Rubicon3

The Number One Song the Day I was Born

Oh. My. God.

Lisbon Antiqua by Nelson Riddle.

I must be freaking ancient.

And you?

Musical Notes

More about Yael Naim here.

Also: American Jewish Magazine has an excellent piece on Jewish women who rock. 

The Song That's Stuck in My Head

Leonard Cohen, Dance Me to the End of Love

Musical Interlude

Mad World - Gary Jules:

Guilt and Pleasure

"Guilt and Pleasure" is a terrific magazine, each issue of which is devoted to a different subject - all of Jewish orientation, though many would be of interest to anyone and everyone.  The publishers intend it to be used to engender salon-like discussion.  I don't know how they stay in business because they post each and every article in its entirety on the internet. I suspect that if and when they gather enough regular readers, they will stop doing so.  In the meantime, there are a few excellent and interesting pieces from their latest issue (the "sound" issue, which includes many articles about the music industry) that I'd like to bring to your attention. They are well-written and as my kids like to put it, "edumacational":

1.  The Jewish roots of scat?

Scat — vocal solo composed of nonsense syllables — first appeared in Louis Armstrong’s 1926 song “The Heebie Jeebies Dance.” Armstrong initially claimed that back in the days of one-take recording, with no technology to add in an overdub, he had dropped the sheet music and just began singing sounds on the spot as a substitute for the missing lyrics. However, Armstrong reportedly later told fellow bandleader Cab Calloway and others that scat derived from the sound he described as “the Jews’ rockin,” which he had heard growing up in a mixed black-Jewish neighborhood in New Orleans.

Fans have come up with two interpretations of this: either Armstrong was walking past a synagogue and heard rapid-fire davening, which struck his ear as nonsense, or he heard nigunim, Hasidic melodies intended to induce a meditative state before prayer (nigunim can also serve as lullabies).

In his writings, Armstrong also recalled lullabies sung by a Mrs. Karnofsky — a woman whose family befriended and employed him as a kid, and to whom he largely attributes his admiration of Jews and Jewish life.

Could Hebrew have inspired the “heebie jeebies”?

Scat was soon ubiquitous, with Armstrong’s friend Calloway becoming a second master of the form. In his greatest hit, “Minnie the Moocher,” Calloway calls out scat phrases and his band responds in black gospel style, yet the minor key and sweeping sound of his scat also recalls cantorial song. More

2.  Tin Pan Alley - A Jewish industry killed by a Jew.  Guess who and how?

During the sweltering summer of 1962, Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” piped over and over — and over — through transistor radios and up the charts. Its catchy hook and painfully simple lyrics (Remember when you held me tight / And you kissed me all through the night / Think of all that we’ve been through / And breaking up is har d to do) were the sort of formulaic ingredients that fed the Tin Pan Alley hit factory where Sedaka worked and that dominated popular music at the time.

“Every time I ran out of lyrics, I’d throw in a ‘doo-be-doo,’ and it became a trademark,” Sedaka told Mix magazine a few years ago. “In fact, the night before we tracked ‘Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,’ I called up our arranger, Alan Lorber, and told him I wanted to incorporate ‘down dooby doo down down’ as a prominent part of the vocal arrangement. The record came to be known as the sandwich song. There’s a piece of bread to begin with — the syllabization — then the meat and finally another piece of bread. All of my hits in the ’50s and ’60s used this same technique.”

It was, for a time, an unbeatable system. But the following year brought an attack on Tin Pan Alley, the Midtown Manhattan hit-making industry that produced so many songs like Sedaka’s and whose hooks still resonate more than forty years later. While Sedaka, along with Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Carole (Klein) King, Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weill, Howie Greenberg, Barry Mann, Jeff Barry, Burt Bacharach, Ellie Greenwich, and dozens of others churned out hits from cramped offices in the Brill Building at 1619 Broadway and its sister (and rival) center at 1650 Broadway — the heart of Tin Pan Alley — Greenwich Village was nurturing an assault on popular music that in the end resulted in the demise of the hit-making business uptown. More

3. Jonathan Richman, suburban Jew, outsider, and with his band the Modern Lovers, a forerunner of punk rock:

For the purpose of making sense of Jonathan Richman, the ideas of Polish-Jewish Marxist Isaac Deutscher are helpful. In his famous 1958 essay “The Non-Jewish Jew,” Deutscher attempted to explain why Jews ranked highly among modern Europe’s most innovative thinkers: people such as Spinoza, Marx, and Freud. He did not attribute this to superior genes or religious values; instead, Deutscher came up with a sociological explanation. Many of Europe’s great iconoclasts, he said, were Jews who had “looked for ideals and fulfillment” beyond Jewry but could not gain full entry into the larger, gentile society. As outsiders twice over, these “non-Jewish Jews” adhered to no entrenched beliefs. They could perceive what members of the majority could not, leading them to develop all sorts of subversive theories in the arts and sciences. Those theories were born out of a certain Jewish condition without expressing any directly Jewish beliefs.

Deutscher did not write “The Non-Jewish Jew” with young, postwar, suburban Jews in mind; he likely would have seen them as too affluent, assimilated, and contented compared to the people he discussed. What Deutscher wouldn’t have been able to perceive, however, was the dissonance many Jews felt in suburban America. Jewish kids typically weren’t captains of the football team or homecoming queens. They weren’t likely to be voted Cutest or Most Desired Desert Island Companion, although they stood a good chance of winning Funniest or Class Treasurer. They worried about their noses and hard-to-manage hair and the humiliation of having to shave a nascent moustache in the seventh grade. They faced occasional taunts and the odd punch. And they suffered through Hebrew school several days a week while their gentile peers ran free. Those suburban Jews were not ostracized, but they didn’t quite fit into the mainstream, either.

They had two basic choices, the Jews of suburbia. They could try to adapt (which entailed its own psychological and practical challenges) or go their own way. Jonathan Richman chose the second route. More

Shir La'maalot

Sung by Yosef Karduner:

121:1 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come? 121:2 My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 121:3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 121:4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep. 121:5 the Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. 121:6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 121:7 the Lord shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul. 121:8 the Lord shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and for ever.

I Can't Get it Out of My Head

This song.  It's been stuck there for days. I kind of like it, so it's ok. 

Dov Shurin

This song has been called the "theme song of the struggle against disengagement."  More information about it can be found here. After watching this video, I'm thinking Mr. Shurin probably lived in California in a past life:

In Honor of the Last Night of Chanukah...

...my favorite Chanukah song, Light One Candle by Peter, Paul and Mary. Love the lyrics. Love the music. Not fond of Peter Yarrow's hocking before the song begins, but he did write it and for that I applaud him:

It's Friday!

Meshugga Beach Party time:

Push the Button

The group's name is Teapacks and they are from Sderot, the favorite target city for Hamas qassams fired from Gaza. Push the Button was Israel's entry into the 2007 Eurovision song contest and was considered somewhat controversial due to the subject matter.

Few Things Make Me Feel More Senile...

...than Musical Monday.

Neil Young, Through Tooth Pain

Went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago and he re-did a couple of fillings.  For the third time, it appears as if I must have a root canal following his work.  He is the kindest, sweetest and seemingly most conscientious of dental practitioners, but everytime the man touches my mouth, the roots of my teeth end up having to die.   

Not sure if I will be able to do anything about it until after Thanksgiving.  Until then - Advil 400 mg PO Q 4-6h.  (Prescription jargon learned during my nursing days -  PO = Per os, latin for "by mouth." Q = quaque, latin for "once" every 4-6 hours.) Last night I was uncomfortable and in pain, but after the advil took effect, I enjoyed the concert we went to see immensely.

It began at 7:30, and we were surprised to see so many empty seats.  Guess a lot of people knew something we didn't know - Young's wife Pegi opens for him.  The good news was that she had a fantastic guitar player with her - don't know his name, but he was really terrific.  And there also was a slide guitar player who was pretty good too.  Now, she may be a fine back up singer, but as a solo artist...well, I don't want to be unkind. She sang, I don't know, maybe ten songs. They all seemed to run into one another and became one long...I was really ready for Neil to take the stage when she finished.

By 8:30, when Young took the stage, the place had filled up.  The concert was divided into three parts - Pegi's performance, Neil alone on acoustic guitar, followed by Neil on electric guitar backed by his band.  He was great, plain and simple.  What a talented man. 

The only hint of politics came at the end, when a small wooden duck was lowered onto the stage.  I think it was supposed to be a lame duck.  Young remarked that this was his political statement for the evening, and left it at that. Kind of subtle, as far as celebrity political statements go (especially so for Young) and I found it unoffensive.

Consititution Hall is relatively small and intimate - Young spoke of being delighted to be playing there as opposed to some of the huge arenas he'd played in the past. The crowd was older than the crowd at the Springsteen concert, though there were people in their 20s too.  Many of DC's aging hippy population showed up.  The audience was enthusiastic - obviously loved the music, but no one was grabbing at him or trying to touch him, just people enjoying the music of a guy they'd loved for years. 

He's a shy performer and wasn't entirely comfortable at first. But he warmed up to the audience as the evening wore on.  A couple of folks shouted out "Happy Birthday" (he'd turned 62 on November 12).  And then later, someone shouted out "Old Man!"  They were making a song request of course, but Young looked up and said, "Hey - who are you calling old?"

The music was fantastic - much more my cup of tea than Springsteen.  I am not familiar with all of his CDs, but I think there was a good mix of old and new.  There was one very long jam session toward the end of the concert - maybe 10-15 minutes long - and I was happy for the opportunity to take a brief nap.   

Interestingly, Young and Springsteen have performed together.  Nils Lofgren, who was onstage last night,  forms a bridge between them, having been part of the E Street Band and also having played for Neil Young. Here's a video of the three of them performing "Helpless":

Me 'n Springsteen

I have tried and tried to like Bruce Springsteen's music.  Everyone seems to love it but me.  Went to see him in concert last night. I've been told that he puts on a great show and that you can't not get into it.  Well, to a certain extent that is true, I suppose.  I can't say I didn't enjoy the performance, but I am still not a fan. 

Somehow I still feel that whatever it is he is communicating and others by the millions are getting, is just lost on me.   

The enthusiasm of the crowd was almost too much.  We were sitting in the nosebleed section, and I had a view of the entire arena, including the people with floor tickets below.  The crowd was undulating as one, and everyone was pumping their fists, like some great point was being made and they definitely agreed with it. He seemed like a holy roller preacher, and the crowd was writhing in religious fervor. He'd come close to them, and they were grabbing at his legs, foaming at the mouth trying to get to him.  And I kept wondering what it was they saw.

I didn't really "get it" and felt like an observer, rather than a participant.

Some people are color blind.  I guess I am Springsteen blind.  

Calling All Israeli/Jewish Music Mavens

Does anyone know the name of the singer and the song that begins about 3 minutes and 10 seconds into this video? I thought it might be David Broza, but I am not sure.  Neshama Carlebach's David Melach and Mazel Tov are played after the ceremony. The groom plays Eshet Chayil on the guitar. And then a minute or two later, more of the mystery song is played.

Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen

From the Yiddish Radio Project:

The story of this tune's stratospheric rise is as unlikely as that of Yiddish swing itself. “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” was composed by Sholom Secunda for a 1932 Yiddish musical that opened and closed in one season. Fast-forward to 1937. Lyricist Sammy Cahn and pianist Lou Levy were catching a show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem when two black performers called Johnnie and George took the stage singing "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" -- in Yiddish. The crowd went wild. Cahn and Levy couldn't believe their ears. Sensing a hit, Cahn convinced his employer at Warner Music to purchase the rights to the song from the Kammen Brothers, the twin-team music entrepreneurs who had bought the tune from Secunda a few years back for the munificent sum of $30.

Cahn gave "Bei Mir" a set of fresh English lyrics and presented it to a trio of Lutheran sisters whose orchestra leader, oddly enough named Vic Schoen, had a notion of how to swing it. The Andrews Sisters' debut 78 rpm for the Decca label hit almost immediately. The era of Yiddish swing had begun.

"Bei Mir" would soon be covered by virtually every pop and jazz artist of the age, and was even retranslated into French, Swedish, Russian -- and German. (The song was a hit in Hitler's Germany until the Nazi Party discovered that its composer was a Jew, and that the song's title was Yiddish rather than a south German dialect.)

Wow

The Tuttle kids. Michael (8) and Sullivan (10) play El Cumbanchero on mandolin and guitar with sister Molly. More information.

Via Spluch

"Vi Ahin Zol Ich Geyn?" (Where Can I Go?)

Prior to WWII, Leo Fuld was one the the most popular recording and concert artists in Europe. Possessing an instantaneously recognizable voice, Fuld recorded throughout Europe in many languages, including Yiddish, German, Hebrew, French, and Dutch. While in exile in England like so many of his Dutch contrymen, he learned that his family was killed in Aushwitz, and refused to ever sing again.

It was while visiting the DP camps in Europe that he was handed a song 'Vi Ahin Zol Ich Geyn" that he promised to record. Fuld is credited as co-writer of this song which he made into an international hit. Fuld would eventually sing the song on such American radio shows as The Frank Sinatra Show, The Milton Berle Show and the Perry Como Show and otherartists such as Ray Charles and Steve Lawrence were to record his song. Among his greatest fans were such stars as Al Jolson and Edith Piaf.

"Vin Ahin Zol Ich Geyn" sung by Steve Lawrence, accompanying an exceptionally moving slide show of pictures from WW2 and beyond(anyone else old enough to remember Steve & Edie?):

Here are the lyrics plus a poignant note written by the person who posted this video on YouTube:

"Vi Ahin Zol Ich Geyn?"
On album: L-053(a) (Steve Lawrence / Ramblin' Rose)
Conductor Guercio, Joe
Vocal Lawrence, Steve
Arranger Zito, Torrie
First line: Tell me, where can I go, there's no place I can see, where to go, where to go.
First line (Yiddish):װוּ אַהין זאָל איך גײן? װער קען ענטפֿערן מיר, װוּ צו גײן,...
Track comment: Recorded under "Where Can I Go"
Language: English and Yiddish

Yiddish lyrics:

Vi ahin zol ikh geyn? Ver kon entfern mir? Vi ahin zol ikh geyn? Az farshlosn z'yede tir S'iz di velt groys genug Nor far mir iz eng un kleyn Vi a blik kh'muz tsurik S'iz tsushtert yede brik Vi ahin zol ikh geyn? Dort ahin vel aich gein In . . .

Vi ahin zol aich gein S. Korn-Tuer (Music) O .Strock (Lyrics)

Where can I go? Lyrics:

1949
Performer Leo Fuld
Title Where can I go
Lyrictext
Wi ahin Zol ich Gein?
Wer can entfern mir
Wi ahin Zol ich Gein?
Fur es sloss jeder tuhr
Siehe auf links, siehe auf rechts
Au te soll im jedem Land
As wi ahin Zol ich Gein?


Tell me, where can I go?
There's no place I can see.
Where to go, where to go?
Every door is closed for me.
To the left, to the right,
It's the same in every land.
There is nowhere to go
And it's me who should know,
Won't you please understand?
Now I know where to go,
Where my folk proudly stand.
Let me go, let me go
To that precious promised land.
No more left no more right.
Lift your head and see the light.
I am proud, can't you see,
For at last I am free:
No more wandering for me.

A memory from the internet:
"There is a song -- and a question -- that haunts me from childhood: 'Vi Ahin Soll Ich Geh'n?' ('Where Can I Go?'). Some time in the 1940s (probably around 1948 when the State of Israel came into existence) Leo Fuld, the 'King of Yiddish Music', recorded the song in Yiddish and English. We frequently played the record, an old 78 rpm, at our North London home. My mother would sing it with feeling, as if its questions were hers and its answer an answer to her prayers. To the best of my (and her) recollection, the English version of the first verse was as follows: Tell me, Where can I go? There's no place I can see.

Where to go, where to go?

Every door is closed to me.

To the left, to the right,

It's the same in every land.

There is nowhere to go

And it's me who should know,

Won't you please understand?



Even without the soulful melody, these despairing words ring in my ears; when sung they go straight to the heart. As a young child, the first verse seemed to me as melancholy as Kol Nidre -- the solemn supplication that opens the evening service on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement -- but less obscure. Here was a person in a nightmare: lost, shut out, cut off, set apart, a voice crying in the wilderness. I was a child and I understood crying. I understood lost as well. 'Won't you please understand?' Oh, but I did, to the core. But where to go, where to go? The song itself supplies the answer, expressed in the jubilant second verse: Now I know where to go, Where my folk proudly stand. Let me go, let me go To that precious promised land. No more left no more right. Lift your head and see the light. I am proud, can't you see, For at last I am free: No more wandering for me.

A Hard Day's Night - in Yiddish

Mem'ries, Like the Caw....nuhs of My Mind

I recently happened across a list of the top 100 songs of the 1970's.  Some - many - are the most gawdawful excuses for pop tunes that you will ever hear (Seasons in the Sun, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, and more). However - - the 70s were the years of high school and college for me, and these songs bring back so many fond, misty water-colored mem'ries from the cawnuhs of my mind, that I can't help but enjoy listening to every sappy one of them.  Here's the list from 1974,the year I graduated high school, featuring a towering triumvirate of corn - Barbra, Terry Jacks and John Denver:

The Top 10 Singles of 1974

1."The Way We Were" - Barbra Streisand

2."Come And Get Your Love" - Redbone

3."Seasons In The Sun" - Terry Jacks

4."Show And Tell" - Al Wilson

5."Love's Theme" - The Love Unlimited Orchestra

6."The Loco-motion" - Grand Funk

7."Bennie And The Jets" - Elton John

8."You Make Me Feel Brand New" - The Stylistics

9."Sunshine On My Shoulders" - John Denver

10."T.S.O.P. (The Sound Of Philadelphia)"" - MFSB featuring The Three Degrees

The rest of the list can be found here, along with links containing some fairly detailed information about the tunes, the performers, and writers.

V'Shamru

About Debbie Friedman

The Doo-Dah News Network

The Doo-Dah News Network brings you the finest headlines that you can sing to the tune of "Camptown Races" if you add "Doo-Dah" to the end.

Boum

A lovely love song by Charles Trenet, which I thought I might post in honor of my 27th wedding anniversary, which is today:

According to the person who uploaded the clip on YouTube, the English version of the lyrics is not available on the web, so I had google translate the song. I found however, that google leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to translation:

Bang

Charles Trenet

Music and words of Breton Raoul/Charles Trenet

The clock makes tic-TAC-tic-tic

Birds of the lake peak-CAP-peak-peak

Glou-glou-glou make all the turkeys

And the pretty bell ding-dang-dong

But… boom!

When our heart makes boom

All with him says boom

And it is the love which wakes up

Bang!

It sings “Coils in Bloom”

At the rate/rhythm of this boom

Who repeats boom has the ear

All has exchange since yesterday and the street

In eyes which look with the windows

Y' has lilac and y' has tended hands

On the sea the sun goes paraitre

Bang!

The star of the day makes boom

All with him says boom

When our heart makes boom-boom

Wind in wood made hou-hou

The hind with the barks made maaaa

The crockery cassee makes money-money-frac

And the feet dampings make cop-cop-flac

But… boom!

When our heart makes boom

All with him says boom

The bird says boom, it is the storm

Bang!

Cleared up, makes him boom

And good God says boom

In its armchair of clouds

Because my love is sharper than the flash

Lighter than a bird, than a bee

And if it makes boom, if it is put in anger

It entraine with him of the wonders

Bang!

The whole world makes boom

All with him says boom

When our heart makes boom-boom

*************

Hopefully, you get the idea.

****************

She comes back a few minutes later to say:  Oh. I see.  I guess that explains it. Somewhat.

It's Musical Monday...

...at SoccerDad.  Can you guess that tune and the artist - without googling the lyrics?

Sousa Would Have Been Proud

If I'd have had the time, I'd have posted this yesterday.  Follow the link to several entertainingly different YouTube versions of John Phillip Sousa's fabulous "Stars and Stripes Forever" - from an adorable rendition by a barbershop quartet (you get to hear the rarely heard words), to banjo to electric guitar to just the piccolo part and more.  Turn the sound up and celebrate the 4th all over again!

Twins One Guitar

90210 Twins One Guitar

Twins brothers Brendan and Jackson play the 90210 theme song on one guitar. Wow.

Stumped!

SoccerDad has listed lyrics to popular songs of the past, I don't know, 20-30 years maybe, and thrown down the gauntlet for readers to come up with the titles.  So far, we are all stumped on several. 

Help us out.  NO GOOGLING ALLOWED!

You've Probably Never Heard Classical Gas Quite Like This

Hat tip: Mark

A New Way to Discover Music

MusicMesh

Slightly delay in loading can be noted at times, but very, very cool and useful if you want to discover new music.

About 40 Seconds in...

...you will begin to hear the greatest 2-fingered jazz guitar playing you've ever heard.  Only 2 of the fingers of Django Reinhart's left hand were functional, but he made it look easy:

Rolling Stones: Top 25 Songs With a Secret

Some I knew, most I didn't. 

Music to (gasp, huff, puff) Cross Train to

What I listened to while on the cross trainer:

1.  Down and Out - Eric Clapton

2. Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan

3.  Valleri - The Monkees

4.  The Syncopated Clock - Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops

5. Ki Va Moed - Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

6.  There She Goes - The La's

7.  Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet

8.  You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby - Bobby Darin

9.  Big Blue Sea - Bob Schneider

10.  Asher Bara - Neshama Carlebach

As Spock Would Say...

Fascinating.

Mark writes:

So, if I were to ask you what British group had the first Number 1 American hit and the biggest British instrumental single record sales to date you would say The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, right?

Mark says you'd be wrong, and provides: The group, the YouTube song and some Trekkie trivia.

The Syncopated Blog

I remember this tune being played as theme music for afternoon movies on TV way back when. It brings back memories of early childhood for me. 

Warning: Play at your own risk. It could remain in your head for the rest of the day.

Information on the piece may be found here.

Andy McKee

One of today's finest new fingerstyle guitarists, Andy McKee is lauded by many critics and guitarists as the most promising fingerstyle guitarist to arrive on the scene in some time. Born in 1979 in Topeka, Kansas, Andy began playing guitar on his 13th birthday when his father bought him a classical guitar. It was not long after that Andy got his first electric guitar and began emulating some of his favorite music of the time; Metallica, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, and Dream Theater.

Andy's 16th birthday was a real pivotal moment in his life. A guitar playing cousin nearly had to drag him to an acoustic workshop by a guitarist named Preston Reed. It was a mind blowing experience for the young electric guitarist! Shortly after, Andy discovered the music of three other great acoustic guitarists; Michael Hegdes, Don Ross, and Billy McLauglhin, all whom he considers as his primary musical influences today.

Andy McKee fan:

Les Miserables

The end of act one:

The finale:

As performed by the original cast. Fantastic!

Beethoven: Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Daniel Barenboim

Barenboim both conducts and plays piano.

Song Trellis

A description from the site:

What's a Song Trellis?
You know about trellises, right? They are a framework that supports a plant while it grows. They allow a plant to grow straight while its stem strengthens. They also keep a plant's fruit out of the dirt. Because the plant doesn't have to fight parasites and fungi as much, it can put a lot more energy into growing new fruit. Farmers and vineyard keepers discovered eons ago that fruit yields increase tremendously when they use trellises to support viney and shrubby plants.
This site is a framework that supports the growth of songs and new music, a trellis for song.

They have lots of links to YouTube music videos.  Unfortunately, some of the best were removed due to TOS violations, but there are still many good ones there, from a Bradford Marsalis and Harry Connick jr Katrina relief concert to Aretha Franklin singing Respect c.1990.

Guess Who?

From 1963:

The 70th Anniversary of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra

There is no orchestra in the world quite like it:

It is boycotted by its immediate neighbours and frequently finds itself playing during a war – it is not easy being the representative orchestra of the state of Israel.

The extraordinary story of the orchestra's birth centres round the vision and drive of a single Polish violinist.

Bronislaw Huberman's concert tours to Palestine in the early 1930s led him to conceive a rescue plan for Jewish musicians in central Europe: a Palestine Orchestra would offer a haven for players who had been dismissed from their posts, and would also bolster "the prestige of world Jewry and its cultural defence against the ignominious lies of Hitlerism".

Huberman's project to bring an entire orchestra over from Europe was a sort of musical version of the Zionist endeavour to make the deserts bloom. He did not live to witness the state of Israel (or the change of the orchestra's name), but he provided the foundation of a remarkable orchestra that has survived a number of flashpoints.

In 1971, for example, their first tour to Germany created division in the ranks. "Several players were Holocaust survivors," says former principal horn Yaakov Mishori. "There was a big argument about whether to go. We played Jewish composers – Mendelssohn, Mahler – and our encore was Hatikva [Israel's national anthem]. I felt it was a revenge."

The orchestra's resilience is matched by that of its audience. When the Philharmonic performed in Jerusalem during the first Gulf war, the audience wore gas masks. And earlier this year, at the time of the conflict in Lebanon, the orchestra was in mid-performance in Haifa when the first missiles hit the city. Nobody left the hall.

The Philharmonic's secretary-general, Avi Shoshani, says there is a peculiarly Israeli way of handling a crisis: "In other countries people leave when it gets dangerous. In Israel it is the other way round. I was in Switzerland when the recent Lebanon war started, and I made sure I got back here."

Conductor Zubin Mehta, in particular, has gone beyond the call of professional duty. He flew to Israel to conduct during the Six-Day War of 1967, and again during the Scud missile attacks of the Gulf war.

Link

The Dreidel Song - Texas Swing Style

Light One Candle

If you can make it through a few seconds of rambling talk in the beginning, this is a great Chanukah song, performed by Peter, Paul and Mary. It is about the sometimes neglected part of the Chanukah story. We all know about the miracle of the oil, but many don't realize that Chanukah was also about the struggle for freedom of religion. The Maccabees fought against the Greeks, who persecuted the Jews by not permitting them to practice Judaism. The Maccabees are considered great heroes in Jewish tradition. If they'd turned the other cheek, if they hadn't fought, if they didn't allow themselves to HATE what was being done to them, Judaism would not have survived:

Complaints Choir of Helsinki

From the Complaints Choirs of the World website:

It all got started during a winter day walk of Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen in Helsinki. Perhaps it was due to the coldness of the day that they ended up discussing the possibility of transforming the huge energy people put into complaining into something else. Perhaps not directly into heat – but into something powerful anyway.

In the Finnish vocabulary there is an expression "Valituskuoro". It means "Complaints Choir" and it is used to describe situations where a lot of people are complaining simultaneously.  Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen thought: "Wouldn´t it be fantastic to take this expression literally and organise a real Complaints Choir!"

As complaining is a universal phenomenon the project could be organised in any city around the world. Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen offered the concept to different events where they were invited as artists – but it was only after Springhill Institute in Birmingham got excited about the idea that the First Complaints Choir became a reality.

Birmingham (to some known as the "arsehole of England") was a perfect place to start the project. The participants – found through flyers and small posters – understood the concept instinctively.  Local musician Mike Hurley turned the complaints into a easy to learn song. Within two weeks time the song was rehearsed to perfection by the committed participants – despite the fact that only few were able to sing. A hit was born – with a chorus you can't get out of your mind: "I want my money back..."

Click here to listen to the Complaints Choir of Birmingham.

An article from The Guardian describes the phenomenon that has been watched by 100,000 on YouTube.

I Love the Internet

A few days ago, I posted a couple of wonderful videos of octogenarians singing contemporary rock songs. I knew at the time that I wasn't introducing them the way they deserved to be introduced.  The problem was two-fold:

1.  I posted the videos in the evening when my family was around and there were lots of distractions.   

2.  I tried, but couldn't find any additional information about the group - who they are, what their story was.  I knew there was a story there somewhere.

Well, today, I was checking my stats (seeing who visited this site and where they came from), and saw that someone from a Portuguese message board forum was sent here by a link to the videos.  Curious, I went to see what they had to say.  Couldn't tell much of course, it was all in Portuguese.  But, I did find the link to my site, and beneath it, a link to an article from The Guardian about the retirement-aged chorus group called Young at Heart, that sings contemporary - not Baby Boomer - rock.  And beneath that article was a link to Young at Heart's site, and information about them and soloist Fred Knittle, who, in the video below is wearing a nasal cannula to feed him oxygen, and so touchingly and poignantly singing, "Fix You" by Coldplay. 

They travel and perform all over the world.  Given that they are around the age of my parents, I very well understand what that means and what an undertaking it must be. They are a determined bunch with a great sense of humor - Knittle says he "traveled every continent but had to stop when he became incontinent."

Hokey?  Maybe a bit, but I find the spirit of fun, despite all the aches and pains, slowing down of functioning, illness, lack of mobility, poor eyesight and hearing, to be so inspiring. I just think it deserves attention.  My humble opinion: Growing old is not easy.  People who do it gracefully are to be congratulated and admired.   

Do try to find time to watch the two videos,read the  Guardian piece, and visit their site.  They are worth it. 

It's Worth Every Treasure on Earth to Be Young at Heart

I think these are terrific - though I guess I should warn you that my son (22 yrs old) found them disturbing. 

LAUGH:

Young@Heart sing 'Schizophrenia' by Sonic Youth.

CRY:

Young@Heart sing 'Fix You' by Coldplay.

Thanksgiving Mood Music

While We're at it...

Neil Young

I saw CSNY this past summer and I'd seen them 3-4 times prior to that over the past 5 years or so. 

This last time around, Neil Young sang his infamous let's impeach Bush song (the crowd reaction was mixed - some cheered, but more booed) and there were political references that had been missing in previous CSNY concerts I'd been to. 

I don't think much of Young's politics, but I can't help liking his music.

Klezmer With Itzhak Perlman

Featuring Brave New World, The Klezmer Conservatory Band and The Klezmatics. Perlman is a classical violinist (perhaps the greatest living), and this video shows him involved in the process of learning Klezmer.

Her Name is Neshama Carlebach

Listen (It will take some time to load, even with a fast connection but it's worth it):

Lyrics:

V'shamru v'ney Yisrael et haShabbat
L'asot haShabbat l'dorotam berit olam

Beyni u'vein b'ney Yisrael
Ot hi l'olam

Ki sheshet yamin asa Adonai
Et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz

U'vayom ha'shivi'i
Shavat v'yinafash

(For all the children of Israel shall keep Shabbat, doing what is fitting through all their generations to make Shabbat an eternal covenant between Me and the children of Israel, a sign throughout all time and space. For Adonai did the work of heaven and earth six days, and on the seventh day God ceased to work, rested and breathed a new soul into the world.)