A Little Jewish Music
From traditional klezmer to electronic Israeli trance music,
this roundup of new Jewish CDs offers something for every taste.
BINYAMIN BRESKY
Special to the Jewish News
T
he following is a brief compila-
tion from the scads of Jewish-
oriented CDs that were
released in 2003. They were selected to
comprise a well-rounded mix of differ-
ent genres. Hopefully, they'll give you
some ideas for Chanukah gift giving.
If these CDs are not available in your
local record store or Jewish bookstore,
the Internet is a good source, especially
for CDs from other countries.
Shwekey
The Wedding Album
(Project Productions)
In just a couple of years, Yacov
Shwekey has become one of the most
well-known names in Jewish music.
His latest is a wedding album, featur-
ing long medleys of pieces by Shlomo
Carlebach and contemporary musicians
such as Dedi and Avraham Fried, as
well as Chasidic niggunim and his own
music.
There
are plenty
of familiar
tunes here,
and the
beat is fast
and catchy,
perfect for
dancing
and cele-
brating
simchot. The track "Chupa" is slower,
invoking the bride and groom walking
up to the bridal canopy. "HaToiv" has
an Israeli/Middle Eastern feel, with
conga drums and Spanish-like guitar.
Backing up lead singer Shwekey is a
full band, including horns, keyboards
and electric guitars. Lyrics are all in
Hebrew and either from Psalms or
other religious sources.
Binyamin Bresky is the Cleveland-
based host of "Jewish Community
Radio" on 88.7 FM-WJCU. For more
CD reviews, visit the Jewish
Community Radio website at
http://develandjewishradio.tripod.com .
12/19
2003
72
Srully Williger
MaTov
(Sameach Music)
"We're putting the Jewish back into
Jewish music," says veteran producer
Sheya Mendlowitz of the new Srully
Williger album. The young singer has
four previous releases under the name
Yisroel Williger and is a popular star in
the New York yeshiva/Chasidic music
scene.
The new album has more slow songs
than fast and seems to be trying to
achieve a more traditional sound.
Instead of electric guitars,
keyboard/synthesizers or boy-band style
group singing, the album is filled with
pianos and strings.
The center of attention is on
Williger's vocals. The all-Hebrew lyrics
are based on Psalms and other religious
sources in a Yiddish pronunciation.
Although mostly slow songs, there is
the fast and danceable "Rechamnah," a
familiar Chabad melody, and the Sheya
Mendlowitz composed "Ze HaYom."
New Orleans Klezmer All Stars
Borvis
(Stretchy Records)
www.klezmers.com
The album cover of a superhero with
a Star of David on his chest kicking off
his shoes and blasting off from an
Eastern European landscape is an
example of the New Orleans-based All
Stars'_humor.
And while the band plays straightfor-
ward klezmer, it has opened for the
American rock band Phish as well as
more Yiddish oriented concerts. Despite
the group's traditional klezmer sound,
tracks such as "Goodbye, Big Homey"
give the band away as modern.
Accordion, clarinet and violin are the
main instruments in this all-instrumen-
tal album. Many songs are short, fast
freilichs. Others are long, slow and sul-
try doinas and combinations, starting
slow and building into a frenzy of intri-
cate solos.
"The Owl" is a fluttery and dreamy
clarinet solo, while "Naftuna Melt" and
"Fun Tashlich" utilize reverb-filled elec-
tric guitars. Catchy and danceable,
Borvis is a mix of old-fashioned
klezmer and modern kick.
STRICTLY CLASSICAL
n 1993, Russian virtuoso Nina
Kotova was stuck in Manhattan
without money, an apartment or a
cello. "I was desperate," said the
ex-prodigy. So she dabbed on some
makeup for the first time in her life
and strode into the Ford Modeling
Agency, where her resemblance to
icons such as Paulina caused a stir.
Within days,
she was posing for
French Glamour,
although music
continued to pull
at her heart-
strings. Kotova
struggled for three
years to make her
professional debut
at London's
Wigmore Hall,
when she success-
fully traded the
catwalk for the
concert stage.
Life hasn't
always been so harmonious for
Kotova, 33. At 15, a month after
she won the prestigious Concertino
Praha International Competition,
her father, a famed bassist hounded
for his political views, died under
mysterious conditions. Thereafter,
Kotova fled to the West, secured a
Yale scholarship but was penniless
by 1992. When an acquaintance
suggested modeling, "at first I did-
n't take it seriously," she said.
Kotova wasn't thrilled about
sashaying down runways in
Versace, but her first paycheck
allowed her to purchase a cheap
cello, "which was like a treasure,"
she said. Observers have noted that
her supermodel looks may have
helped her switch back to music, as
record companies hype the sex
appeal of classical stars to combat
dwindling sales.
A decade after her desperate New
York years, the acclaimed cellist
prefers to focus on artistry. Of late,
she's been touring Jewish museums
to promote her new CD, Nina
Kotova: Bloch, Bruch, Kotova,
recorded with the Philharmonia of
Russia with Constantine Orbelian
conducting .(Delos 3305).
The CD features Ernest Bloch's
"Schelomo — Prayer, From Jewish
Life, No. 1; Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei,
a work that harkens back to ancient
Hebraic
music; and
Kotova's
own compo-
sition in its
world pre-
miere
recording,
Concerto for
Cello and
Orchestra.
The first
two works,
of course,
are prime
examples of
the passion
that can be written into music for
the cello. And that's the way Kotova
plays them — with passion, with
intensity and with great skill. Her
bowing is very powerful but never
overpowering. She seems to cele-
brate the richness of sound that,
under the hands of a fine artist, can
be produced on the instrument.
She has written her concerto in
the traditional three movements
and has used a very broad musical
canvas in writing of her homeland.
There is an expression in Russian
that speaks very directly to the
Russian character — svetlaya grust
("light sadness"). \Ve hear it in
Kotova's concerto.
The non-Jewish Kotova said the
album is a wedding gift to her hus-
band, a Jewish businessman:
"Judaism has brought so much
beauty to my life," she said.
Naomi Pfefferman
Jewish Journal of Greater Los
Angeles, and King Durkee, Copley
News Service