Helfgot sings Sole Mio

Someone sent me this video, featuring Helfgot, Adler and Shachat singing Sole Mio. I prefer Helfgot singing Puccini, but this one is also good.

Helfgot sings Puccini

A few weeks ago I saw this video and I was very surprised to see Helfgot doing such move. He is revered as one of the most inspiring singers in JM today and to see him performing a classical opera piece is amusing and to some, maybe a bit offensive. Shwekey, Fried and MBD would never go for it - they stick to the rigid JM behavior standards, but it seems that Helfgot is rather comfortable singing a song that is not in his usual repertoire. That's great, in my humble opinion.

This Puccini song is a classic opera piece and many Chazzanim have singing lessons using these classical opera works since they demand maximum concentration and voice control. That explains why Helfgot has no problem singing it and I'm sure he knows many more opera songs by heart. Maybe Gladitore next time?

Jerusalem Great Synagogue New Chazzan

Chazzan Chaim Adler, who was the chief Chazzan of Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue became the new Chief Chazzan of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. Although I previously wrote that his chances of getting the post were high or very high, this comes as a surprise since I know they tried to get Chazzan Motzen. Adler had a stable position in a prestigious Shul and I never thought he would actually make the switch, but I'm happy he did - the kahal likes him very much and he is one of the best Chazzanim out there now.

I just wonder how much he will change the Synagogue's Nusach, specially the High Holidays nusach. Remains to be seen!

Chazzan Schulhof

We had Chazzan Schulhof this past Shabbos in the Great Synagogue. A former student of the revered Koussovitzki, Schulhof was great and you can hear him a bit in this youtube clip. You can also see more about him in his website.

Who's the New Chazzan?

Naftali Hershtik left his post post as the Chief Chazzan of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue two weeks ago and the rumor season has begun regarding who will be taking his place. Hershitk was there for 30+ years, with striking success, and I will for sure miss him (the BEST falsetto) but now is the time for a new face and no one knows who will be the chosen one. The Gabbaim have announced that in the next two months there will be numerous guest Chazzanim - maybe some sort of trials, I don't know. This blog is not really focused in Chazzanut, but Chazzanut is becoming a genre of interest for so many JM fans, including me, and I decided to put together a list of possibilties.


Chazzan Adler
Chances: [Very High] UPDATE: High
Why: Adler, the Chief Chazzan of the Tel Aviv Great Synagogue, comes very often to daven in the Jerusalem Great Synagogue and the public loves him. He is an easy-going guy, charismatic and different - he's a Ger Chassid, although he davens in Baruch. He has a great voice, power and range. You can hear one of his many youtube videos here.

Chazzan Motzen
Chances: [High] UPDATE: Very High
Why: Motzen is considered the best Chazzan today and although he currently lives in Bal Harbor, FL, he is Israeli and I guess he wouldn't mind to come back for such a chashuv post. He comes to the Great Synagogue at least twice a year as a guest Chazzan and the house is always absolutely packed - he was the guest Chazzan just last Shabbos. Motzen composed many Chazzanut pieces, like his famous Av Harachamim, and he is simply the most complete Chazzan out there. It would be amazing to have him as the Chief Chazzan!

Chazzan Schwartz
Chances: Medium
Why: Azi Schwartz is a former member of the Great Synagogue choir and he is an insider. Despite his relatively young age he has been around and held the post of second Chazzan of the Park East Synagogue, NY, for quite some time. The first Chazzan of Park East, as you probably know, is none other than Helfgott, so Azi is well-rated. Azi moved back to Israel just a few months ago and is "available", so if the board decides to bet in a rising star, Azi will be the guy. He has lots of potential, charisma and already is a great Chazzan. Additionally, he would probably maintain the Shul's nusach, which is always a plus.

Chazzan Helfgott
Chances: Very Low
Why: Helfgott never actually davened in front of the Great Synagogue's amud so I think is quite impossible for him to be the chosen one.

Screechiness and Jewish Music

Jewish Music, like any other musical genre, has its own particularities.

One good example is the traditional horn-filled arrangement, a shtick that somehow made its way into Jewish Music decades ago and was perpetuated by Yisroel Lamm and Moshe Laufer's signature arrangements, which made up to 70% of all arrangements in JM until some 7 years ago. Horn lines are not popular anymore in the goyish (or to the more sensitive readers, gentile) music industry - guitars, acoustic guitars, synths and techno took over a long time ago. But for some reason, the JM public thinks that horn-filled arrangements have more "Yiddishe Ta'am" than the contemporary and "innapropriate" arrangements we hear in the goyish world.

That explains why some even try to ban singers - Lipa, Rap in Yiddish(I love their first song), Oif Simchas and so on - that make music that don't seem to fit the usual "pure" JM. These people think that the definition of Jewish Music is music that fits in their usual standards, and songs that have a "different" Ta'am must be stopped at all costs. The irony is that good music IS music that sounds different, original and fresh; the usual sound we got so used to hear until a few years ago was primitive. Music isn't perpetual, music evolves with time and whoever negates this will join the ban club eventually. Why? Because we are already witnessing an irreversible shift in Jewish Music towards better and more modern arrangements (and compositions), and today there are many great arrangers out there who know how to put together a decent arrangement. Personally, I like Ilya Lishinsky and Leib Yaakov Rigler, but there are many out there today.

Before you start wondering about the link between this and the post title, let me get to my point.

Another pillar of JM is the love for screechiness. Yes, the love for screechiness. For some reason, just like the crowds are (or were) into horn-lines they are into screechiness. I don't know how this started but that's the only explanation why people liked Shloime Dachs and Yisroel Williger in the 90's, two singers who are not really good but have enjoyed great success until very recently.

That's why people are so into Boys Choirs, from Tzil Vezemer and Miami Boys Choir until the "iconic" Yeshiva Boys Choir, the most screechy group I've ever heard. Please don't take this as a criticism, I'm just giving you factual info here - however way you slice it, the Jewish Boys choirs are screechy. And even if you don't agree with this last point, you will surely agree YBC is. That's black on white. But don't get me wrong, I own all MBC albums and YBC's two albums - I was also into it, like many of you are today. But I evolved. I probably heard YBC's albums 5 times before getting tired of the child vocals.

Let me clarify my point a bit - not all boys choirs must be screechy. In fact, I attended a secular wedding last week were I had the honor to hear a magnificent secular boys choir that was smooth and just very well balanced (they sang Karduner's Shir Hamaalot). I didn't have a camera with me but I managed to get a snap with my phone, although the quality of the sound and image is poor (I will try to post the video soon). All Jewish Boys Choirs I know are seemingly intentionally screechy - I guess the people in the industry unconsciously know that screechiness sells. But how can you expect a kid to sing like a seasoned singer like Lipa or Helfgot? Song interpretation requires brains, experience and common-sense and it's unfair to put so much attention in child soloists that can scream a note out of their lung. Benny Amar's great debut album was hardly hit by the exaggerated use of child soloists and I think in today's day and age that's just unacceptable.

I can bring more examples. Yaakov Shwekey is extremely screechy and people adore him. When Shomati came out, people couldn't stop saying "Did you see how high he goes in Rachem???" or "Wow, he goes even higher than Avraham Fried. Wooow!". Well, a distinction must be made between kvetching a note and reaching a note properly. As my voice coach used to say, it's more enjoyable to hear a good low note than a screechy high note. It's possible that your mind is so used to hearing screechiness that you think I just landed from Mars, but musically speaking screechiness is horrible. Not bad, horrible. (Disclaimer: there are many things I like about Shwekey, I'm just pointing out his Aquiles Heel).

I'm quite certain that just like the horns are definitely behind us, screechiness is following the same path. Yossi Green's The 8th Note is a roadmap (or in Chaim's words, a bible) for JM in the coming years and one thing that album doesn't have is screechiness - the pillar of the album is smooth vocals and no kids are to be found there. And of course, there are virtually no horn arrangements. Well done YG.

Yitzy Spinner is one of the most promising talents out there and he also didn't have kids singing nor screeching vocals. Just the opposite, pure smoothness. So is Lev Tahor - just smoothness.

AKAPella, which came out with a decent album with superb vocals, is another good example of how non-screechy vocals can bring an album to new heights. Ok, the songs were not original but AKAPella's vocals are spotless.

Dovid Gabay is a non-screechy Shwekey and he is great; it's a pleasure to hear him. He did use kids in Zaroh but it fitted well in the song's theme, that is, he used common-sense. The problem starts when grown-ups use child soloists without any commom-sense.

Lipa is also not screechy and I happen to like his voice just because of that.

Another sign that screechiness is on the way out is the rebirth of Chazzanut that we've seen in the past decade. Let me explain: all Chazzanus concerts are packed lately and so many youngsters, this blogger among them, are starting to get into the genre - think of Hasc, where Helfgot is today the major player with Avraham Fried (they were there in the past 3 years). Whoever likes Chazzanut hates screechiness, because Chazzanut is the anathema of it. The Chazzanim sing the notes the way they are supposed to come out of a singer's mouth - without ANY screechiness. Listen to Yaakov Motzen once and you will throw away your YBC's cds.

Finally JM is walking out of the woods, and the days of the horn arrangements and screechy boys choirs are counted.
My ears are cheering.

Announcements

I bought AKAPella's album and the review should be coming soon. I'm having a tough time reviewing this one.

Here's a very accurate article of what happened with Chazzan Hershtik, who was victim of vicious extortion by a fellow Chazzan in Israel. Unbelievable.

The Washington Jewish Musical Festival will be taking place between May 31 and June 8. Check out The Afro-Semitic Experience, seemed the coolest one.

The Jerusalem Great Synagogue

I was asked to write a bit about my experience here in Israel and the Jerusalem Great Synagogue topic immediatly came to my mind. As a young kollel guy who's in Israel just for a year, I faced a common dilemma – living in a city that has a shul in every corner, what's the best place to daven in Jerusalem? Very good question. When I thought about the Jerusalem Great Synagogue I was repeatedly told that it's impossible to go there every week, "no one can stand a three hour davening every week" or "it's a concert, not a place to daven".

I grew up attending a middle-sized shul, davening alongside with 20 or so people and I therefore had very little contact with the Chazzanus world. As I wrote before, I started to like Helfgot but I still had no patience for Chazzanut per say. So going to the Great Synagogue in a regular basis was quite a change for me - it's a huge place, with a very diverse crowd and the davening is long indeed. But there's something unique there and I now get to my point.

There is a culture clash between the big shuls like the Great Synagogue and the overall shtiblachs. The big shuls were the community centers in old Europe and Chazzanus became a central part in the communal life of that generation. However as the Jewish World became more "frum", people started branch out of the big shuls, and the shtiblachs mushroomed. Big temples and Chazzanus were linked to the secular world and deemed too liberal.

Today, we want shuls that suit our personal davening style and davening speed. Two months ago I was in the Ramada to hear Rabbi Frand's speech on Tefillah and one Rosh Yeshiva introduced the topic by saying that the Shtiblachs represent how we view Tefillah – we don't want to be pressured to be on time, we want a shul that fits in our daily schedule. If I need an extra hour of sleep I just wait for the 10:30 minyan in the Shtiblach.

But coming back to the Chazzanus topic, I must say that many of the great Chazzanim were and are indeed liberal. One of the greatest Chazzanim of all time, Moshe Koussovitzky, reportedly used to drink before Neila of Yom Kippur to keep his voice sharp. The religious crowd saw a contradiction in attending services led by a non-pious Chazzan, regardless of how good he was.

I do agree with this premise. I would feel very unconfortable to know that the person leading my prayers to Hashm is not even religious. But the big shuls and Chazzanus are not limited to liberal Chazzanim - there are many great religious Chazzanim who really add a special taste to a Tefillah.

In the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, no one talks when the Chazzan sings. The Chazzan is the main player and is in charge of inspiring the Kahal to pray to Hashm. There's also a large choir led by Eli Jaffe, who's extremely talented. A few months ago I heard Yaakov Motzen's Av Harachamim in the Great Synagogue, a piece he composed for his brother who perished in the first Lebanon War. Motzen simply brings the Kahal to a different world and really teaches us what this Tefillah is all about. Motzen is fantastic and probably better than Helfgot at the present day. Chazzan Chaim Adler, a Ger Chassid from Tel Aviv, was a guest Chazzan a few times and he is also very good.

So I can now say to you that yes, it is possible to hear Chazzanus every Shabbos but more than that, it's so much better than going to your late Shtiblach minyan. You just can't compare and more and more people are realizing this in the past few years. The Great Synagogue is full every Shabbos, with Baalei Batim, Chassidim, American Bochrim who walk all the way from the Mir, Mizrachim and even large groups of curious tourists wearing paper kippas. This is what a Shul is really meant to be - a place for everyone.