Lipa, the new Shlomo Carlebach

In the aftermath of Lipa's truly remarkable latest album a new picture of Lipa is clearly emerging. Lipa has evolved to be not only a singer but a transformative figure in the JM scene; not only a guy trying to fit in, but an artist conveying a new, fresh message. And this message, of the new Lipa, is present in pretty much all the songs of his album - non-conformism, innovation and positivism. He is often labeled the "Jewish Lady Gaga", but I prefer to compare him to a much more interesting and important person - to Reb Shlomo Carlebach.

Shlomo Carlebach was another transformative figure in Jewish Music. He was more than just music; Carlebach was about connecting to every Jew, irrespective of affiliation, through his simple and catchy niggunim and stories. His impact was truly remarkable and unparalleled, unlike any other Jewish Music artist. 

As popular as they are/were, MBD, Avraham Fried, Shwekey and the like didn't really aim to transform anything. They were great singers, who inspired many with their songs and fitted in what was politically correct in Jewish Music. Lipa is aiming higher, much higher - he wants to transform his community with his music, with a message of openness, education and non-conformism. In his popular Sheni Vechamishi videos, he tackles many hot topics and doesn't shy away from controversy. See two recent examples:

Let's face it - many of the Hareidi/Chassidic communities around the world are increasingly becoming less tolerant and more Ghetto-minded than ever before. As time passes by, these communities are frantically doing what they can to shield themselves from the perceived ills of modern technology and music, and they keep sanctioning more restrictions and chumres. Of course, there's a lot of positive aspects in these communities too but that doesn't mean all is perfect. In fact, it's far from perfect and some of the issues Lipa is raising, like the lack of secular education for example, are really pressing and should be looked into.

Lipa's new album is clearly offering an alternative path. Positivism, non-conformism and innovation, all while staying true to Torah and Halachos. Like Shlomo Carlebach, Lipa is walking his own path and even started his own Shul (Airmont), following Shlomo's footsteps in this aspect. And that does entail some degree of risks - bans, threats and some other unpleasant things that could follow. But like Carlebach, Lipa is now having a real impact, and thus far, a positive in impact in Jewish Music as a whole. 

For the Lipa Lovers

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.

"Thoughts on Music" Copying

Someone emailed me this article from Wolfish Musings on music copying. Although the post is based on a discussion from Yeshiva World News, which can never be of any use, Wolfish raised an important subject and I would like to add my two-cents.

Music copying is of course a problem not only in Jewish Music but in the music industry in general, and every since the internet emerged the record labels suddenly saw themselves in a very dangerous position (think Napster).

There were many attempts to curb music downloading, first with the Napster lawsuit and then with DRM. But the problem was still there and one new idea changed the game for the music industry - iTunes. Since Steve Jobs came up with the easy-to-use online music store, people proved that if given a good channel, they would pay the fair buck for their beloved songs. In Jobs' keynotes, he always stresses how consumer behavior has changed since iTunes came to being and I think is hard to disagree with this premise. Now, Jobs is pushing for the end of DRM, and he is slowly getting through with the major record labels.

We already had a lengthy discussion about the feasibility of selling JM in iTunes and although there is some JM for sale there, by large JM is still the same industry it was 10 years ago. And I fully understand the arguments that were made about the relatively small size of JM and why financially it doesn't makes sense to sell Jewish Music in iTunes. But with CD's costing 17 dollars in the US (in Israel even more) these days, I don't believe JM is at this moment an efficient industry.

I used to say that it's a matter of time until Jewish Music gets its way into iTunes. Somewhere along the road I stopped being a dreamer and I concede it's hard to see JM in iTunes anytime soon. But just like the goyish music industry was saved by iTunes and other efficient ideas, JM has to somehow address its current inefficiencies. I don't know how that can be done, but again, the best way to stop music copying is not through Mussar schmuessin in the back of the album jackets (or leasing agreements) but through creative and practical ideas. The more the industry is efficient the more consumers will be funneled to do things the easy way, that is, buying all their music.

Some good ideas that popped up lately include free songs (Spinner and AKAPella and now the 8th Day), creative marketing apparatus (Lipa's bumper-sticker) and podcasts (Sameach). I'm quite sure Spinner, AKAPella and Lipa were all rewarded in return and I think that's the way to go in JM at the present time. Of course, iTunes would be great, but that's still a dream. So singers, keep being creative!

Lipa and Yiddish Music

I got many inquiries about my Lipa review and I feel like exposing what's in my mind now and I warn you that this post is very personal and straightforward - you will not necessarily agree with it and that's just ok.

Here's the deal - I do not speak Yiddish (I did try) and I consequently have a major problem digesting Lipa's music, as I can't really listen to an album with an Yiddish dictionary in my desk. That's just not an option. True, not all Lipa's songs are in Yiddish and many of them just have a bit of Yiddish here and there but from what I heard it's mainly Yiddish (at least 6 songs are 100% Yiddish).

This leads me to another point that is not necessarily linked to Lipa. A simple question: if you take all JM listeners, what is the percentage of Yiddish speakers? I'm not Gallup so don't expect a precise answer, but my estimation is MAYBE 40% - again, that's my personal estimation and I might be a bit off. But my point is that Yiddish music has a quite limited appeal, if compared to regular Hebrew and English songs, and I wonder if this hurts Lipa's sales. Of course, Lipa is able to charge a fortune for weddings and all else, however I attribute this to his vibrant and charismatic personality and not necessarily because of his Yiddish songs. Yeah, Gelt was huge but still non-Yiddish speakers have trouble with this kind of songs.

This post could lead many of you to think that I'm opposed to Lipa and conspiracy-theorists might even think "that's why YK was not mentioned in Lipa's supporters list" or even "YK is just upset he didn't make it to the list" . Let me be clear: that's not true. Although I don't fully "get" Lipa's songs, his music sounds fresh and cool, with above average arrangements and production, added to his great skills as a lyricist. Not to mention Yossi Green, who is working with him for a while. I just don't speak Yiddish, period.

You might think that it doesn't matter if you don't understand all the words, as long as we understand here and there what the song is all about. I don't like that idea - I want to be able to hear music that I actually fully understand. And don't think I'm a single-minded when it comes to languages - I'm fluent in four. I just somehow never felt the urge or need to learn Yiddish.

In today's day and age, Hebrew and English have a much wider appeal and I think Yiddish-centered songs have shorter shelf life since the younger generation is less interested in knowing it (that's something you see very clearly in Israel - even many Chassidim got over their reluctance to speak "modern" Hebrew). For instance, if you take two modern day Hebrew and English hits from Yossi Green - Vezakeinu or Someday - they seem to be much more "eternal" than Lipa's Gelt.

I don't mind when you have a Yiddish word here and there in songs, like in Shloime Gertner's Hu Yisborach, but to buy a ganz album mit alles Yiddish nigunim is more complicated for a poshiter yid like me. So, in short, I'm not planning to buy Lipa's latest album. Nisht far mir.