New CD captures Kabbalat Shabbat in Tel Aviv

August 26, 2011 - 8:56 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Music, Religion 

The new CD from Tel Aviv's Beit Tefilah

It’s Friday in Israel and, as sun begins to set later this afternoon, more than 1,000 people will gather at the Tel Aviv Port to welcome the Sabbath Bride. It’s the weekly Kabbalat Shabbat service, run by the Tel Aviv-based Beit Tefilah Israel (“House of Israeli Prayer”), an organization which has set for itself the task of building ” an active Jewish community which speaks to the breadth of the secular public.”

Now, the egalitarian, pluralistic Beit Tefilah has released its first CD with music from their popular Friday service by the beach. The CD has 17 songs which are performed by the Beit Tefilah Ensemble, led by Atalya Lavi who participated as a contestant on the ninth season of “Kochav Nolad,” Israel’s version of American Idol.

The CD – called “A Tel Aviv Prayer” – includes both classic Kabbalat Shabbat liturgical works (such as Lecha Dodi and Adon Olam) and music composed to Israeli poetry (for example Haim Bialik’s Shabat HaMalka). There is even a Hebrew version of the Louis Armstrong song “What a Wonderful World” that substitutes for one of the psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat.

Beit Tefilah isn’t the first Israeli congregation to release an album of its music. Jerusalem’s Jewish Renewal community Nava Tehila did that already a few years back and has started work on a second CD.

The new Beit Tefilah CD is for sale online at http://www.btfila.bandcamp.com. If you want to try before you buy, every song is available to stream from the site too.

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Even the roosters crow for RebbeSoul

February 23, 2011 - 10:17 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Music 

Why would a successful Hollywood musician and Jewish music pioneer leave behind a lucrative career and pack it all up to make aliyah? Bruce Burger, who goes by the stage name of RebbeSoul, can’t quite put his finger on it. Maybe it’s his Jewish soul, or that he fell in love with the people of Israel on one of his trips here to perform. Or perhaps he just figured his chances of finding a bride might be better in the land of the Jews.

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Whatever the reason, Israelis are the clear beneficiaries. The 52-year-old Burger, who immigrated in 2007, is a musical virtuoso, and his skills were on display this week when he played a concert at Jerusalem’s Nature Museum. The show was part of Jewish Renewal community Nava Tehila’s spiritual and Jewish music performances, which are held on Tuesday evenings.

Burger’s repertoire consists of a mix of original tunes and reinterpreted Shlomo Carlebach melodies, played on acoustic and electric guitar, as well as a balalaika he received from legendary session musician Tommy Tedesco, the artist who performed the theme music of the 1950s television hit Bonanza. Burger was accompanied this week by percussionist Eli Melech and, on a few numbers, by Itai Kagan doing a mean live beat box.

RebbeSoul was one of the first bands to make Jewish music “cool.” Over a 20-year career including six well-received albums, Burger has emphasized a world music vibe. To wit: at his concert, he led with a flamenco-inspired guitar-driven song in Ladino, and later played a jazzed up “Kaddish” that featured recorded sound clips from Jewish communities around the world (including a traditional Ashkenazi melody and a wild Indian chant). Another of his songs, “Shalom Salaam,” which has lyrics promoting peace in Hebrew, Arabic and even Japanese, was a minor hit on college radio.

Perhaps the most amusing moment of the evening was during his rendition of the Yom Kippur prayer Avinu Malkenu. As he reached the pinnacle of his Jimi Hendrix-esque electric guitar riff  (seriously, I’m not just engaging in fawning hyperbole), a rooster outside in the grounds of the Nature Museum began to crow. The timing was so perfect, for a moment, we all thought it was part of the song.

Burger lives in Zichron Yaakov and divides his time between Israel and overseas gigs in Europe and the U.S. And, oh yes, if you have a potential shidduch for a crazy talented musician with a Jewish neshama, visit his website and give him a call.

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New CD brings rock and roll from the synagogue

January 20, 2010 - 5:18 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Israeliness, Music 

The Jewish rock scene in Israel is thriving these days, with erstwhile Anglo performers like Yehuda Katz and pop crooner Aaron Razel to newly religious Israeli hit makers Ehud Banai, Etti Ankari and Erez Lev Ari (see our post here) all burning up Torah-inspired dance floors across the country. It’s rarer, though, to find a synagogue recording its own album of Jewish rock.

Jewish Renewal congregation Nava Tehila in Jerusalem has released just such a disc and the result admirably holds its own against its more established cousins.

“Dancing in the Glory” covers the Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service, psalm by psalm. The music, written by local musicians Daphna Rosenberg and Yoel Sykes, moves seamlessly from Middle Eastern motifs to reggae with even a polka thrown in for good measure.

The opening track, “Creating the Sea” (Asher Lo Ha’yam – all of the songs have both Hebrew and English names) starts off with a delicate children’s choir, then builds as Rosenberg’s rich voice takes over before joining the kids in harmony.

Sykes’ “The God of Glory Thunders” (El HaKavod Hiri’im) has a gospel feel to it, while “Hear and Rejoice” (Shema v’Tismach) sports an Irish jig as its centerpiece.  “Blaze” (Anan v’Arafel) is mixes reggae and klezmer, while “The Mountains are Singing” (Naharot Yimchau Kaf) ends with a percussion solo and call and respond chant that is vaguely reminiscent of Chicago’s early hit “Beginnings.”

Then there’s that polka. Sung by Rosenberg with a wisp of accordion accompaniment, it sets the words of “Lecha Dodi” to the Jewish standard “Tumbalalaika.”

The all acoustic disc includes 13 musicians who play a wide variety of instruments including flute, clarinet, oud, cello, violin and darbuka.

The producer of this album of Jewish music, surprisingly, is a Catholic monk. Father Zacharie is a member of the Beautitudes monastic order located near Latrun that is interested in the Jewish roots of Christianity. Before becoming a monk, the Hebrew-speaking Zacharie was a professional musician specializing in Irish music.

The CD comes with a 28-page booklet, allowing listeners to follow along in both Hebrew and English transliteration.

The Nava Tehila ensemble is currently in the U.S. performing songs from the album at Jewish community centers and synagogues.

The CD is available for NIS 60 in Israel, and for $18 a disc, $12 for an MP3 digital download at CD Baby. Individual MP3 tracks can be purchased at OySongs for $1.99 each.

You can listen to several full tracks at Nava Tehila’s MySpace page.

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