[HANASHIR:14779] ps...about jewish reggae music

[SELINGER <SELINGER...>]

Last night at a beautiful Shabbat service at Temple Shalom, Doug Cotler
discussed how Jews have often adapted the musical sensibility of their
times in the creation of new liturgical melodies. Furthermore, he argued, 
many of our favorite "old" melodies have only been around for 35 years or 
so. We ought to be open, he argued, to new melodies in new musical styles.

Within the HN community that's exactly what's going on of course. Some new
songs sound traditional, others not so traditional. At HN '03 we grooved
to Noam Katz' terrific "Am Yisrael Chai" with its mesmerizing African
beat. Ellen and Peter Allard's "Ten Plagues in Egypt Land" had us up on
our feet dancing. Tracy Friend's "Eliyahu Hanavi"  gave a distinctly new
and modern voice to old lyrics. Dan Nichols' "Na-na song," when I first
heard it, felt like it was from another planet--one much cooler than our own.

I don't mean to offend anyone, so if you don't like the idea of a reggae
Adon Olam, there are plenty of traditional melodies posted you can hear
instead at hotshabbat.com. The new track is just an experiment recorded in
my basement anyway. I will likely edit it further before recording a 
final version.

If you want to hear more Jewish reggae, listen to Alan Eder and friends at
http://www.reggaepassover.com.

-Robin Selinger
 robin (at) totshabbat(dot)com

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