[HANASHIR:5677] Camp Swig / Camp Newman CD -- Shir L'Yom Chadash

[Josh Miller <jmiller...>]

Hello Fellow Hava Nashirites!

I was so overwhelmed by the warm feedback on the Hava Nashira list from
people about the Camp Swig / Camp Newman CD (Shir l'Yom Chadash) that I had
to write in and just thank folks for saying such nice things... Rick, I'm
hiring you to do the PR next time around, thanks for sayin' such nice stuff!

For folks who haven't picked up a copy of the CD and are scared of shopping
on the internet I'll try to remember to bring some extras to Hava Nashira
(I'm coming this year with some enthusiastic new songleaders from UC
Berkeley whom I've been working with!)...

See you all in two months!

- Josh "Tree Song Guy" Miller
  Berkeley, California

PS- It's show and tell time! Here is a copy of an article that ran in 
    last Friday's Northern California Jewish Bulletin:

CAMP SWIG, NEWMAN KIDS SING FAVORITES ON NEW CD 
by, Andy Altman-Ohr

Bulletin Staff

When alumni of Camp Swig and Camp Newman gather for a reunion on Sunday,
April 9, the stereo system will no doubt be playing the same CD over and
over again.

Chances are, no one will get tired of it.

Grammy-quality music? Uh, not really. But the disc in the CD changer --
"Shir L'Yom Chadash: A Song for a New Day" -- will be popular nonetheless.

Released a few months ago, the CD is a collection of 27 songs recorded in
1998 at the Bay Area's two big Reform summer camps: Camp Newman in Santa
Rosa and Camp Swig in Saratoga, both under the aegis of the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations.

So far, about 500 copies of the CD have been sold at two local Judaica
stores and through mail-order, leaving about 1,500 still available. Some of
those will be sold at the 4 to 6 p.m. reunion at Congregation Beth Am in
Los Altos Hills.

A conglomeration of more than 1,000 young voices, the CD is a combination
of well-known Jewish camp favorites, emerging classics, and songs written
expressly for campers at Swig and Newman.

"Truthfully, it has exceeded my expectations," said Ruben Arquilevich,
director of the UAHC Camp Institutes for Living Judaism -- better known as
Swig and Newman.

"I play it for my 2-year-old son Jonah, and he literally dances and cheers
through the entire album."

The CD was the pet project of Josh Miller, a Swig camper 16 years ago who
went on to become a camp songleader as well as the program director at U.C.
Berkeley Hillel. It took him nearly two years to complete the venture.

"I thought it would be great to make a CD for the '90s," Miller said. "It
was sort of a bumpy ride. Making a CD is a big project."

Although only a small one in retrospect, one of the bumps occurred in the
"recording studio" -- the dining hall -- at Camp Newman.

About 500 kids had gathered for a massive recording session. The
microphones were set up and ready to go. All of a sudden in another room,
pots and pans were clanging, silverware and plates were clinking.

"Look, you gotta stop washing dishes. We're recording a CD," Miller
informed the kitchen staff. "Things were a little confused for a while, but
the [camp] director ended up giving 'em the night off."

The CD was funded by Josh's mom, Micki Miller, who put up nearly $13,000.

The revenues generated by the CD won't go back into her pockets, but
instead will go toward financing other Swig and Newman musical endeavors --
such as making CDs out of albums recorded by campers in 1975 and 1984.

"There are also ambitions to make a songbook to go with the CD," Josh
Miller said.

Much of the music on the CD sounds simple, like hundreds of kids singing at
camp. But the voices come together to create a boisterous, energetic sound
on just about every song, including such favorites as "Heiveinu," "Mitzvah
Goreret" and "Shir Chadash." 


"It sounds like camp," Miller stated proudly. "It's not some studio job
that sounds over-produced. No keyboards, no drum tracks."

There are guitars on several cuts, and a few other instruments, such as
horns, on "Mi Chamochah."

The CD strives to capture a day in the life of Camp Newman and Camp Swig,
and that day is a Friday. It starts with morning and daytime songs, and
then moves into Shabbat songs.

In fact, more than half of the album's 27 cuts are songs from the Shabbat
evening service and sing-along.

However, "the most special takes on the album for me are the closing circle
[songs] at the end of the album," Miller said. "It's a ritual every night
at camp that we would sing these blessings, and for the kids it becomes a
real strong part of camp."

Four of the "closing circle" songs are blessings and the fifth is called
"The La La Song." It's an Israeli beverage commercial that campers have
sung for decades every night when they leave the dining hall.

Wally Schachet-Briskin, a cantor at Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, said
the recording sessions were powerful, emotional experiences.

At Swig, campers did their singing in the Jo Naymark Holocaust Memorial
building, which holds about 100 people; at Newman, they used the dining
hall, which holds 500.

"There was a lot of energy in those rooms," said Schachet-Briskin, a former
Swig songleader and author of about 30 camp songs, several of which are on
the CD. "People were very excited not only to be singing the songs, but
also making great harmonies. It was something that touched my soul."

Because the recording methods weren't exactly high-tech -- four or more
microphones placed around the room -- the campers had to be careful at a
song's conclusion not to ruin the take.

"Everyone would wait three seconds for it to be completely quiet," Miller
said. "And then the room would totally erupt with everybody cheering."

"Shir L'Yom Chadash: A Song for a New Day" is $14.98 at bob and bob, Palo
Alto, and Afikomen, Berkeley. It is $15.95 plus tax and shipping from
Sounds Write Productions: (800) 976-8639 or www.soundswrite.com

Copyright Notice (c) 2000, San Francisco Jewish Community Publications
Inc., dba Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. All rights reserved. This
material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.


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