Monday, July 13, 2009

7/13/09 Link Dump

Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg's latest Nigun project album is out. Titled Tsuker-Zis, it replaces Uri Caine/Rob Schwimmer's piano with Oud/Guitar/and Indian drums.

Check it out here:


Here's a YouTube clip that gives a good "on the bandstand" perspective of what a musican on the Brookly JM circuit might be sitting next to.

While we're on YouTube, check out the middle of this clip for a Lipa Schmeltzer Yiddish rap badkhones.

Vos Iz neais posts" Acapella Music and the Three Weeks."

Tzig takes on Yehuda Green. He's very wrong about Rabbi Citron.

Here's a J-Post article "Eliyahu: Prefer Jail Over Women Singing."

Finaly, the Jewish Music Report reviews Yisroel Srully Williger's "The Rebbe's Nigun."

This part is odd:
My first reaction after listening to The Rebbe’s Nigun was to pull out my copy of Hakadosh Baruch Hu… Chesed and give a listen. A few of the songs on that CD really blew me away. Pinky Weber’s Yashov is just gorgeous. Williger’s kids join him on Neiros Shabbos. Wow! Where has he been hiding those kids? I would have loved to hear even more of the Williger boys. And Niggun Nevo? It’s worth buying Hakadosh Baruch Hu…Chesed for this song alone. All these years we thought Srully Williger’s trademark song would be Hu Klal, but maybe not. The only fault I can find with this Shlomo Katz composition is that it inspired too many singers to try to come up with a signature niggun of their own. With the possible exception of Eitan Katz’s The Dmin Niggun, none have managed to even come close to emulating Williger’s success with Niggun Nevo.
The author gives Williger credit for Niggun Nevo, which was a dance hit before Williger released the album. The inclusion of that song on that disc is a classic example of a Yeshivish singer jumping on the bandwagon (ouch) of a song that's already a hit on the NCSY MO circuit and is already making inroads into the black hat circuit, and quickly releasing a version of it.

In other words, Williger had nothing to do with the song becoming popular. He chose it because it was one of the new hits on their way in at the time of the album's release.

Over at JMR, a reader pointed out to the review author that the song was written and being publicly performed by Shlomo Katz, and the author demonstrates exactly the lack of knowledge that some artists count on when they pull this sort of unauthorized cover/bandwagon jump. As well, obviously, there is no accounting for taste, and "Kol Isha" is entitled to her opinion that the Williger version took a good song and "blew it out of the water," but personally, I think his cover was lame, and did not do the song justice. I'm also reliably informed that the use of that song was unauthorized and that no royalties have been paid to Shlomo, which is simply not right.