Where It Is And Where I'd Like It To Be
I was thinking about the nature of Jewish Music as of late . . .
An acquaintance of mine, Schneur (aka DeScribe) and the amazing
Y-love, released their single "Change" (Yes the title and some of the imagery bring up a little too much Obama . . . but what can you do?)
I enjoyed it, and in my desire to support talented Jewish Artists, I purchased it on Amazon (and you should
too) and have been rocking out to it ever since.
But I wonder . . . I don't particularly care for rap, reggae or most of the other genres covered in 'hip' - Jewish music. The styles I naturally go for are Romanticism, and even more Neo-Romanticism, Jazz and an appreciation for a smattering of classic rock. I find the infinite breadth and grandeur of John Williams (Yes, John Williams is my favorite composer - just listen to the
Binary Sunset) to strike a far greater chord in me . . .
Which is why I wonder that, with an exception for the genre-bending
8th day, I can't really understand why my play list has so much Matisyahu, Y-Love and others. It's not that I don't enjoy these guys - if I didn't I wouldn't play them so much . . .
[There must be an interesting sociological connection that after generic 'pop' music, the greatest influences stylistically on Modern Jewish Music are African-American ones (Yes I know that it is rather assumptive and ignorant of me to call reggae and rap "African American" but the liberal public school agenda has programmed me to call ethnicities that hail from continental Africa at any point in their past, regardless of other influences and where they may currently live, as such)]
Perhaps it's their freshness -
Shiny-Shoes Music can be fun, but when I need to concentrate, relax or just release, with an exception for
MBD, most of the other guys make me nervous. Hearing something inspired, even if not my style, adds the much needed variety to my life (which music always seems to play an indispensable role).
[An aside: Chassidisher Nigunim are a whole other topic - as I've mentioned in a previous
post]
In any event, with the exception of Daniel Zamir, who has some amazing Jazz renditions of niggunim, and whose
Hatikvah [please click on the link dear reader and listen] I absolutely adore - and don't even know where to purchase - I'll just have to be content with what's out there.
But am I alone in wanting something in a more symphonic vein? I'd love to see a series of Romantic pieces utilizing the Leitmotif for various Jewish personalities - a fatherly
Baal Shem Tov, a brave
R' Levi Yitzchok Berditchver, a brooding
R' Boruch'el M'Medzibuzh . . .
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