Alternative Jewish Music

We have witnessed an incredible boom in the alternative Jewish music segment in the past decade and today there are dozens of “new” genres within JM. Until the 90’s, a few yeshivish singers dominated JM and there wasn’t much action in the alternative genres. Today there’s JM for all tastes – rock (example: Blue Fringe), acapella (Six13), reggae (Matisyahu), mizrachi (Chaim Israel), techno and many more.

I think this phenomenon is great, since we can now listen to music that is more contemporary and original, rather than just listening to the same old sound.

But I wonder where you draw the line between what is acceptable as JM and what’s not. Someone emailed me a video clip of JewDa, a hip-hop singer that made teshuva through Chabad not long ago. He was a hip-hop aficionado since his teen’s and although he made teshuva he still wanted to continue his path as a hip-hop singer. The result can be seen in the clip, and I must say I was open-eyed after I saw the video. He looks exactly like a rapper, with a Miami Heat shirt, rapper cap and dancers jumping all-over the screen. I couldn’t’ understand a word of what he said. So I wonder – is this Jewish Music?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a close-minded JM fan who only listens to MBD and Shwekey. I like Matisyahu and many other “alternative” singers like Aron Razel and Chaim David. I like good music, even if it’s not what I’m used to hear. But JewDa for some reason sounded over the fence to me.

Which brings me to my next question, what is the definition of Jewish Music? How can you determine if a song is part of Jewish Music umbrella?

I don’t really now the answer, but I just feel that there’s a limit of how far can a singer go when singing a Jewish song. And JewDa seems to be just past it.

Mike Boxer's email

I made three corrections in the Encore review following an email from Mike Boxer.

The inaccuracies: I thought he was the vocalist in "Son" - it was Alan Zeitling; I thought he composed Gadlu - it's an Beat'achon oldie; and I thought the soloist's voice in "Lo Issa" was digitally altered - it was real (Unbelievable!).

One of the problems of buying music in iTunes is that I can't see the album cover and know who sings and composes the songs..

Six13's Encore

I really enjoyed Six13’s first album, featuring some great songs like Lecha Dodi and Yigdal. So without thinking twice, I went ahead and bought Encore in iTunes for U$9.99, relatively cheap. We should start a petition for more JM in iTunes, to the chagrin of Sameach and Aderet.

Al Hanissim is not my cup-of-tea. Musically speaking, the arrangement and vocal percussion are great but I don’t enjoy this song very much most probably because of the lyrics. I don’t really feel they fit well in this song, so I’m not very excited about this one. **

Six13’s choice of songs for the MBC Mix was perfect – Yaale, Adon Olam and We Need You -, MBC’s best songs ever. Throughout the song the vocal arrangements are creative and interesting – Mike Boxer jokingly throws in “What did you say?” in 2:48 and “We are not done/Yes we are/ Oh that’s right” at the very end. This reflects Six13’s laid back and informal approach to music and I didn’t think it was inappropriate. I specially loved the arrangement in 5:32. *****

The song Son starts like Yigdal started in Six13’s album, with the march percussion theme. Like Al Hanissim, I think musically the song is great but it’s not a style I love. When Alan Zeitlin sings a song like this one, in English, it becomes clear to me that he’s not a great soloist. Otherwise, the song is well built and quite energetic. ***

Gadlu is by far the weirdest and original song in the album. I think Boxer did an outstanding job as the vocalist – I can’t see anyone else singing this song decently and with the twists he does. In 2:42 he does one of those interesting shticks (I must say it feels weird to speak Yeshivish when talking about Six 13). The closing of the song is exceptional – great chord used there. Musically, the song is nearly perfect. And I like the originality (I’m assuming Mike Boxer composed it)[He didn't; it's an oldie from Beat'achon, so I instead of five stars I give four]. ****

Many in JM try to throw in a middle-eastern song in their albums, but few have nailed it like Six13’s Dror Yikra. Without any instruments, just with clever vocal arrangements, Six13 found a way to convey a truly middle-eastern feel in this song. I loved the harmony in 2:40, it’s a harmony I always try to do when I sing. *****

Acheinu is a slow song that sounds more like the JM music I’m used to hear. The soloist is good, the song keeps becoming interesting – first with the Lev Tahor-style harmony in 2:09 and then with some great improvisation until 2:32. Good stuff. ****

Shaalu is the second weirdest song in the album and in songs like this, Mike Boxer excels as a soloist. The song becomes even weirder after 3:10, when Boxer does some slow-tempo improvising that I didn’t particularly enjoy. ***

Kol Achai came out with a solid accapella-style Cracow Niggun not long ago that is quite similar to this one. Out of hundreds of Carlebach songs, I really don’t understand why Six13 choose this one. Why not choose another song and make something more original? The only thing that’s stands out in this song are the dissonant harmonies between 0:30 and 0:42, which are really outstanding. Other than that, Six13’s Cracow Niggun is nonsense to me. After singing Adir Hu, they did a cool shtick in 4:07, meshing the two songs – Cracow and Adir Hu – together. There’s no connection between these two songs, but it’s fun to hear them trying to fit them together. Because of Adir Hu, I give this song three stars and not less. ***

Lo Issa has only one-part, posing a challenge to any group trying to sing it for more than two or three minutes. Not much action in this song, except for the lowest tone I ever heard in a Jewish Music song – both in 1:44 and 3:15. I know it was digitally manipulated [Correction: it wasn't! It's unbelievable, but that's the guy's real voice], but still, that was quite cool. **

The last song of the album is the classic Lev Tahor, but there are many innovations in this song. The shtick here are the cool “bridges” between the two parts of the song, which modulates the song to another sister musical chord – see 1:14, 2:22 . I haven’t seen anyone doing this in JM as good as Six13 did here. In 1:24 you can hear a very exquisite low harmony that I loved. Thumbs up for originality. (I’m so used to a bad last song in JM albums, so this great last song was unexpected for me). *****

-> When I first heard this album, I thought it was too different, too weird. But I was wrong; it is different and it is weird, but it’s a delight to listen to Boxer’s music. In my view, after two consistent Six13 albums, he’s definitely in the forefront of JM today, not only in the acapella niche. His music is fresh, original and well thought. If you liked the first album, I’m sure you will love this one. If you only enjoy yeshivish and chassidish music, it will be hard to digest the modern shticks of this album. However, if you are more broad-minded and enjoy listening to something that is a bit different, Six13 will prove to be one of the year’s best albums.


PS: I made three corrections following an email from Mike Boxer. The mistakes: I thought he was the vocalist in "Son", I thought he composed Gadlu and I thought the soloist's voice in "Lo Issa" was digitally altered.

Soon: Six13

I'm again in a long trip but I will start working in Six13's album review soon. Stay tuned!

By the way, I'm posting this line, which can be found in the Music & Lyrics discussion thread:

"A good tune can take you far, and good harmony can take you further, but a song is not great until it is in harmony with its words as well", by C Yehuda.

Hashem Echod's Review

Shloime Dachs is back to the spotlight with Hashem Echod, his fifth album. Gideon Levine’s production is very good and some songs are actually not bad. After Ovinu, his previous album, I thought Dachs was gone. But the album’s theme song Shema Yisroel is outstanding, a great surprise. And the album has 12 songs, an all-time record for Dachs, in addition to the video.

Tomid, composed by Lapidot, is not good enough for an opening song. The low part is actually good but the high part is repetitive. Laufer’s arrangement is too typical, adding very little to the song. I believe Ron Tichon would’ve done a much better job arranging this opening song, perhaps in a techno style. Everything is too predictable, too familiar and too boring. Dachs doesn’t seem to be very good at choosing opening songs – in his last album Ovinu he chose Ein Lonu, a very plain song. The high part of this song reminds me of Dedi’s Tein Li Brocho V’hatzlocho, composed by Reuven Banet. **

Shema Yisroel is very interesting. The opening is outstanding – both the choir and the arrangement are very well made and manage to set the appropriate tone for this emotional song. The sound of the train wagons transports us to the 1940’s and the words – Shema Yisroel – are perfectly fit for this song dedicated to a few holocaust survivors. I never heard anything about Elimelech Blumstein, the composer, but he hit a home run here. Dachs also did a good job singing it. This song should’ve been the first song of the album. *****

The big attraction of Yigdal is Chaim Yisrael, who’s a great soloist. He does an interesting intro and sings the remainder of the song with Dachs. Moshe Laufer does everything right in the arrangement until he switches to rock in 2:00, in the last part of the song. Additionally, Gideon Levine sings the choir in Boruch (i.e. Ashkenazi-style). Those two things took away the Mizrachi feel of this song, in my opinion. **

Torah is a three-part song that starts off well (sounds like Shalsheles Junior to me) but it doesn’t builds up. It’s just another average song, that’s has nothing bad, but nothing good as well. ***

Yitzi Waldner is famous for his slow songs, which include Shwekey’s Mi Adir, Meheiro and many more. Keili is a fast song, but Waldner did a great job here as well. He plays well with the lyrics in the second part of the song (check the lyrics in the album jacket and you will understand what I mean) and the song is not overly long – 4 minutes. It the right style of fast song for Dachs’ voice. ****

Mizmor Shir is a typical Bald song – simple lyrics, simple tune and the song switches from Hebrew to English (and Yiddish). Dachs already has a Mizmor Shir in his curriculum – in the album Rozo de’Shabbos. That one is far far superior than this one. **

Yehuda Ben Teimo’s first part is very catchy and overall is a quite good song. There’s nothing new in the arrangement - it’s just the usual sound we hear too often - so the song gets too repetitive. I didn’t like the ending. ***

Yo Ainstark is the composer of the famous Tov Lehodot and usually composes songs for his Shalheves Boys Choir, but he didn’t meet my expectations for this song. The Dove is another plain English like the ones we have become so used to – not catchy, overly long and very boring. And the choir is also too plain. Frankly, I’m tired of these songs in JM. *

Na Na Na starts exactly like Dedi’s Sameach (click here to listen the comparison). The high part is not geshmack. **

Ranenu starts somewhat like Shwekey’s Ranenu. The high part is interesting and the choir here is much better, but I don’t feel like there’s a connection between the tune and the lyrics. It’s a song without a soul. **

Mi Bon is a great Chupa song, but a bit forgettable. In 5:19 and 5:40 Dachs did a very poor job in the vocals – inexcusable. ***

I loved the first part of Yehei but the high part is almost non-existant. **

-> Shloime Dachs sings the same songs for almost 15 years. This album would have been a hit in the 90’s but, hey, we are in 2007. His music hasn’t improved much over the years, nor his voice or harmonies but I can’t say he is a bad vocalist. Although Dachs doesn’t have the best of voices, he excels when singing the right songs for his voice. I guess that’s why he keeps singing the same thing over and over. But many guys out there are musically ahead of him – Avraham Fried , Ohad, Michoel Pruzansky, Dovid Gabay etc… So today, Dachs is not one of the main players in JM anymore. He’s just one of the good old guys still hanging out there.

Pruzbul Review

Here it is Pruzbul’s review, sorry for taking such a long time to write it. To avoid bias, I haven’t read anyone else’s review.

The production is by Yitzi Bald, who also played a large role in Dovid Gabay's album not long ago. Like in Gabay’s album, where he composed a song called LeGabay, Bald repeats the shtick with Pruzbul, in a reference to Pruzanski. Ok…
I don’t like Bald’s choice of lyrics. In Taseh, Shteig and Pruzbul the lyrics are very simple and somewhat vague. The same happened in Gabay’s LeGabay (“When he does work of the day he is quick”)– vague lyrics. While I welcome his quest for new lyrics, I think either the composers should find lyrics that actually say something (like Yossi Green does) or they should compose the lyrics themselves. “Do Mitzva, get Olam Haba” is not good enough. Anyways..:

In Taseh, the choir is Mo Kiss times 20 (Yossi Green style) but I prefer the "fuller" sound of real choirs. Mo Kiss does a good job responding to Pruzanski but I thought he overdid it a bit. When the song started to get cool with Mo Kiss' choir shtick in 3:25, a guy speaking Yiddish comes in. I don't like it. But it seems to be a trend - Shloime Gertner did the same in the first song of his album Nisim. I felt the arrangement is not smooth throughout the song; the intro sounds like my own arrangements I make in GarageBand, which is not much of a compliment. However, Pruz does a outstanding job, especially when he sings the low part in a higher octave - breathtaking! ***

What didn't work for Bald (the arranger) in Taseh, worked in the next song Shteig. The arrangement builds up and the song keeps getting momentum. The best part is on 2:40, in Mo Kiss' choir. Good song, great arrangement and superb singing by Pruz. Not bad! ****

In You're Watching Me, we can finally hear Pruz alone, alongside with the piano. The arrangement is simple, but very fitting for this song. Pruzanski carries the song very well, and throws in a beautiful falsetto in 2:06 and great harmonies towards the end of the song, starting in 6:23. The song is good, but not a blockbuster. ****

The album theme song is Pruzbul. I must admit I was expecting lyrics a la Yossi Green, that is, something like the whole Pruzbul nusach or a special pshat about the importance of Pruzbul from an obscure Hakdama. That's not the case here - the lyrics are "Help to fix the world. Hillel did it with Pruzbul". Aside from this lyrics issue, the music is energetic and catchy. Pruzanski does a great job improvising at 3:15. ****

It's easy to realize that Chavivin is not composed by Bald. It's a typical Yitzy Waldner song, with a pop feel. Throughout the song Mo Kiss did a great job with the soft background harmonies. At the end of the song, you can hear the cutest baby laugh ever. Very nice song. ****

Brocha is not in the same level as the previous songs, but it's decent. ***

Ashira is not from one Yossi Green's best compositions, but thumbs up for Pruzanski for making this average song sound good. Perhaps is time for Yossi Green to produce Pruzanski's next album - in his first album Pruz did a fantastic job singing Green's "Da" and he did it again here. Come on Yossi! ****

Hu is a creative song composed by Bald. I don't have much else to write about it. ***

Since Shwekey just came out with his Yizkereim (which, by the way, was taken from Coby), I didn't get too excited about this one. But when Pruz sings the English lyrics the song gets more interesting. ***

V'lo is a three-part that doesn't really flies. The song is weird, the arrangement is confusing and the ending is very poor. Even Pruzanski couldn't make this sound at least decent. *

→ Overall, this album’s production wasn’t as good as the first one – Ashrecho, a state-of-the-art album produced by Yochi Briskman and directed by Eli Laufer. Pruzbul is more economical, but it’s not a flick. Pruzanski is one of the best soloists out there and has the skill to make almost any song sound great, with great intensity, harmonies and improvisation skills. MoKiss is a great choir arranger - this is the first time I heard his work. I think everyone in this album tried very hard to produce good music with the resources they had at hand. Bald's songs are simple for the most part, but catchy and well sung. Worth my money.

Update

I'm back from a long trip to Europe and will now be able to spend more time in this blog.

Michoel Pruzanski just released a new album that bears a very unique name - Pruzbul. This follows Dovid Gabay's trend of choosing album titles that sounds like the singer's name, in his case LeGabay.

I REALLY look forward for this album. I am a huge fan of Pruzanski and I think he has been the best voice to come out in the last years, following his excellent debut album Ashrecho. If you don't have Ashrecho, buy it. For some reason it never became very popular, but many of the songs in his first album are all-time classics to me.

Pruz has a very energetic, all-range voice that was very well coached. He's always on tune and tries new shticks in almost every song, keeping his songs always interesting. I have been telling my friends for a long time that I plan to get Pruzanki for my wedding.

I heard MostlyMusic's Promo song of Pruzbul and it sounds great and very energetic. Yitzy Bald seems to be the main composer, but there are songs by Yossi Green and Waldner.

I will post a review asap. I also plan to review Shloime Dachs' album soon. Stay tuned.