▪

!SSA Su

and Sushi Bar

says Brooks Arthur, the album's produc-
er,"but he needed to brush up with a
transliteration" — which, he says, Bikel
stepped in to provide.
"Mazhel," on the other hand, updates
its lyrics by taking new digs at con-
temporary celebrities, from Bon Jovi
to Weinberg, who just happens to be
playing the drums at the time. It's a Big
Band song that ends with an extrava-
gant brass flourish before scooting into
a rapid Yiddish-language reprise by
Triumph, voiced by Robert Smigel.
The Jewish Songbook might be a
pretentious name for a collection that's
both Ashkenazic and baby boomer-cen-
tric, but it has full rights to that era. It's
not a tribute to a bygone era so much
as an addition to the catalog. And it's a
welcome one.
Sandler and Schneider also star,
respectively, as an Israeli secret service
agent-turned-hairdresser and an Arab

the audience.
Sandler couldn't have picked a bet-
ter soundtrack to go with the film's
mix of heady politics and over-the-top
slapstick.
JDub Records, the outfit that brought
us Matisyahu, has a new act worth pay-
ing attention to: Hip-hop vocalist Sagol
59, an Israeli MC who performs almost
exclusively in Hebrew and has toured as
part of a Palestinian-Israeli peace tour.
His new album, Make Room, was
released in May.
I don't know how many people will
understand every word Sagol says, but
I also don't know how many people
understand Eminem's 10-words-a-sec-
ond lyrics.
To someone whose Hebrew is almost
nonexistent, Sagol's rhymes are every
bit as listenable as they are impossible
to follow. If I didn't understand spo-
radic words like "yiladim" or "shalom"
or "Robert De Niro" — I'm not
'S"TEREO;)
kidding — it would sound like
nIE" Zilt
.J. w=SS the nonsense rhymes I make up
4131) 310L. =b cs
for my 3-month-old daughter.
THE HEART AND HUMOR OF A PEOPLE
Only Sagol's sound about a
Jason Alexander
Herb Alpert
hundred times cooler and a
Richard Belzer
thousand times more danceable.
Theodore Bikel
I imagine there's a lot to keep up
Marvin Hamlisoh
with
lyrically — JDub's Web site
Lainie Hazen
Dave Hoz
features a convenient translation
Adam Sandier
— but based on pure listenabil-
Rob Schneider
ity,
the language barrier mostly
Neil Sedaka
doesn't
even exist.
Paul Shaffer
The Manhattan Transfer
It doesn't hurt that producer
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
Yonatan "Johnny" Goldstein
Max Weinberg
frames Sagol's lyrics with world-
music conga drums, toy pianos
terrorist in the summer hit film You
and some amazing Motown-style soul
Don't Mess with the Zohan.
singing. The swaggering keyboards of
It's not the first film on which the
the title track will capture the straight-
pair have collaborated — nor, we
up hip-hop crowd.
suspect, will it be the last — but the
On Make Room, the song "Leeches"
movie's ubiquitous commercials have
alternates between a Hebrew gospel
brought one new voice to American
choir, a cotton-candy melody and a
television: Sha'anan Streett, the lead
rhythm track that's almost hypnoti-
singer of the Israeli funk-hip hop band
cally grooving. Sagol's playful rhyming
Hadag Nachash.
jumps in and out of the music, turning
"Hinei Ani Ba," the song that serves
the song into a three-minute symphony.
as the soundtrack to the commercials,
Toward the end of the album, the
embodies everything that symbolizes
raps get longer and more center-stage,
modern Israel — the back-and-forth
but the quiet acoustic funk of "Ping
battle between secular and religious,
Pong" and the simple, fun beat of "Till
idealistic and apocalyptic, the fervor of
the Fat Lady Dances" keep things mov-
Jerusalem and the feverish energy of
ing to a satisfyingly, pleasantly stuffed-
Tel Aviv.
full climax.
Hadag Nachash is one of Israel's
Make Room works on all the levels
most popular bands — not a surpris-
that hip-hop is supposed to — it's
ing choice from a country whose last
fast, it's clever and it's booty shaking
Eurovision entry was a song about
— but more importantly, it's fun and
Iran called "Push the Button." But at its
it's catchy.
heart, Hadag Nachash has always been
Does it work? Definitely.
a party band. Its shows feature at least
Will America go for it?
as much dancing by band members as
Let's hope so. ❑

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