Havdalah with the Moshav Band and with Reb. Shlomo Carlebach

Shabbat's almost here and it's time for some good liturgical music to help us get in the mood. Half the fun for me is the time I spend thinking about Shabbat, trying to decide what prayer or zmirot I'm most in the mood for. This week I realized that I'd never posted anything related to Havdalah. From one perspective, that's pretty reasonable. Havadalah is the service that closes out Shabbat. That would be a bit like going in the out door, right?

But, honestly, there's another reason why I've never posted anything related to Havdalah. I don't do the Havdalah service. I light candles (mostly) every Shabbat, but I'm not Shomer Shabbas. Even as my religious practice has improved over the years, I've felt very uncomfortable taking on Havdalah. For me, Shabbat is basically over once the Friday night candles burn out (or once I'm back from synagogue on Saturday on the rare occasion I make it there). So, for me, performing the Havdalah ritual would be strangely dislocated from the Friday night rituals by a day of secular errands and whatnot.

That doesn't mean I'm not aware of what I'm missing. The few times I've participated in it were moving experiences. An experience I was thinking a lot about this morning, for some reason. And so, without anymore whining about the problems I cause myself, here are lovely examples of exactly what I and my family are missing every Saturday night.

Moshav Band Live @ Makor 3/17/07 Havdalah Service


Havdalah of Reb Shlomo Carlebach

Hat tip to YouTube users asilver8 and sewy18 for posting the videos.

Alex Jacobowitz on being a Jewish musician in Germany

Here's an interesting interview with Alex Jacobowitz, a classically trained klezmer musician. In the interview he talks about his experiences as an Orthodox Jew touring in Eastern Europe and Germany.

Interview (Jerusalem 1998)


When you're done with the interview, you should check out some of his other YouTube videos. Klezmer on a xylophone is an interesting experience. It evokes a tsimbl, a typical klezmer instrument, but with a very different tone.

Jewish Cowboys Part 6: Bucky Goldstein

And Teruah's obsession with Jewish cowboys continues with installment six, Bucky Goldstein. This installment is about a joke and a song. Because this is a music blog, we'll do the song first.

Bucky Goldstein

The song was written by Mark "Emo" Langbehn. Here's his explanation...

Back-story: The title is drawn from a Steven Wright joke, but I didn't know it at the time. Michael Huskey was jamming with myself (Emo) and Adam S. and he made up this hilarious song called Bucky Goldstein. But we completely forgot how it went, except for the part about a bagel. Anyway, I wrote my own version trying to match how funny Michael's version was.

And now the joke...

Steven Wright: on a bus

Thanks to YouTube user TimClague (of Projector Films) for animating and posting the Steven Wright joke and to Mark "Emo" Langbehn for recording and posting the song.

the adventure continues.......Jewish Cowboys Part 5: Shir HaBokrim, the Song of the (Israeli) Cowboys, Jewish Cowboys Part 4: Harold Stern, Manischewitz Cowboy, Mare Winningham's "Refuge Rock Sublime", Jewish Cowboys Part 1: Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, Jewish Cowboys Part 2: Scott Gerber, Jewish Cowboys Part 3: So Called's "You Are Never Alone")

Searching for a Sephardic choral recording

In my last post I proudly proclaimed my victory at tracking down Ari Kunstler's "Eyes on Jerusalem." Yay me. But sadly, I'm only batting .50 lately. I am currently failing to find a Sephardic choral recording that another Teruah reader is looking for. She described it as being a Sephardic choral piece, conducted by Sir Neville Mariner and performed by the Academy of St.Martin in the Fields chorus. She only heard it once, years ago on the radio, and has been looking for it ever since. The best I was able to come up with was the 2003 Naxos recording of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's "Naomi & Ruth and Sacred Service for Shabbat Eve" for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music.

Good guess, it was wrong. Does anyone have any better suggestions?

Searching for Ari Kunstler's "Eyes on Jerusalem"

I've got a new job title. A Teruah reader has officially dubbed me "Musical Schadchen." (A schadchen is an expert matchmaker. I had to look it up.) From now on every email I send will proudly proclaim it.

Here's what happened. I received an email a couple of days ago by a Teruah reader who was trying to "track down an album/tape that was released about 15 years ago (I think), entitled Eyes on Jerusalem. ... Used to listen to it on long trips with the family -- the tape eventually dissolved in a grimey mix of smashed banana, hard boiled eggs, old maps, old tennis shoes, pretzels, twizzlers, and big gulps." I can empathize. I had a number of tapes go that route. And couple of others that, once I dug them out, had spontaneously became Queen's Greatest Hits. The footwells of cars do strange and unfortunate things to music.

I'd never heard of the album. 15 years ago I wouldn't have known such an album existed. But I love treasure hunts, so I hit Google and did some sleuthing. It turns out that the album was recorded by Ari Kunstler, musician, songwriter, and father of current Jewish music performer Aryeh Kunstler. I had a nice email exchange with Ari, who was delighted to find out that 15 years later his album was remembered and loved. "Eyes on Jerusalem isn't available through JewishJukebox, MostlyMusic, Hatikvah or any of the other usual suspects (Eichler's has Ari's most recent album, "In this place of Mercy"). But Ari still has some copies that he'd be happy to sell to anyone interested. Email me and I can pass along Ari's contact information.

The Sound of Sacred Time

Earlier this week I posted about Cantor Andrew Bernard's article on the Kaddish. His bio had an intriguing note about his book, The Sound of Sacred Time: A basic music theory textbook to teach the Jewish prayer modes. I emailed him about and found that the book is self-published (contact him (704) 366-1948 x3042 or email me and I'll give you his email address.) Here is his table of contents and the first bit of a sample chapter. It looks very interesting.


If your interested, email me and I can send you the .pdf files of the table of contents and sample chapter sections.

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Song of Autumn

Folks, here's an interesting press release I thought I'd pass along. For those not familiar with Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (me, for instance), she has been an important figure in the American Yiddish music scene. According to Wikipedia, "Schaechter-Gottesman’s songs have been performed by Theodore Bikel, Adrienne Cooper, Theresa Tova, Lucette van den Berg, Michael Alpert, Lorin Sklamberg, Sharon Jan Bernstein, Fabian Schnedler, Massel-Tov and others. A song written for her nephew, "Binyumele’s Bar Mitsve", was adapted by Adrienne Cooper for her daughter as "Sorele’s Bas Mitsve" and was recorded on the CD Mikveh ....Schaechter-Gottesman continues to serve as a resource for researchers of both Yiddish folk and art music. She has been recorded and interviewed numerous times and participated in such cultural events as KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Buffalo on the Roof, Ashkenaz, and Weimar KlezmerWochen...In 1998 Schaechter-Gottesman was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame at City Lore in New York; and in 2005 she received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship, one of the highest cultural honors given by a United States government agency"

Yiddish Film Project
Worlds within a World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Song of Autumn

A VELT MIT VELTELEKH: SHMUESN MIT YIDISHE SHRAYBERS
BEYLE SHEKHTER-GOTESMAN: HARBSTLID

The League for Yiddish is pleased to announce that the film Beyle
Schaechter-Gottesman: Song of Autumn (BEYLE SHEKHTER-GOTESMAN: Harbstlid), the second film in our series Worlds within a World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers (A velt mit veltelekh: shmuesn mit yidishe shraybers) is ready and available for viewing and purchase.

THE FILM
Beyle Schaechter Gottesman: Song of Autumn is an edited interview conducted with this remarkable Yiddish poet, songwriter, and singer by her son folklorist/journalist Itsik Gottesman and enhanced by photo stills and Schaechter-Gottesman's music. The film is 72 minutes long. The interview is entirely in Yiddish WITH VERY ACCURATE AND COMPLETE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. In it, BEYLE, whose name has become synonymous with modern Yiddish song and who has played a central role in revivng and inspiring interest in Yiddish song and poetry among a whole new generation of artists, discusses her life and creative path: her upbringing in the Yiddish cultural milieu of Tshernevits (then Rumania) as the daughter of a remarkable traditional folk singer and a passionate Yiddishist, the war years in Rumania, her development as a modern Yiddish poet and songwriter in New York, and her views on Yiddish literature and creativity. What emerges is a rich picture of the world of a woman who recited poetry to the great Yiddish fabulist Eliezer Shteynbarg as a child, was part of a vibrant Yiddish enclave in the Bronx, and is the only Yiddish poet ever to be awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation's top honor for folk arts.

DIRECTOR
The film is directed and edited by Josh Waletzky, director and editor of Image before My Eyes and Partisans of Vilna, and editor of Emmy Award-winning "Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House." Among other awards, Josh is the recipient of the Silver Ducat at the Mannheim International Film Festival for Image and First Prize at the Anthropos International Film Festival for Partisans.

PURCHASE
Both films make the perfect program for a Yiddish circle, class, or eveny our local Jewish or documentary film festival. The film is available in VHS or DVD format. TO ORDER, SEND $30 PLUS $5 POSTAGE (IN THE US) OR YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION to LEAGUE FOR YIDDISH 64 FULTON ST. SUITE 1101, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10038. Postage for Canada – $6.00 for either VHS or DVD. International postage other than Canada – $5 for the DVD and $12 for the VHS. You may also order at our website www.leagueforyiddish.org with a credit card or paypal. For inquires, please contact us at info@leagueforyiddish.org or call 212 889-0380.

A Guide Kaddish in 16 Tracks

I ran into a great article recently that I thought I'd share. Cantor Andrew Bernard writing in the Reform Jewish Magazine in the Spring 2007 issue offers an article "Sounds of Kaddish" along with a companion set of audio samples, "A Guide to Kaddish through 16 Music Tracks." The article and audio samples highlight the variety of forms and presentations of the Kaddish prayers.

To give you an idea of the article content, here's the first section. To read whole thing, go to "Sounds of Kaddish."

"When most Jews think of the Kaddish, they automatically think of the Mourner’s Kaddish, but we understand there are other forms. Could you tell us about them?

There are actually five forms of Kaddish.

Originally, Kaddish was used to conclude a time of study. This first form, known as Kaddish d’Rabbanan or the Rabbis’ Kaddish, probably dates from the Second Temple period and includes prayers for the blessing of scholars and their disciples, as well as praise of God.

The next two forms of Kaddish serve as prayer markers, telling us where we are in our liturgy. The Chatzi Kaddish—also known as Half Kaddish or, in our Reform prayer book, the Reader’s Kaddish—marks the conclusion of a particular section of the service. Kaddish Shaleim or the Full Kaddish marks the conclusion of the entire service. In this way, Kaddish migrated from the house of study to the house of prayer.

It wasn’t until much later, possibly as late as the thirteenth century, that the fourth kind of Kaddish, Kaddish Yatom or the Mourner’s Kaddish, came into the service, probably in response to the severe persecutions of Jews in Germany at the hands of the Crusaders.

The fifth form is the little-used Kaddish l’ithad’ta or Burial Kaddish. Written at the beginning of the Middle Ages, it is recited at the graveside at the time of burial. Interestingly, it is the only form of Kaddish that includes any reference to death or to resurrection."

I had great fun going through Cantor Bernard's 16 audio selections. Quite the surprising variety. Here are two of my favorites. You can hear the rest at "A Guide to Kaddish through 16 Music Tracks."

Track 1: Leonard Bernstein, Kaddish Symphony, Example I. In the first statement, a Din Torah, in which choir and orchestra present the strident, atonal theme, God is called to judgment for the terrible things going on in the world. From the CD “Kaddish Symphony,” Leonard Bernstein, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Conductor: Gerard Schwarz, Milken Archive 8.559456, Naxos American Classics. To order click http://www.milkenarchive.org/cds/cds.taf?cdid=37

Track 5: James Raphael, Kaddish, Example I. Raphael’s Kaddish takes the listener on a journey from mournful lament…From the CD “Kaddish” for piano, James Raphael, Ars Musici Freiberger Musik Forum 1999 AM 1282-2

Cantor Bernard also offers "The Sounds of Kaddish: Discussion & Study Guide".

Moshe

Here's a great track from the Montreal group New York musician Moshe. Other than the note in the YouTube description that suggests that they're Chabad Lubavitch (of course) I don't know anything about them. I'll let you know if I can dig up a website or myspace page.

illusion, moshe

Update: Like I said above, it's hard to find info on Moshe on the web. I just got an email from him clarifying things a bit. Here's what he had to say..."

"I'm not from montreal i just did a gig there. I'm based out of new york. My dream is to create a fusion of spiritual music and ideas to inspire people! my music is an eclectic blend of reggea, folk, and rap. I just did a concert in florida for lag b'omer, there will be a video coming out soon"

Hat tip to YouTube user zoox01 for posting the video and to the Apple 770 blog.

Shulmusic.org, A repository of mostly Ashkenazi Jewish liturgical music

If you're interested in liturgical music, you should check out the new Shulmusic.org website. It just launched today and loaded with video and audio files, sheet music, and instructional material. And a list of 1700 liturgical composers compiled in the 1950's. I had no idea.

Here are a couple of recordings I particularly enjoyed.

Hashkivenu by Bornstein sung by Hazan Yitzhak Nevo


Yismechu by Robert Brody