Last year, I became aware of the Maccabeats, the Jewish a cappella group
from Yeshiva University that created the YouTube sensation Candlelight, a tribute to Hanukkah to the tune of the Taio Cruz song Dynamite. Months later, I enjoyed their second holiday video, this time an homage to Purim set to Pink’s Raise Your Glass, but it wasn’t until this fall that I discovered that the group had recorded an entire album.
Given
my love of harmony and my fascination with Judaism, to say nothing of
how impressed I was with the two songs of theirs that I had already
heard, I wanted to hear more than the few quick samples that were freely
available, so I decided to download Voices From the Heights, the
12-track album this 14-member men’s group released in early 2010.
Featuring the vocal talents of Chanina Abramowitz, David Block, Michael
Greenberg, Noey Jacobson, Josh Jay, Nachum Joel, Ari Lewis, Mordy Prus,
Jeff Ritholtz, Buri Rosenberg, Meir Shapiro and Yonatan Shefa under the
direction of Julian Horowitz and Immanuel Shalev, the album includes a
mix of sacred, traditional and pop music.
Despite the amount of
time I spend on the computer, CD is still the format I tend to prefer
for my music, so I haven’t mastered the ins and outs of MP3s yet. Hence,
it’s possible I missed something, but as far as I can tell, buying this
album does not entitle the downloader to any sort of information about
the album beyond the track list. Lyrics, explanations of songs and names
of the performers are all absent, and I had to do quite a bit of
searching to sniff some of these out. I’m not sure if it’s any different
with the physical copies of the CD, which don’t seem to be available at
this time, but a little something in the way of album notes would have
been nice here, especially since nine of the 12 songs are sung in
Hebrew.
I’m only complaining, though, because these songs are so
gorgeously done and it would be nice to have a more solid idea of what
they are saying. While the Hanukkah and Purim songs have a contemporary
and light-hearted feel to them, especially when the videos are factored
in, nothing on this album has a comical edge to it. However, there is
some variation in tone and style, with some songs feeling somber and
others upbeat. Hebrew is a beautiful language, and when I listen to most
of the songs here it makes me want to become more familiar with it. I
can’t see myself singing along anytime soon, but the intricate
arrangements certainly are a delight for the ears.
It’s a nice
gesture to folks like me who don’t understand Hebrew that three of the
songs are in plain old English. One of these is the closing track, One Day,
originally performed by Matisyahu, a Hasidic reggae singer who
conceived it as an anthem of hope and peace. It makes a very optimistic
way to end the album as they sing, with just a hint of Jamaican accents,
of their desire for harmony and joy among people. A very altruistic
song. Countering the buoyant feeling of this track is the venting of
Daniel Powter’s Bad Day, which became a mega-hit in part because it was used to accompany the departures of American Idol
contestants during the show’s fifth season. This one has a more
melancholy edge to it, but it’s still incredibly catchy with lots of
doo-woppy back-up.
My favorite of the English tracks, however, is Go the Distance. While I enjoyed the late 1990s Disney animated feature Hercules
well enough, this song was the only moment in the movie that I
absolutely loved. I just found the music gorgeous and the sentiment
stirring. This song has a very different feel than the others on the
album because it feels like we are getting the plaintive personality of
an individual, whereas the rest of the tracks seem to reflect more of a
group mentality. That’s not to say that the soloist doesn’t have a rich
wall of back-up here, but his expressive tone and the slight liberties
he takes with the melody make this really feel like his song, which
takes on interesting layers in this specifically Jewish context.
Two of the Hebrew songs sounded familiar to me despite my inability to understand the words. I assumed at first that Lecha Dodi was simply a Hebrew translation of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah,
but I discovered that the lyrics are actually an ancient Sabbath prayer
composed in the 1500s by Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz. The song feels fervent
and reverent as the voices build on each other, weaving poignant
harmonies revealing depths of passion. The next track, HaMalach HaGoel, begins with a brief but beautiful prayer set to Brahms Lullaby, after which it shifts to a completely different melody, one of the loveliest on the album.
Among the remaining tracks, my favorite is probably the lament Arim Roshi.
You don’t need to understand what they’re saying to get the gist of
this plea for divine aid conveying the general idea of Psalm 121: “I
lift up my eyes unto the hills; from whence cometh my help?” As soon as I
heard this, the melody reminded me of Michael Card’s My Help,
which covers similar territory, so I wasn’t surprised to see the English
translation. It seems that he must have been drawing from traditional
sources in its composition. This track feels like a chant by a choir of
those in desperation. Slightly shivery and simply gorgeous.
The other tracks include peppy opener Ma Rabu; cheerful song of praise Arim Roshi; Oseh Shalom, a prayer for peace that tests the upper range of the leading vocalist; the interestingly paired Shaleshudis Medley; Ma Avarech, which begins like a benediction and ends like an elegy; and Israel’s national anthem, HaTikva.
This
album has a different feel to it than the viral videos for which they
are famous, but the tight harmonies and overall musical excellence are
the same. If you love a cappella music, give the Maccabeats a try. You
don’t need to understand Hebrew to appreciate the artistry of these
songs.
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
A Hardened Zealot Seeks Meaning in Elizabeth George Speare's The Bronze Bow
The month and a half leading up to Easter, and the last week in
particular, are meant to be times of deep contemplation for Christians.
Thanks to a most timely recommendation, Elizabeth George Speare’s The Bronze Bow rose to the top of my must-read list this month, giving me a beautiful novel to reflect upon for Holy Week.
Speare has received Newbery recognition for two of her other novels, both of which explore themes of faith, friendship and overcoming one’s prejudices. In this 1962 Newbery Medal-winning book, set near Capernaum of 2000 years ago, Biblical characters weave their way in and out of the story of 18-year-old Israelite Daniel, who has lived for nothing but revenge since his father’s crucifixion a decade earlier. Having exchanged apprenticeship to an abusive blacksmith and a dreary home with a withered grandmother and cowed sister for a bandit’s existence in the nearby mountains, Daniel venerates Rosh, a fierce outlaw he believes will lead an army to rise up against the Roman scum who hold the Jewish people under their sway. On the mountain, he feels a sense of belonging, of purpose, of freedom. But his life is about to change dramatically.
Daniel has been part of this pack for five years, yet he remains an isolated individual, focusing all of his emotional energy on his lust for vengeance. He has no need for friendship, or so believes until he meets twins Joel and Thacia, who come from his town of Ketzah but are relocating to bustling Capernaum. Joel, a rabbi in training, studies the Law intensely but echoes Daniel’s thirst for ridding the land of Romans. Thacia, who shares a deep bond with her brother, is by turns fiery and gentle, and her beauty and bravery flummox the hardened Daniel.
The same day the twins ascend the mountain to gaze over their homeland before their departure, Rosh orders a raid on a caravan. His object? An enormous slave the men laughingly name Samson. Daniel takes charge of him, leading him up the mountain to their camp and using his iron-working skills to remove the chains that confine him. Little does he realize that in so doing, he is binding himself to the seemingly deaf-mute lummox, who thereafter will answer only to him. Samson’s strength makes Daniel’s work in the makeshift forge easier, but it’s uncomfortable for him to feel so tied down to one person. It’s a discomfort he will soon be forced to get used to as his childhood returns to haunt him.
Speare paints a vivid picture of the landscape’s unique sights, sounds and smells, transporting readers to dusty streets and salty shorelines and introducing a people hungry for hope. When they meet again, Daniel, Joel and Thacia take heart in the words of King David, adopting as their mantra, “He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” Surely a revolution is coming, and they vow to be ready when it does. But threatening Daniel’s ambitions are the looming reminders of his dying grandmother and his sister Leah, traumatized into apparent madness by the events that lit the fire of vigilantism within Daniel. Can he maintain his distance from his only family for the sake of the cause – especially as doubts about Rosh’s leadership style begin to creep in?
And then there is Jesus. Daniel learns of him from village blacksmith Simon the Zealot. From the moment he first sees him, he is transfixed by his “vital, radiant face, lighted from within by a burning intensity of spirit.” The teacher’s quiet words mesmerize him, but Daniel walks away frustrated. Here is a man who can captivate thousands; each time Daniel goes to see him, the crowd around him seems to expand. An unfathomable power seems to flow from him as he talks of the Kingdom of God. Yet usurping the Romans does not seem to be his agenda. Daniel wonders how a man with such influence can fail to use it for the long-awaited liberation of his people. Or might Jesus offer a different kind of freedom?
First and foremost, this is Daniel’s tale. It is not primarily an account of Christ’s ministry, and Speare sprinkles in encounters with Jesus and his followers, particularly Simon Peter and Andrew, sparingly. The parable of the Good Samaritan, the feeding of the five thousand and the raising of Jairus’s daughter are among the notable Gospel passages that are organically integrated into the story, taking on a renewed potency as seen from the perspective of the teen who just can’t quite make out what this man is all about. Speare keeps dialogue directly involving Jesus to a minimum so that every moment with him feels like a cool drink of water in the midst of a barren landscape of rage and despair.
For nearly a third of his life, Daniel has taken orders from a man who regards compassion as a weakness to be filed away like the heaviest chain conceivable. As new responsibilities take him beyond the mountain and the words of a different kind of leader work their way into his soul, Daniel must carefully consider the true meaning of strength, of courage, of devotion. Is his bond with Samson truly a lamentable burden? Is it frailty to care for his troubled sister, whose sweetness shines out of the shadows just a little more with each passing day? Faced with the prospect of heading up his own faction of revolutionaries, which role model will he follow?
While Speare’s The Sign of the Beaver, which I recently read for the first time, has a straightforward simplicity to it, this novel is considerably longer and more complex, with more characters to keep track of and more twists and turns, not to mention the expert way in which Speare intermingles Daniel’s story with Gospel accounts. Each of the major characters has hopes and aspirations that are tested at various points, but their gravest challenges often come in quiet moments. Despite Daniel’s readiness for a violent uprising, his most grueling battle is internal as he struggles under the weight of a torment that only one person truly seems to understand.
I’m glad that this was the week I read The Bronze Bow. Through the stormy eyes of Speare’s passionate protagonist, I gained a fresh appreciation for what those days must have been like and the soft but forceful ways in which Jesus impacted the lives of those around him. When Daniel and his twin friends first read the psalm that will be such a source of inspiration to them, Thacia speculates that David means “that when God strengthens us we can do something that seems impossible.” Daniel’s own impossible feat is both simpler and more daunting than he ever could have imagined. He cannot do it alone. Neither can we.
Speare has received Newbery recognition for two of her other novels, both of which explore themes of faith, friendship and overcoming one’s prejudices. In this 1962 Newbery Medal-winning book, set near Capernaum of 2000 years ago, Biblical characters weave their way in and out of the story of 18-year-old Israelite Daniel, who has lived for nothing but revenge since his father’s crucifixion a decade earlier. Having exchanged apprenticeship to an abusive blacksmith and a dreary home with a withered grandmother and cowed sister for a bandit’s existence in the nearby mountains, Daniel venerates Rosh, a fierce outlaw he believes will lead an army to rise up against the Roman scum who hold the Jewish people under their sway. On the mountain, he feels a sense of belonging, of purpose, of freedom. But his life is about to change dramatically.
Daniel has been part of this pack for five years, yet he remains an isolated individual, focusing all of his emotional energy on his lust for vengeance. He has no need for friendship, or so believes until he meets twins Joel and Thacia, who come from his town of Ketzah but are relocating to bustling Capernaum. Joel, a rabbi in training, studies the Law intensely but echoes Daniel’s thirst for ridding the land of Romans. Thacia, who shares a deep bond with her brother, is by turns fiery and gentle, and her beauty and bravery flummox the hardened Daniel.
The same day the twins ascend the mountain to gaze over their homeland before their departure, Rosh orders a raid on a caravan. His object? An enormous slave the men laughingly name Samson. Daniel takes charge of him, leading him up the mountain to their camp and using his iron-working skills to remove the chains that confine him. Little does he realize that in so doing, he is binding himself to the seemingly deaf-mute lummox, who thereafter will answer only to him. Samson’s strength makes Daniel’s work in the makeshift forge easier, but it’s uncomfortable for him to feel so tied down to one person. It’s a discomfort he will soon be forced to get used to as his childhood returns to haunt him.
Speare paints a vivid picture of the landscape’s unique sights, sounds and smells, transporting readers to dusty streets and salty shorelines and introducing a people hungry for hope. When they meet again, Daniel, Joel and Thacia take heart in the words of King David, adopting as their mantra, “He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” Surely a revolution is coming, and they vow to be ready when it does. But threatening Daniel’s ambitions are the looming reminders of his dying grandmother and his sister Leah, traumatized into apparent madness by the events that lit the fire of vigilantism within Daniel. Can he maintain his distance from his only family for the sake of the cause – especially as doubts about Rosh’s leadership style begin to creep in?
And then there is Jesus. Daniel learns of him from village blacksmith Simon the Zealot. From the moment he first sees him, he is transfixed by his “vital, radiant face, lighted from within by a burning intensity of spirit.” The teacher’s quiet words mesmerize him, but Daniel walks away frustrated. Here is a man who can captivate thousands; each time Daniel goes to see him, the crowd around him seems to expand. An unfathomable power seems to flow from him as he talks of the Kingdom of God. Yet usurping the Romans does not seem to be his agenda. Daniel wonders how a man with such influence can fail to use it for the long-awaited liberation of his people. Or might Jesus offer a different kind of freedom?
First and foremost, this is Daniel’s tale. It is not primarily an account of Christ’s ministry, and Speare sprinkles in encounters with Jesus and his followers, particularly Simon Peter and Andrew, sparingly. The parable of the Good Samaritan, the feeding of the five thousand and the raising of Jairus’s daughter are among the notable Gospel passages that are organically integrated into the story, taking on a renewed potency as seen from the perspective of the teen who just can’t quite make out what this man is all about. Speare keeps dialogue directly involving Jesus to a minimum so that every moment with him feels like a cool drink of water in the midst of a barren landscape of rage and despair.
For nearly a third of his life, Daniel has taken orders from a man who regards compassion as a weakness to be filed away like the heaviest chain conceivable. As new responsibilities take him beyond the mountain and the words of a different kind of leader work their way into his soul, Daniel must carefully consider the true meaning of strength, of courage, of devotion. Is his bond with Samson truly a lamentable burden? Is it frailty to care for his troubled sister, whose sweetness shines out of the shadows just a little more with each passing day? Faced with the prospect of heading up his own faction of revolutionaries, which role model will he follow?
While Speare’s The Sign of the Beaver, which I recently read for the first time, has a straightforward simplicity to it, this novel is considerably longer and more complex, with more characters to keep track of and more twists and turns, not to mention the expert way in which Speare intermingles Daniel’s story with Gospel accounts. Each of the major characters has hopes and aspirations that are tested at various points, but their gravest challenges often come in quiet moments. Despite Daniel’s readiness for a violent uprising, his most grueling battle is internal as he struggles under the weight of a torment that only one person truly seems to understand.
I’m glad that this was the week I read The Bronze Bow. Through the stormy eyes of Speare’s passionate protagonist, I gained a fresh appreciation for what those days must have been like and the soft but forceful ways in which Jesus impacted the lives of those around him. When Daniel and his twin friends first read the psalm that will be such a source of inspiration to them, Thacia speculates that David means “that when God strengthens us we can do something that seems impossible.” Daniel’s own impossible feat is both simpler and more daunting than he ever could have imagined. He cannot do it alone. Neither can we.
Saturday, April 1, 2000
Just in Time for Easter
As Easter approaches, this movie is a great one to pick up to get you in
the spirit of the season. This energetic retelling of the last week of
Jesus' life is more powerful as a play, but as a video it holds its own.
Sung in its entirety, J.C. Superstar features a cast of rock singers with bizarre costumes.
For the most part, this Andrew Lloyd Weber-Tim Rice production stays true to the story, though they put a very different spin on it. Instead of focusing on Jesus, they attempt to show us the Passion of Christ through the eyes of Judas. A tortured individual, he believes that it will be to the betterment of his people to turn Jesus in to the authorities. Filled with remorse after the deed, he wonders if Jesus could still love him after his betrayal. Then he hangs himself, later confronting Jesus in limbo, in our current time, asking if he thought it was all worth it.
The music makes this movie. Similar musical themes run throughout, giving different songs the same tune. All are memorable, from the tender I Don't Know How to Love Him to the hilarious Herod's Song to the hesitantly triumphant title number. As that's the only dialogue in this movie, you almost might do just as well to simply buy the soundtrack.
There are so many absurd costumes in this movie, and the dances which go along with some of the songs are downright disturbing. As for the props...the scene in the temple includes everything from postcards to firearms. Herod's palace includes a huge swimming pool, a honky-tonk piano, and a big basket of bagels which he throws at Jesus. And in Judas' delusions, he sees himself being chased by tanks and B2 bombers.
All anachronisms aside, this is an interesting modern treatment of a sacred story which millions across the globe consider to be true. The music makes it entertaining and accessible to all manners of people in our young generation. Everyone should see this production at least once. It is highly preferable to see it in the theater, but if your local theater can't accommodate then give the video a shot.
For the most part, this Andrew Lloyd Weber-Tim Rice production stays true to the story, though they put a very different spin on it. Instead of focusing on Jesus, they attempt to show us the Passion of Christ through the eyes of Judas. A tortured individual, he believes that it will be to the betterment of his people to turn Jesus in to the authorities. Filled with remorse after the deed, he wonders if Jesus could still love him after his betrayal. Then he hangs himself, later confronting Jesus in limbo, in our current time, asking if he thought it was all worth it.
The music makes this movie. Similar musical themes run throughout, giving different songs the same tune. All are memorable, from the tender I Don't Know How to Love Him to the hilarious Herod's Song to the hesitantly triumphant title number. As that's the only dialogue in this movie, you almost might do just as well to simply buy the soundtrack.
There are so many absurd costumes in this movie, and the dances which go along with some of the songs are downright disturbing. As for the props...the scene in the temple includes everything from postcards to firearms. Herod's palace includes a huge swimming pool, a honky-tonk piano, and a big basket of bagels which he throws at Jesus. And in Judas' delusions, he sees himself being chased by tanks and B2 bombers.
All anachronisms aside, this is an interesting modern treatment of a sacred story which millions across the globe consider to be true. The music makes it entertaining and accessible to all manners of people in our young generation. Everyone should see this production at least once. It is highly preferable to see it in the theater, but if your local theater can't accommodate then give the video a shot.
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