Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz in concert in Ann Arbor!

Hey Michiganders, this is a don't miss concert. Be there! I will.

Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz in concert
Saturday July 14, 2012 - 7:00PM

Temple Beth Emeth Brotherhood presents an exciting evening celebrating Klezmer Music in America. Known widely for their band Hot Pstromi, they will be screening Mr. Strom's 30-minute documentary "A Great Day on Eldridge Street", and performing a concert of Klezmer music afterwards. The film documents an historic gathering in 2007 of musicians and singers from throughout the world for an iconic photo, and to make music.

Violinist Yale Strom's music draws on his extensive European field research. He is regarded as one of the world's leading scholar-ethnographer-artists of klezmer music and history.

The unique soulful vocals of Elizabeth Schwartz' have brought her acclaim from many quarters. She is the first woman invited to sing at New York City's landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue.

Tickets: $15 adults, $10 seniors.

Temple Beth Emeth
2309 Packard Rd
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Contact: Ralph Katz 734-663-1288 or the TBE Office 734-665-6744

Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz at Festiwal Zachor, Poland 2009




About the film "A GREAT DAY ON ELDRIDGE STREET"

On October 12, 2007, over one hundred klezmer musicians and Yiddish singers gathered on the steps of New York City’s Eldridge Street synagogue for a once-in-a-lifetime photo shoot. Brought from around the world, these musicians represent the most influential klezmer artists of the revival and in the world today. This significant event was noted for its participants (ranging from Theo Bikel to John Zorn) and was followed by the world’s longest klezmer march, when these musicians took to the streets of the Lower East Side for a parade and impromptu outdoor concert. As they marched, onlookers began to follow along curious to see what this celebration was all about. It was Yiddish street theatre at its best!

Over the next two evenings, the participants performed formally at City University’s Martin E. Segal Theatre and Symphony Space. A GREAT DAY ON ELDRIDGE STREET portrays all of these events. This film not only chronicles this extraordinary weekend, but celebrates the revival of klezmer music and Yiddish song that has now become one of the main soundtracks for Jewish culture throughout the world today with humor, pathos… and of course, great music.

Freedom Season's "Along the Way" - the best Jewish folk rock album of the year.

For the last couple of days I've had Freedom Season on heavy heavy rotation. I'm on another work trip and this is exactly the kind of soul music to get me through. Listening to the YouTube video below, you'll definitely get a strong Shlomo Carlebach vibe. Well done, but pretty much everyone with tzizit and a guitar wants to be Carlebach, right?

Ok. Now listen to the tracks from their studio album, Along the Way. Check out Taste of Heaven, Havdalah, or Old Friend. Fantastic harmonies and melodies and bluesy acoustic riffs that echo 1960's and early 1970's Americana folk pop bands like the Byrds. And strong strong well crafted lyrics that pick up some deep ideas without taking easy 'let's do another arrangement of one of the psalms/zimrot/Carlebach/classic niggun' shortcuts*. Their song Havadallah is going to become a camp standard. You wait and see.
Wow. Where did these guys come from? Where have they been all my life? The Cool Jew blog recently compared Freedom Season to 8th Day. I can see the comparison, but I'm not buying it. 8th Day's got a much more straight up modern rock sound. Freedom Season's way more the softer side of folk rock. I will say that if they can get their stage show up to the level of the album, they'll be selling out halls the way that 8th Day does and Blue Fringe did.

In addition to scoring "Along the Way" through Bandcamp, you can grab it from iTunes and Amazon MP3. You can also follow their adventures on Facebook. And you really should.

Freedom Season - Live at Chabad of Basking Ridge (6/10/12) 2/3

* Just to be clear here, I love "psalms/zimrot/Carlebach/classic nigguns" as much as the next Jewish music obsessed guy. I'm just excited to see a couple of songwriters who can really write lyrics and aren't afraid to divert from the traditional Jewish community's standard music formula's.

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. 

Happy 4th of July: Irving Berlin singing God Bless America

Happy 4th, folks.  Here's the man himself, singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show. Well, a short clip of it at any rate.

Irving Berlin singing God Bless American

While Berlin wrote the song, and then dropped it, from a military review called Yip Yip Yaphank in 1918, Berlin didn't reintroduced for another 20 years until he brought the song back as a peace song on Armistice Day in 1938, sung by Kate Smith on her radio show. The intro lyric to the song, which isn't sung anymore, is fascinating.

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

The storm clouds across the sea clearly reference (as written) World War I but, as sung in 1938, also reference the looming Holocaust and World War II. I love how the last line sets up the main chorus (now the only part sung) as a prayer, a supplication. I get frustrated with some patriotic materials that suggest that God owes us something merely for being Americans. I much prefer patriotic materials that position us as humbly asking God that, if we live up to our obligations and ideas, we might be thrown a little guidance and wisdom for maintaining our home sweet home.

God bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home
God bless America, My home sweet home.

Kate Smith introduces God Bless America

Moshe Hecht's New Video

Moshe Hecht, a Hasidic rocker with a radio friendly 90's college rock sound, dropped his debut album last fall.  I blogged about its first single, Lamplighters, briefly when it first came out. Half a year later, and a brand new video for the album's lead track "Believers" is out.  The video seems to be based on a live concert recording from the Knitting Factory.  Based on the video, I can see Hecht picking up a lot of Blue Fringe fans.

Check it out...

Moshe Hecht - Believers

You can grab the debut album and the live recording of Believers from a variety of places including Mostly Music. For the price of your email address for his mailing list, you can get the rest of the Knitting Factory concert (without Believers) at Hecht's website.

Zion Unit Jerusalem Sound System

Israeli DJ Zion Unit makes trip hop soundscapes I want to live inside. Press play on Jericho.

"ZION UNIT is an art ensemble originally from Reunion Island and based in France, UK and Israël. His musical work is an exotic and disorder opera kitsch, intimate, baroque, tinted soul, funk, trip hop, moods filmesques, colors and ethnic psychedelics."

For more info, check out Zion Unit's Facebook, Reverbnation, and Soundcloud pages.

Back in the Day: Alon Braier's Mizrachi Musician Cards

Alon Braier is a freelance graphic artist and illustrator based in Tel Aviv. I recently ran across his fantastic project "Back in the Day (בזכרי ימים ימימה)" which consists of a boxed set of cards that pay "tribute to the great Israeli mizrachi music pioneers of the 60's and 70's." Looking to get a bit more information, and hopefully score a set of the cards, I contacted Braier about the project.

Teruah: What was origin of the Mizrachi musician card project? Was this something you did as a freelancer for a customer? A personal project? Are you personally a fan Mizrachi music?

Braier: I started working on the Mizrachi musician card project, or "back in the day" as it translates from its Hebrew name, about two years ago. It was my final project before achieving a bachelor's degree at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. On my junior year I spent one semester as an exchange student at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, and while visiting New York City on spring break, I stumbled upon a beautiful, illustrated trading card deck named "Legends of Rap". I was blown away by the whole idea of illustrated music related trading cards, It was then that I decided to make my own deck as a final project when I'll get back to Israel.

Mizrachi music was never exactly my cup of tea (at least not before the project). I chose to focus on that specific genre because I wasn’t familiar with it. Back then, it occurred to me that by digging into a subject I know very little about my interest will stay high throughout the process.

I also wanted my project to deal with social matters and I knew Mizrahi music always carried a big social and political baggage. Mizrahi music was created by migrating Jews from the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa who created a unique musical style that combines elements of Arabic, Greek, and Turkish music. At the early days of Israeli radio this type of music was excluded from the airwaves, basically because the people who owned the media and the main cultural institutions in those years where of Ashkenazi heritage and preferred a more European taste. At the beginning of the 80's Mizrahi music suddenly got in to the playlists and became very popular until this very day. The sad thing is that in order to reach this state the genre lost most of its authenticity and unique musical roots. Today it's basically all about simple pop songs on an Arabic scale with some occasional oriental instrument thrown in the mix. My project is focusing on the early days, the 60's and 70's, when Mizrahi music was a special fusion of east and west, a one of a kind blend of rock soul and middle eastern music.

Teruah: Who is included?

Braier: The deck has all the great pioneers of the genre, people who became legends like Zohar Argov (pictured above) – the king of Mizrahi music (5) and Aviu Medina (1) the composer who wrote many mizrahi classics like "Haperach Begani" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcpgpEUlKfk which was Zohar's first international hit. I also included the main producers and representatives of Mizrahi artists, "The Reuveni Brothers" (12) and the most essential Mizrahi bands- Tzlilei haoud (3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9_hY8bhuzc&feature=related and Tzlilei hakerem (11 ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JynC5hxfSZM&feature=related.

Among the well known artists I illustrated some truly underrated ones, like Aris San (10)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-LCj-wGAQI - Filfel al Masri (19) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM-vE9ngljg - The Gang (15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU301lExnO4 - Jo Amar (17) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xclyyCzMM0Q (my personal favorite). And some surprising rarities like Shechunat Hatikva workshop Theater (8, pictured) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2xNTzlFSk0which includes the very young and talented Ofra Haza.

I really wanted to include Yosef Ben Israel, the first DJ who actually played Mizrahi music on the radio, but I couldn't find any pictures of him.


Teruah: Are these cards available for purchase?

Braier: I'm afraid not, I did have a few of them in a handmade box with a poster in every pack but they were sold out pretty quickly (I have only one complete pack left, which I carry with me to job interviews) but I'm planning to re-print them sometime during this year.

Teruah: Have you done any additional music related projects? Do you plan any?

Braier: Since the Mizrahi project came out I did some editorial illustrations for local papers that had article about Mizrahi culture. I also did the cover art for Lo dubim's debut album http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ADtnkFUV-U&feature=related lately, I began working on another card deck about the Israeli new wave scene of the 80's but I'm still in the research stage.

-----


So no cards for me. At least not yet. But go check out the full set on Braier's website.

As a final treat, here's Braier's favorite, the great Jo Amar, singing Great My Cousin. Amar, who passed away in 2009, was a widely popular Moroccan born vocalist whose 1971 "Shalom le-ben dodi" was one of the first big Mizrachi hits.

Jo Amar Greet my cousin ג'ו עמר שלום לבן דודי

#NoseJobGate - The Groggers and Plastic Surgery Disasters

Ah, nose jobs. I remember being a teen and having my grandfather promise me that if I ever wanted a nose job he'd pay for it. Huh? I remember thinking. Why on earth would I want that? Now my brother...he's got serious beak.... It's not just my grandfather, though. Our collective self-consciousnesses about our over-sized honkers comes up regularly in both self-deprecating jokes and in trips to the plastic surgeon. Occasionally, it even bubbles over into the mainstream culture. Maybe it's a way to identify (and identify with) the outsider in last spring's episode of Glee, for example, or to make unexpected (and awkward) connections between actress Halle Berry, her Jewish cousin, and the viewing audience of the Tonight show back in 2007.

Mostly the whole idea is about as cliche and tacky as JAP (Jewish American Princess) or circumcision jokes. (Didja hear the one about the.....)

This week's entry into the Nose Job hall of fame is "Jewcan Sam (A Nosejob Love Song)" by The Groggers. The song, which has now been viewed over 120,000 times, is a funny guy-wants-girl power-pop joke-fest. Get your nose circumcised. Pinocchio never got Snow White. Funny stuff from a band known for sharp humor. (See my previous post on The Groggers)

Here's the song.

"Jewcan Sam" (A Nose Job Love Song) - The Groggers [Official Music Video]



And then it hit the press. I saw it first on the ABC News website under the banner "Miami Plastic Surgeon Under Investigation After Commissioning 'Jewcan Sam' Music Video." For real? How did ABC even hear the song. The Groggers are a relatively unknown (though talented) Orthodox Jewish rock band. But then it came clear...the nose job song and video were paid for by an Orthodox Jewish plastic surgeon in Florida. And hence the scandal. This is, the news narrative states, payola for promotion of plastic surgery to teens. And then the scandal deepened. The leader of the Groggers actually got a nose job himself as part of the deal. This has all the makings for a media feeding frenzy.

The Miami Herald, NBC, the Sun-Sentinal, UPI, and the Huffington Post all weighed in. So did the UK's Daily Mail and Jewish outlets The JTA, The Forward, and Shalom Live. Even the industry site OutpatientSurgery.Com commented. (And to get really meta, I'm writing this post about it citing all those other rags).

And then Groggers band leader Doug Staiman did a great radio interview capitalizing on the whole affair on 107.2 FM.

The verdict so far? The plastic surgeon involved may have violated ethics rules in funding the video. The band may have violated good taste and judgement by taking the funding. The song is pretty darn good and pretty darn ambiguous as to its stance on Jewish nose jobs. Which is all just fine with me. The Groggers are notorious for writing funny songs that tweak the Jewish community. Have at it boys.

Mikey Pauker on IndiGogo, Wisaal & Max Chaiken on Kickstarter

Here are few more Jewish music related bands going the IndioGoGo and Kickstarter advance sales route. Check 'em out

Mikey Pauker
My buddy, Mikey is in Israel studying and making music. He's been invited to play mainstage at the Jacob's Ladder Festival, a 5,000+ attendance folk, bluegrass and world music festival in Israel. This is a really big deal. But doing this messes up his booked flights. So he's asking for help and selling his CDs to raise funds to get him home. Here's the IndiGoGo link. Here's Mikey's website and facebook page.

Help Mikey Pauker play Jacob's Ladder Festival (and get home again!)



Wisaal
Next up is Wisaal, from Michigan. According to their bio, "Wisaal - An Arabic word meaning links, connections, or unities - reflects our attempt to fuse elements of the Arabic musical heritage with Klezmer, Indian and American influences while resection the spirit of these traditions." Wisaal is raising funds / doing advance sales for their debut album. Here's their kickstarter page, facebook page and website.

Wisaal Recording Project


Max Chaiken
Last up is the Max Chaiken Band, from Boston. According to his bio, "For nearly 10 years, Max has been song leading and writing original, contemporary Jewish music. He served as the Head Song Leader at the URJ Camp Harlam from 2004 through 2009, and currently serves as the Head Song Leader at the URJ Kutz Camp." Their raising funds / doing advance sales for their debut album "All That Breathes" Here's their kickstarter page, their facebook page, and their website.

Honestly, Max's Kickstarter video is boring (boring = no music). So here's Max doing a lovely job putting Psalm 150 to the chords of Leonard Cohen's classic Halleluyah. I just heard the high school choir at Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor sing this recently.

Psalm 150 to Leonard Cohen's Halleluyah

The Heartsleves Haman: A latin rock drash

The Boston based Heartsleeves is another next-gen hybrid band, playing rock club stages but including occasional songs with explicitly Jewish content or references. Their Purim song, Haman, off their new album Peripheral People isn't the first I've heard (That would be their identity politics romp "Son of Lenny Bruce"). But it's great, a Latin rock bump-up with some nice sax work. The lyrics are a terse and fairly pedestrian retelling of the megillah, but the chorus "Give me the power to protect myself" is really interesting. It's a nice drash on the controversial end of the megillah where the decree allowing the Jews to be attacked isn't lifted, but a second decree is given allowing the Jews to fight back. The controversy is that many Jews don't like the image of Jews killing anyone (including Haman's sons) in retribution and claiming booty for the violence. It's also a nice drash on the classic megillah question regarding the presence / absence of God in the account. Haman's chorus offers a succinct answer to both ... God is present in the story and the climax of the story is God giving/renewing the Jews ability to defend themselves. In that way, the story becomes a prologue for nationalistic / militaristic aspects of Chanukah and modern "Jewish self-defense" ideas that emerged under Zionism. (Which I'll be discussing later this week when I write about the Chicago based punk/industrial project Hadar.)

Not bad for a 6 word rock chorus.

Haman (Purim Song) - The HeartSleeves

For more info on the Heartsleeves, check out their website, Facebook, or BandCamp pages or follow them on Twitter.