension described in the article is between how much you stand up for the ideals and how much you adapt to our less-than-ideal world.
• But this frame simply isn’t accurate. There are Jewishly educated and Jewishly uneducated people who prefer a cantorial style in their prayer, and there are Jewishly educated and Jewishly uneducated people who prefer a non-cantorial style in their prayer. And I’m not just saying that the way I would say that there are educated and uneducated Reform Jews and educated and uneducated Orthodox Jews (which is 100% true, but everyone knows which way the correlation goes). In the case at hand, the preferences cut perpendicular to denominational lines, and there isn’t even a conventional-wisdom stereotype (let alone more solid data) about which preference is correlated with more education. I don’t know whether there’s a correlation one way or the other, but the article presents no evidence that there is, beyond cantors’ assertions.

Ok. Just go read BZ's post. There is too much good stuff for me to quote it all or summarize it well. The point, this is way more complicated than wise cantor, illiterate community.

I started writing a thoughtful response to all this and realized I'm late for work. rats. I do have a couple of thoughts and will try to write them up later. They all sum up to the idea that communities change for good reasons and traditions die for good reasons. Blaming people for being "anticlearical" and "illiterate" with out looking at the why these changes happened is pointless.

Learning David Melech Yisrael at camp

My two little ones are having the time of their lives right now. They're in their second of three weeks at the local Chabad sponsored Camp Gan Israel. I'll spare you all a recital of all the 'cute moments' so far and just say I highly recommend the CGI experience.

Ok. I won't totally spare you. My wife and I have been cracking up watching the two little campsters yodeling David Melech Yisrael, complete with spastic hand movements. They love the song and are immensely proud of themselves about mastering the choreography. And, of course, my elder wiggler, my little scholar, asked me what the words mean. So here I am, 11:00 at night, with my wife already snoozing beside me, doing my homework. Because, of course, having learned the song myself 30 years ago in no way qualified me to answer the question. I mean, it's about David the King of Israel, right? Do I get partial credit for being able to figure that out? No? rats.

Ok. The lyrics of the song are "David melech Yisrael chai vekayam" (David (is) king of Israel living and existing) with a few alternating "abba/emma" (father, mother) and "cain / lo" (yes / no). So what's going on here? Where does this phrase come from?

Here's the answer, courtesy of Rabbi Yossi Marcus of AskMoses.com.

"What it means is that the kingdom of David is forever, even if it takes a break from time to time. For G-d promised that kingship would always belong to David. His kingship is compared to the moon, which waxes and wanes. So too David’s kingdom disappears for a time, but G-d promises that it will once again be reborn like the moon is reborn each month. (That’s why we say this phrase each month when we sanctify the new moon.)

The phrase has come to express the idea that the Jewish people are alive and enduring despite our historic ups and downs and that we will ultimately triumph. It has become synonymous with the motto of “am Yisrael chai (the nation of Israel lives!)”

And its got a catchy tune and great hand gestures. Here's Camp Katan in Chico showing us all how its done. Note: these aren't my kids. But they're pretty darn cute anyway.

camp Katan day 9-David Melech

Hat tip to YouTube user harveyr for posting the video and to Rabbi Marcus for the explanation.

Jewish Air Guitar

Digression number 1. I find Google a reassuring place. I always have this moment of self-doubt when I enter a new query and hit go. Am I ridiculous for asking this question? And then, 0.38 seconds later (precisely. Google is emphatic about it's timing) I find that an answer is out there. I may be inquisitive, a dilettante with the momentary interest, but somewhere out there is someone with a passion waiting to be admired. Even for "Jewish Air Guitar." Really.

Digression number 2. I will now admit, in public, a dark secret that I've kept to myself for years. I'd say that even my wife doesn't know, other than a) she claims she knows all my secrets and b) nothing I could tell her at this point would surprise her enough to disavow a). It's true. I used to air guitar myself. More accurately, I lip-synched. During high school (a long long time ago) I would take to the talent-show stage pretending to be Tom Lehrer, Weird Al Yankovic, or Dan Aykroyd (a la Elwood Blues of the Blues Brothers). And I was good. Really good.

The Struggle of a Jewish Air Guitarist. Which all brings me to today's post. Earlier this week, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, I punched the phrase "Jewish Air Guitar" into Google and was rewarded with links to the blog of Jewish Air Guitarist Michael "Crobar" Croland. Crobar has played at regional competitions affiliated with the U.S. Air Guitar Championships, been mentioned in the book "To Air is Human," was interviewed for the film Air Guitar Nation (though his clip wasn't included in the released film). And he's Jewish, has air guitared to Jewish music (Yidcore's cover of "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav") and has written some great posts in his own blog about the struggles of being a Jewish air guitarist.

Why is it such a struggle to be a Jewish air guitarist? My hero, To Air Is Human author Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane, is a Jewish air guitarist. 2006's Los Angeles air guitar champion is a Schwartz, so he's probably a member of the tribe. But have Crane or Schwartz ever had this identity struggle?

I thought about wearing a yarmulke and performing to Jewdriver's "Manischewitz" last night, but I doubt that would have gone over well with the crowd. When I paraded around like Santa Claus at an air guitar contest in May and paused before telling a Jewess that I was Jewish, clearly my Jewish and air guitarist identities were in conflict. I also felt conflicted when I heard the Holocaust-glorifying lyrics of the song picked for that competition's air-off. Why do I have to pick and choose between Jewish events and air guitar competitions? If I plan a big vacation in the not-too-distant future, should I visit Finland (the homeland of air guitar) or Israel (the homeland of the Jewish people)? And why was the Oyhoo Festival (aka the New York Jewish Music & Heritage Festival and Sidney Krum Conference) so adamant about not letting me ("one of the world's leading Jewish air guitarists") perform? These are tough questions that are perhaps best suited for rabbis.

In a personal correspondence, Michael reinforced that "Judaism plays a major role in my life. That might not be obvious when I'm air guitaring, but Judaism is always part of the picture somehow, at least in my mind." Personally, I'm thrilled to see it. As more and more musical groups are integrating their Jewish identity into their performance identity, it's only right that this attitude should make it's way to the air guitar community as well. So Oyhoo, consider this a protest vote. Crobar in 2009! Have a whole Jewish Air Guitar contest as part of the fest. Maybe I'll even dust of my air microphone and join in. Tom Lehrer's "Who's Next" anyone?

"So Israel's getting tense,
Wants one in self defense.
"The Lord's our shepherd," says the psalm,
But just in case, we better get a bomb!
Who's next?"

Cantor Leib Glantz: The Man Who Spoke To God

"In theory, the cantor improves and beautifies the prayer service, organizes the service, raises it to a level of Hit’la’ha’vut (enthusiasm), and to an enlightened musical level. Therefore, an analysis of cantorial must begin with the personal human attributes of the cantor."

This is my week for cantors. First, I reviewed Cantor Erik Contzius album. And now I run across the new book "Cantor Leib Glantz: The Man Who Spoke To God" by Jerry Glantz, the son of Cantor Glantz. The quote above is the start of Cantor Glantz essay titled "The Essence of Cha'za'nut." The essay, an apt inclusion in a book that is as much a personal biography as a collection of work, is one of many reprinted in the book. The book is accompanied by two CDs with 30 recordings of Cantor Glantz. I don't have the book yet, but it's now on my wish list.

Here are a couple of samples. I enjoyed listening to them and then going back to listen to Cantor Contzius samples in my previous post. It's a wonderful contrast. Where Contzius comes out of the Reform cantorial tradition, with pipe organ and full choir, and sings with an inclusive warmth. Cantor Glantz comes from the Orthodox operatic cantorial tradition, where the cantor packed 'em in the pews acting as rock-star showman and humble servant in equal measures. The difference in the vocal styles is striking. Go back and listen to Cantor Contzius for a minute or two and then listen to these two recordings of Cantor Glantz.

She'ma Yis'ra'el - Hear O Israel!


Le'chu Ne'ra'ne'na - Let Us Sing to the Lord


Great stuff, and such a difference in style.

For more info on the book including more essay and musical samples, check out "The Man Who Spoke To God" website. Here's the rest of the "The Essence of Cha'za'nut." essay sample.

"Cha’za’nut is not just a musical profession. It is not just a trade. It is wisdom (Choch’ma). Wisdom in all its aspects: Wisdom, understanding and knowledge. The integral mission assigned to the cantor consists of demands that are not necessarily musical. A cantor is undoubtedly a singer. However, a singer is definitely not a cantor, even when he performs cantorial in a synagogue. A classical soloist, highly respected by great conductors, can be a wonderful soloist, but he is not a cantor. The greatest Italian opera singer, in order to excel, is not required to be knowledgeable about the Italian people, their history, their customs and their culture. The cantor, on the other hand, must be a complete Jew in spirit and soul. He must be a scholar of Jewish history, ancient Jewish literature, the written and oral To’rah, the Ha’la’cha (interpretation of the laws of the Scriptures) and the Mid’ra’shim (Jewish commentaries on the Hebrew Scriptures). He must be familiar with the literature of the middle ages including its Pay’ta’nim (poets) and Pi’yu’tim (liturgical poems). He should be familiar with modern Hebrew literature. This Jewish consciousness is the primary basis for the wisdom of Cha’za’nut, and serves as the principle attribute of the cantor’s mission.

A second attribute, one that is no less important, is the cantor’s standard of morality. Many singers and artists conduct their lives in what is often called “bohemian” lifestyle. They frequently indulge in alcohol and unrestrained social behavior. This kind of lifestyle does not disqualify the secular artist. Cantors, as leaders of their communities, are measured according to their morality. Their behavior must be a model for the public. A cantor is not just another member of the community, but an example of which to follow. His singing must originate from holiness and purity.

A third important aspect of the Cha’zan is his credo (A’ni Ma’a’min). He must be loyal to his people and to their holy values. His religious faith must be unabridged, as he must believe in the words he is uttering, as he is required to be an interpreter of those texts.

Excerpt from: The Essence of Cha’za’nut, by Leib Glantz, 1958."

Amen to that.