Klezmer in Jerusalem

O, Jerusalem! Jewish culture capital of the world, where klezmer music wafts through the air like simmering cholent…Right? Well, not exactly. In a city teeming with even more Russian than Yiddish, and where shopping malls attract more visitors than music venues, there’s only one place to experience klezmer performed by musicians who look and sound as if they’ve just stepped out of the shtetl: Kool Klezmer, the weekly post-Shabbat jam session held in the book-lined offices of the Yung YiDish cultural organization.

Led by the gregarious clarinetist and accordion player Avraham Burshtein, many of the klezmorim arrive still wearing their Shabbat bekkishes, and sporting their beards and payot. The group fills the dimly lit basement on the edge of an ultra-orthodox neighborhood with hours of lively Eastern European tunes, spontaneous dancing, and Yiddish tales. And their music hits you right in the kishkes.
Kool Klezmer attracts an eclectic assortment of people—both Haredim and secular Jews alike—who gather to enjoy the organized musical chaos as well as the antics of Burshtein, who in addition to leading this talented group of klezmorim, also happens to be the best bottle dancer this side of Pinsk.

The Jazz Sound and Jewish Films

David Krakauer links the mediums

“New York is the jazz capital of the world!” yelled out the enthused emcee at Le Poisson Rouge, at one point, this Saturday night. And it really felt like it, too: according to the organizers of this year’s Winter JazzFest that included dozens of bands in six venues across New York’s Greenwich Village, the event was completely sold out. Block-long crowds piled outside of each venue, and Le Poisson Rouge, the festival’s main stage, was jam-packed from early on in the night, which is when David Krakauer’s “Big Picture” project took stage.

David Krakauer is major clarinetist: although world-renown for his klezmer chops, he’s brought his sound into worlds as diverse as funk, classical music, and avant-garde jazz. The newest project, however, is not a genre exploration, but a conceptual one. “Big Picture” is about reinterpretation of American film music–some of the most poignant tunes, played behind the screen. More often than not, caught up in a film’s narrative, we do not even notice these melodies, as they surface on the background and fade out. And yet they have a major effect on us–amplifying our emotions, refocusing and guiding our attention. It is that very emotional-laden memory that Krakauer’s sound taps into–the vague but potent recollection of how we felt watching films he’s borrowed melodies from: “The Pianist”, “Lenny”, “Sophie’s Choice”, and “Life is Beautiful” among others.

To me, the point was brought home most explicitly when the band went into “Body & Soul,” as a tribute to Woody Allen’s “Radio Days”. The melody is familiar to anyone with even a cursory interest in jazz: it has been covered by such giants as Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaugham. Yet, riffing on Benny Goodman’s version that Woody Allen uses in his film, Krakauer brought to the stage, the very quintessence of what a classic Woody Allen movie feels and sounds like. Sure, we all laugh at Woody’s self-deprecating, neurotic quips (and as per Woody’s opinion piece in this weekend’s Times), the neuroticism is still going strong), but what makes his films so memorable is a certain magical, romantic, anything-is-possible-and-yet sort of an attitude that those vintage jazz tracks bring to us, from the background.

Krakauer closed the set with a song, which, he announced “you can all help us with, I’m sure”. It was none other than “Tradition” from “Fiddler on the Roof”, which, indeed, the crowd shouted along to, on band’s cue. Indeed, the jazz capital of the world – and the capital of a few other things, too. 

Mazel Tov, K-Pop

Just a few months ago, Korean pop star Psy’s smash hit “Gangnam Style” launched K- pop into the global limelight. But years before “Gangnam Style,” K-pop was already rearing its head in the Jewish world thanks to the boy band ZE:A’s single “Mazel tov!”.

The rhythms of ZE:A’s song are irresistible, and may inspire you to join the boys and start dancing. “Mazel tov!” they repeatedly exclaim. “Mazel tov!”

What exactly is ZE:A celebrating? Well…we’re not quite sure. Let’s see if JpopAsia’s handy translation of the lyrics can explain:

Mazel tov have strength, Mazel tov smile,

Mazel tov, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Mazel tov, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

I hope you will at least give me some strength, my my my girl

ZE:A’s “Mazel tov!” is hardly Hebrew’s first pop cameo. Jay-Z shouted out to the Jews in his song “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)…” with “Black bar mitzvahs / Mazel tov, it’s a celebration.” And in the Black Eyed Peas’ ”I Gotta Feeling,” listen for “Fill up my cup, mazel tov!”

There’s only one thing to say about the strange popularity of this Jewish phrase in pop music (sorry, it’s irresistible!): Mazel tov!

The Shondes: The Coney Island of Rock Bands?"

Coney Island — home of legendary knishes, Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs, and that historic roller coaster — is rich with Jewish spirit.

A similar thing could be said of the Brooklyn band The Shondes, who so identify with the oceanfront Brooklyn district that they recorded a paean to it for their album, "Searchlights." (Check out track 9, "Coney Island Tonight.") With their exuberant violin-driven rock ‘n roll, The Shondes have drawn comparisons to Sleater-Kinney, The Go-Gos, and Bruce Springsteen. And when the four band members take to the stage they're as powerful as a big ensemble.

The Shondes bring an ineffable Yiddish spirit to their tunes that goes deeper than just their name (which means "shame" in Yiddish, á la "It's a shonde for the goyim"). Maybe it's in Elijah Oberman's violin – the way it seems to weep and laugh all in the same breath. Or maybe it's in Louisa Solomon’s commanding lead vocals – so rich a voice it seems charged with the emotions of generations. Whatever the case, The Shondes are making breathtaking music made of deeply unexpected musical ingredients and even deeper heart.

The Shondes' Searchlights came out in 2011 and they're working on their next album.

The $30 Hit

Jewish maternal disappointment may never have been quite so dramatic – nor quite so public – as that of Anna Secunda, mother of composer Shalom Secunda, circa 1937. According to one article, she fasted and prayed for her son who had sold the rights to his song, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," for a mere $30.

And honestly, we might fast, too, were we in Mrs. Secunda’s shoes. The tune quickly became the world’s best-known Yiddish theater song. Performed and recorded by The Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Judy Garland and Bette Midler, it was the only Yiddish song that was ever quite such a crossover hit.

A 1938 article in the Camden Courier-Post recounts a conversation between Secunda and his bootblack, who was whistling the wildly popular song as he shone. "I guess the guy who wrote that must be making plenty of dough," Secunda reportedly commented. "Not him," said the bootblack. "That dope sold his song for 30 bucks."

Despite the insults and the parental distress, Secunda himself didn't harp on the lost royalties. As he told the New York Times, "It bothered everyone else more than it bothered me. I've been more interested in my symphonic music."

Ringo the Jew?

Most every Jewish kid who grew up in 1960s America looked up to Ringo Starr. He was one of us, the Jewish Beatle, the one who had been bar mitzvahed.

There was just one glitch: Ringo hadn’t been bar mitzvahed. Because Ringo isn’t Jewish.

But the myth of Ringo-as-Jew was so pervasive that in 1964, in the early days of Beatlemania, Ringo received death threats from anti-Semites before playing a concert in Montreal. He played with a bodyguard sitting beside him and genuinely feared he might be shot. Both he and George Harrison talked about the incident in the Beatles Anthology, the authorized biography published by the surviving Beatles in 2000. "Some people decided to make an example of me, as an English Jew," Ringo said. "The one major fault is I'm not Jewish."

The anthology should have put the Ringo rumors to sleep, but a quick jaunt around the web shows just how persistent the myth remains. A prominent White Power site has also clarified the question for its Jew-hating constituents—but we’re going to refrain from linking to that one.

Still, Ringo does have one indisputable Jewish connection – his wife, actress Barbara Bach, nee Goldbach.

Holiday Blues? Teammate Can Help!

Are you kicking off December with fists clenched in balls of impotent Christmas rage, exasperated by the emptiness of vulgar consumerism, feeling trapped by encroaching tinsel ghettos of forced holiday cheerfulness? Or perhaps you are just experiencing a baseline malaise or anxiety that happens to many of us who are otherwise functional outside of this time-crunched, emotionally draining, financially worrisome time of year.

The holidays can be really rough. Sometimes you just need someone to write an awesome song that perfectly describes a melancholy holiday sentiment and then make a hilarious yet heart-shredding video for that song starring their pets (Maya the Dog and Cheddar the Cat), which shows us all how simple and profound our shared humanity is while simultaneously demonstrating that cat paws can't answer calls on an iPhone for shit.

Teammate, the bi-coastal musical lovechild of Scott Simons (Los Angeles) and Dani Buncher (Pittsburgh) is an excellent band year round, but this video for the song, "I Won't Be Home For Chanukah" places them them solidly in my pantheon of "Holiday Music That Almost Makes Me Look Forward to the Holidays.

You know. Like, Wham's "Last Christmas," Mariah's "All I Want For Christmas," RUN DMC's "Christmas In Hollis, Queens," The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping," or "O, Holy Night" by any number of older dudes.

I implore you to watch "I Won't Be Home For Chanukah" at least once a day for the rest of the year. If you're already happy, it will expand your sense that all is well in the world. And if your heart feels two sizes too small, Teammate provides some warm cider for your winter-weary soul.