American-Jewish A Cappella Meets Israeli Rock
Ynet has an article about how during the Omer religious radio stations play lots of a cappella music. While I think that when it comes to Hebrew and Jewish music, Israel beats anything coming out of American hands down, maybe the one area where the American-Jewish hand seems to be on the top is a cappella music (see here for some English Jewish accappela). There is some very good Jewish a cappella music being sung, mostly by different groups on college campuses. This being said, it is probably culturally and linguistically impossible for any Jewish band in America to play on the same level as good Israeli rock. For the past few days I’ve been into listening to some good music from Mashina, and while they may not be reworking piyyutim, they are quite the rock ‘n’ roll band. Among Israeli rockers, Shalom Hanoch is also probably in a class by himself.
May 3rd, 2010 at 10:52 pm
I freely concede your superior familiarity with Israeli culture in general, and music in particular, but I’ll nevertheless insist that אתי אנקרי is *definitely* in a class of her own. As you know if you’ve been following my stuff lately, הכל בפניה כקוף בפני אדם – from so many perspectives: sheer vocal beauty, musicality, originality, authenticity and (in the latter half of her career) religiosity (*not* spirituality, as one reviewer perceptively notes).
May 4th, 2010 at 5:20 am
I am not that familiar with Eti Ankri’s music, but I have heard wonderful things about her from a number of people. Yochi Brandes, the author whom I have mentioned a number of times, also sings her praise. Thanks for the recommendation.
May 4th, 2010 at 8:01 am
A few links to get you started:
http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/187657
http://news.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=210047&ssv=0
http://e.walla.co.il/?w=/1/1460637
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-1071629,00.html
http://www.mouse.co.il/CM.articles_item,1021,209,40596,.aspx
http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=27&SubSectionID=25&ArticleID=8635&TM=61441.48
http://www.juf.org/news/local.aspx?id=10584
http://www.notes.co.il/yochy/61158.asp
http://www.yosmusic.com/article.asp?id=5811
[That last one has a link to a longish Youtube video of her pre-last-Rosh Hashanah Tel Aviv museum performance. I tend to like her studio recordings better, though.]
And thanks for your recommendations. I’m generally curious enough to check them out, even when I don’t comment.