Shofar Jam Session

L'shanah tovah, everyone. May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.

Shofar Jam Session


Hat tip to the folks at TuneUp Media for posting the video.

Learning Birkat Hamazon

Typically, I like to post a "get in the Shabbat groove" video. This week I'm going to do something a bit different. As I've mentioned before, I've been gradually working on improving my family's Shabbat practice. In addition to a nice supper with candles & blessings, we've added some simple z'mirot and I tell the kids a story from the Torah which may or may not align to the Parsha depending on how kid-interesting I think I can make the Parsha (and, honestly, if I've read the Parsha in time). It's been going great and the family is ready and eager for more. You should have seen my little ones last week, all well scrubbed and proud as punch yodeling along with me as we sang Eli, Eli*.

Tonight I'll be introducing the Birkat Hamazon, the grace after meals. I first learned it back in my synagogue youth group, but have rarely sung it since. So...out to the internet to find a video of someone singing it to remind me of the melody. I'd hoped to find a video of some group singing with a lot spirit. Unfortunately, all of the videos I found either had terrible sound quality or were broken up into a bunch of fragments.

This video, while lacking a bit in ruach, did the trick. The video was put together by Conservative Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg who has a whole series of similar videos. I have a copy of B'Kol Echad, the bencher that Rabbi Ginsburg, is holding in the video and highly recommend it. You can get a copy through the Project Z'mirot folks at USY.

Jewish Songs Series 1 Birkat Hamazon

Wish me luck!

* By the way, I wanted to give yet another plug for the wonderful Oy Baby series of DVD's and CD's. My little ones were first exposed to Eli, Eli on Oy Baby 2. When I introduced it as a Shabbat Z'mirot they were delighted. My 5 year old almost has the Hebrew down cold.

I gotta' love you Rosh Hashana

Ok, Rosh Hashanah is almost here and while it's a serious holiday I can't resist offering up this little confection from singer Michelle Citrin, writer / artist William Levin (of Jewish Robot fame) and Taglit-Birthright Israel. This the second video I've posted from the Citrin Levin team for Taglit. The first as Passover goof 20 Things to Do with Matzoh.

I Gotta' Love You Rosh Hashanah


This video was released last year so some of have probably seen it already but some how I missed it. I actually ran across it looking for some Rosh Hashanah themed songs for a Rosh Hashanah party I'm going to on Sunday. My primary contribution to the party will be home made candy apples. I'm all for the traditional apples and honey, but ever since I was a kid fall meant country fairs and country fairs meant candy apples. As an adult, the Days of Awe have a lot more meaning, but candy apples still capture the season. They're also a lot of fun to make. This year I hope to only give myself one serious burn. That'd be nice.

Two songs for Jonathan Pollard

Recently I started paying more attention to Jewish contemporary political songs. The first set I looked at focused specifically on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Today I want to look at two songs about Jonathan Pollard. Pollard has been a cause célèbre among a segment of world Jewry for the last 20 years or so after being sentenced for passing classified material to the Israeli government. The reason for his celebrity is two-fold. First, he claims that he only provided information to Israel that was critical to its security and that the US had pledged and failed to provide. Second, his sentencing was considered overly harsh. He is still serving a life sentence for a crime where, according to JonathanPollard.Org "[t]he median sentence for the offense Pollard committed - one count of passing non-injurious classified information to an ally - is two to four years." There are lots of complications and counter claims made about this case (see wikipedia for a rundown), but the bottom line is that Israel and members of world Jewry still remembers Pollard and lobby for his release. And they write songs about him.

The first song I want to show is "Justice Denied" by Dovid Kerner. Kerner is an American Jew who plays a Bob Dylanesque folk-rock guitar. Kerner really hits his stride when stridently mixing details of topical issues and Biblical images. Here's a section of lyrics from "Justice Denied" that picks up Pollard's public justification in terms of ancient enmities. The image is possibly a bit overstated, but clearly shows how Kerner and many Jews view Pollards incarceration.

Well, the Gulf War came and soon the bombs would rain, but you know we were prepared
As in days before, spreading blood by the door, awaiting the wonders that we all would share
We knew what to expect, we had a peak in the deck, because the deed was done
If it was Esav's hand it was Yakov taking his stand
You know there's nothing new under the sun.

Dovid Kerner's 'Justice Denied'


Justice Denied is not merely descriptive. Kerner starts with the rallying cry of "Jonathan Pollard sits in a cell, and what are we doing about it?" and concludes with "So sharpen those pencils, crank up your phones and plug in those fax machines. We can't be only for ourselves, our brother's crying for help." This is the full treatment from a singer passionate about Pollards defense.

Just a quick side note, Kerner's album "Bond of Love" is worth a listen if you groove on the late 60's Dylan sound. To my taste it leans a bit heavy in that direction and the album has a few real duds on it. That said, though, the album has some fine moments, Justice Denied being only one of them. I'm particularly fond of Kerner's narrative songs including Pillar of Fire, Justice Denied, Thirteen Jews, and Ballad of Ruth & Naomi. Definitely worth a listen. You can learn more about Kerner and hear each of the songs at his website, KernerSongs.com.

The second song is "Lonely Prisoner" by Yair Gordon, a Jew from South Africa. While Gordon has the same political outlook that Kerner has, he uses a different lyrical approach. Instead of the strident call to action, Gordon gently conjures sympathetic images of Pollard in jail.

"Lonely prisoner,
Sand runs through your fingers, days run through the bars,
And you sit... and you wait.

Lonely prisoner,
Has your hope turned bitter, lost faith in those you saved?
Still, you sit... and you wait"

Yair Gordon's 'Lonely Prisoner'


Gordon also includes a line of Hebrew that I take for granted comes from a Biblical source or Talmudic source. Even for folks like me who don't understand the Hebrew, the use of the Hebrew phrase serves to remind us that Pollard is also a Jew and should be treated like a brother. While Kerner is direct and Gordon is evocative, both have the same goal. They use Jewish images and motifs to move and motivate the listener. You can find out more about Gordon, read the full lyrics of "Lonely Prisoner" and hear his other song "Captured Brothers" at his website.

UPDATE: I just got the following note from Hasidic Musician of the Blog in Dm...

"The Hebrew in Yair Gordon's song is the first half verse of Isaiah 35:10. The King James translation is " and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs..." (I would probably translate the last word of the phrase as joyous celebration rather then "songs").

UPDATE II: I just had a nice email exchange with Yair Gordon who wanted everyone to know that while he used to live in South Africa, he made Aliyah and is now happily in Israel. He also asked me why, if I'm a Jew, do I live in a Christian farm town. I wish I had a better answer than "because I do." But that's about it. The nearest city, Ann Arbor, has a small but vibrant community but for a variety of reasons my wife and I chose not to live there. Maybe someday we'll move to an area with vibrant Jewish life. We'd like that. But we're not there yet.

Phil Blank: The Lowest of the Low and Jewish Deborah/Bee Goddesses

I got chatting with Phil Blank, the accordion player of the Wednesday Night Klezmer Collective. Fascinating guy. He is now officially added to "The List of People Jack Would Invite Over For Beer and Conversation If Jack Didn't Live 1000 Miles From Them." In addition to squeezing out the Odessa Bulgar on Wednesdays, Phil is an professional artist with an eye (and an ear) for esoteric musicology. Here are two paintings from his recent Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art show.

As he says "The Lowest of the Low is my anthropological musings on the role of the klezmer and their perhaps misunderstood "status" and the second is an illustration of the Jewish Deborah/Bee Goddesses, a possibly ecstatic group of women who played drums and were related to a bee cult that stretched from Egypt to Greece to India in the olden days."



Underlying Lowest of the Low is a wonderful sense of the Klezmer as both marginal outsider (barely tolerated for living according to other rules) and critical insider (provides spiritual and secular functions not available otherwise). Jewish Deborah/Bee Goddesses picks up a similar theme, but is even more esoteric. It contemplates mystic, ecstatic, musical, religious traditions connected to, in this case, bees. According to Phil, this tradition was widespread across the Mediterranean and Asia Minor and may have included the Israelites via the prophetess Deborah (who's name, in Hebrew, is Bee).



Now, whether or not his art connects for you the way it does for me and whether or not you buy the connections he makes, this is important stuff to think about. We tell ourselves simple stories of the past that make the present seem inevitable and benign. It's neither. History is filled with traditions, ideas, and people who were excised from what would become the dominant story. But that doesn't mean they weren't there and that they didn't have an influence. Is it a stretch to look at klezmorim as remnants of a shamanistic mystical musical tradition that stretches back in time to Deborah (and further back to Miriam)? Probably. But the tension between Rabbinic Judaism and mystic, spiritual, strains of Judaism goes back at least that far. So why not?

Anyway, Phil and the Philedephia Museum of Jewish Art are selling prints of these and other of his paintings. Channukah's coming up.... Checkout Phil's website or write to him at phil at philblank dot net. Tell him I sent you.

Wednesday Night Klezmer Collective

Here's another fun klezmer video. This is the "Wednesday Night Klezmer Collective" cranking away on the klezmer classic, Odessa Bulgar. I don't know anything about the Collective yet, but I enjoyed the informal atmosphere. I get the impression that there was a real mix of skill level in the video, which is great. I particularly enjoyed the sound of the male voice leading the musician and providing some additional nuance to the music. Good fun.

Odessa Bulgar

UPDATE: I exchanged some email with Phil Blank, artist and accordion player, about the collective. Here's his explanation.

"Nice to hear from you. I had seen your blog before and dig it. "mix of skill levels"- ha! yes I guess that's one way to say it. As the accordion player I probably represent one extreme of those levels but hey, I'm having fun.

The WNKC is a group of folks who just get together occasionally and play off of a core repetoire of trad klezmer. We all live near Carrboro NC. My idea was that instead of band, we would be a loose affiliation of folks who could come and go as they please. I thought this might be an interesting way of building a community- slightly different than the sort you get in a traditional "band" situation. So far so good. Yup, it was a practice, right after we all had some tasty pickled eggplant, mushroom flatbreads, fried cheese thingies and some other tasty stuff I can't
remember."

Hat tip to YouTube user Accordiannutz for posting this video and a stack of others.

Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Express

I needed a Klezmer fix this morning. What better way to kick off a Monday? Here's a new video of klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals playing at the River to River Festival in New York.

Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Express

Svigals is a mainstay of the contemporary klezmer scene. She was one of the founding members of the Klezmatics and "All Woman Yiddish Song" group "Mikveh," as well as an amazing solo career. You can find more info her adventures and recordings at her website, AliciaSvigals.com. I hadn't been to her site in a while and was struck by this quote. Partially, because of it's such a capsule summary of the Klezmer revolution and partially because it reminds me of how little I know about Workman's Circle and the Yiddish Socialist movement. Another area I'll need to explore further.

"When I was little I divided my afterschool time between Bach violin concertos and weekly classes at the local Workmen’s Circle school, where we were taught, somewhat eccentrically, Yiddish and socialism, while the rest of the Jewish world was studying Hebrew and preparing for their bar/bas mitzvahs. I couldn’t have imagined then, a presumed future doctor of some sort, that eventually those elements would coalesce into a career that would take me around the world, and that I’d get to witness and even assist at the miraculous rebirth of Yiddish culture in our day. And that some pretty weird things would happen along the way.

At the Workmen’s Circle we were taught Yiddish folksongs, chestnuts which our teachers hoped would help innoculate us against assimilation. One day as a teenager though, I heard something that compelled and excited the musician in me: clarinetist Andy Statman bringing the old Jewish instrumental music now called klezmer back into the light of day. The complexity, beauty, mystery and power of the music gripped me. When I graduated college in 1985 I answered an ad placed by a musician looking to form a klezmer group; we soon became the Klezmatics. As I struggled to decipher how the musicians on the old 78s made those mysterious sounds – like a cantor singing, like Yiddish without words, sounds that sounded so Jewish – our career started unexpectedly taking off.

Looking back I can see that although Yiddish culture seemed sparse around the world at the time, and some thought my career choice a little flaky, the world was in fact pregnant with Yiddish culture, still hidden but ripe and ready to emerge again everywhere we turned, among Jews and non-Jews too."

Hat tip to YouTube user Fiddleboi for posting the video.

Ki Karov Eilecha (E.L.U.L.) by Shir Yaakov and Friends

Shabbat Shalom folks,

Time for my get in Shabbat groove video. This week it's hard to focus on Shabbat because Rosh Hashanna is getting so near, so I'm going with an early get in the "Rosh Hashana" groove video.

Here's Shir Yaakov Feinstein-Felt's Ki Karov Eilecha performed by Feinstein-Feit with Tamuz Shiran, Tali Weinberg, Basya Schechter and Jessie Reagen at Mima'amkim's "By the Reverb of Babylon" at the Bowery Poetry Club. Sigh. I wish I lived in New York and could attend these things in person. Someday.

Ki Karov Eilecha (E.L.U.L.) by Shir Yaakov and Friends

According to Shir Yaakov, "The first four words of the chorus of this song — את–לבבך ואת–לבב — are an acronym for Elul, (אלול) the month that we use to prepare for the Days of Awe. This seems to imply that carrying love in our mouths and hearts is a matter of great nearness, simplicity, and utmost importance." He's provided the full lyrics in Hebrew, English transliteration, and English translation. You can also download a free studio version of this song courtesy of Shir Yaakov and Last.FM.

You can scoop up Shir Yaakov's new EP "Shir" over at CD Baby, get more info on him and listen to lots more of his music at his website,Eights.org and catch some more of his Bowery performance on YouTube here and here.

Tekhias Hameysim Tants - Dance of Death and Resurrection

Finally, a video of a Tekhias Hameysim Tants (Dance of Death and Resurrection, has been posted to YouTube. I first heard about the Tants (dance) through some discussion on the Klezmershack mailing list early in the Spring and found some interesting material on it but couldn't find any videos. And now, one pops up on YouTube for our edification.

So what, exactly, is a Tekhias Hameysim Tants? As described by Yiddish dance leader Jill Gellerman (in her KlezKamp 2007 dance class notes)...

"Symbolic of death and rebirth, the dance is traditionally done by men or boys after the ceremony when the status of the wedding couple has changed from single to married. The Tkhies hameysim tants or Death and Resurrection Dance, which I have witnessed at American Hasidic weddings in Brooklyn since 1975, is a freely choreographed pantomime for two men in three parts, accompanied by a medley of three separate melodies. Part I, a broyges tants, begins with two male friends sharing a bottle of whiskey in the center of a circle. One man tries to take the bottle, a fight ensues, and his friend lands on the floor as if dead. Part II, the revival of the dead man, is a slow doina section in which the Hasid, realizing what he has done, bends over his friend in order to resuscitate him. Using all manner of gestures with his handkerchief to bring him back to life again, the Hasid finally succeeds in awakening his partner, lifting him to his feet, and presenting him with the bottle. Part III, the final section is a freylekh of friendship and simcha. ... That the tkhies hameysim tants might have been transformed from the co-territorial non-Jewish population is suggested by comments from dance scholar Elsie Dunin, who saw this dance performed among the gypsies in Eastern Europe."

See the cool things you miss if you don't get invited to Chassidic weddings? I was proud of myself for getting a hora going and for hoisting my cousin up in a chair at her wedding last week. Not for a minute did I consider involving chicken bones in the process. Major oversight on my part. One note before you watch this, from what I've been told this video is representative of the dance but not nearly the height of musicianship and choreography that some weddings achieve. All I can say to that is, you should me and my cousins dance at weddings. These guys do fine.

Tekhias Hameysim Tants

If you're interested in obtaining an audio recording of Tekhais Hameysim, I'm aware of two sources. First is the Smithsonian Folkways recording "FW04209 Hassidic Tunes of Dancing and Rejoicing" and second is the Sameach Music recording "Piamenta 1990" (by the Sephardic group Piamenta).

One last note, clearly the idea of a Dance of Death and Resurrection raises an obvious question...do Jews believe in immediate resurrection as represented in the dance? The answer is, "sort of" and "it depends on who you ask." The Judaism 101 website has a nice overview of the various Jewish beliefs about death and the afterlife. As it notes "Belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of traditional Judaism." It also notes that "Judaism does not have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great deal of room for personal opinion." Mystical groups, particularly among the Chassidim, "believe resurrection is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process." For some example stories from the Chassidic tradition, see the website for the book "Jewish Tales of Reincarnation." So, my (non-mystical) Conservative movement Jewish beliefs don't include this kind of immidate resurrection but Chassidim does.

Hat tip to the anonymous YouTube user who posted the video and to Jill Gellerman for letting me quote her KlezKamp notes. Another good reason to go to KlezKamp! Thanks.

Lisa Paglin & Jewish Music from Ancona, Italy

Hi folks. I got a nice email a couple of days ago from Lisa Paglin of the New Voice Studio Italia that I thought I'd pass along.

"I am writing to you from Ancona, on the Adriatic sea below Venice. Ancona was once an important Jewish center and, sadly, like so many European cities and towns, now has a very small Jewish population. But we do have some interesting cultural activities and one of them is the International Adriatic - Mediterranean Festival which begins on August 30 the (the inauguration was yesterday!) and ends on (and includes) the European Day of Jewish culture, the 7th of September. It is a festival of theatre, cinema, music, poetry and art.

I am a pianist and singer and co-founder of the NewVoice Studio ITALIA. If you would like to look at our website, it is here: www.newvoicestudioitalia.com

I have been dedicated, for several years, to researching, restoring and sometimes re-arranging the music of composers who were persecuted during the 1930s and 1940s, and who were active in the Jewish ghettos. I have performed several concerts of music written by composers deported to concentration and extermination camps under Nazi fascism. I am planning a concert for next January, for Holocaust Memorial Day.

This year the theme of the Day of Jewish culture is "Music and Words," so, in addition to the usual opening up of all of the Jewish museums and Synagogues (with free guided tours for many people who have never been to a synagogue...), we are offering several musical events. The one that i am performing is combined with the presentation of a book ("words"!) entitled "Ricomporre l'Infranto". translated as "Reassembling the broken pieces".

Ancona is fast becoming an important city for Jewish music."

A quick Google check supports what Lisa said. Ancona has supported a couple of klezmer festivals recently as well as the events in her email. That's a wonderful thing. It's really exciting to see the Jewish communities in Europe starting to blossom again. I was in Florence, Italy, earlier this year and was delighted by all of the Jewish music I found happening over there. Check out my previous posts "Cantor Yosef Gottesman, Opera in the Synagogue!," "Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco," "Singing Dew: The Florence-Leghorn Jewish Musical Tradition," and "Enrico Fink - Italian Klezmer and Theater Music."

These posts were written over a couple of days in Florence. If I'd had more time I could have spent a couple of weeks covering Jewish music across Italy. Hmm. Considering the variety and quality of what I found, maybe I should....