[HANASHIR:16664] Re: [Sixth, Seventh Grades and...Rap]

[LINDA YELNICK <leahhaifa...>]

Thanks Jeff!  Hi to all of you -

Even better than having Etan G's CD (which is a great start) is to have Etan G
himself come and fill your school/synagogue with lots of ruach and excitement.
 I represent Etan G and would be happy to talk to any of you about booking him
for your community.  He's lots of fun with a message, bringing his audience
into his performance.  He performs solo with tracks or can bring a couple of
band members along.

Many of you hopefully had the chance to see Etan G @ CAJE this past summer,
and I am offering you the opportunity to say "Etan G is in the house."  He's
for grade school children up through teens & for all who those young at heart
- great fun!

GIGZ is a no fee agency (please click on the website below to meet many of the
artists whom I represent, including The Moshav Band about to be added). 
What's better than once your community is familiar with an artist's music than
to actually bring that artist or artists to your community.  If you would like
an Etan G CD sampler for consideration or just want fee or date information,
please feel free to contact me at any time.  Thank you!

We need to keep singing.....we need to keep dancing.....we need to keep
laughing.....we need to keep celebrating!

B'Shalom,

Linda

Linda Yelnick 
GIGZ 
520 South El Camino Real, Suite 320
San Mateo  CA  94402

Phone/Fax 650 692.1763
leahhaifa (at) usa(dot)net 
http://gigz.yelnickusa.com 


Jeff Klepper <jeffklepper (at) yahoo(dot)com> wrote:

Friends,

Someone mentioned rap a few threads ago...

I want to recommend a CD by a Jewish rapper named Etan G. called "South Side
of the Synagogue".

Etan's song "Makin Motzee" has been the big hit of my 5th, 6th and 7th
grades this year.  I play the CD on the sanctuary sound system (maybe a bit
too loudly) and hand out the words so the kids can sing and clap along.  The
first time I heard the song I thought it was really stupid, but now I enjoy
rapping along with the kids.  And because he quotes from the Brazil version
of Shalom Aleichem, I've used it as a jumping off point to teach the new
Shalom Aleichem melody.

The CD is 100% 'clean' and every track is done in a slightly different style
with bits of jazz, reggae and gospel thrown in.  The tracks are quite well
done. Some of the songs are  Kabbalistic and others are just silly, but
they're all very sincere expressions of Jewish identity.

You can hear samples of it at CDbaby.com and you can see some hilarious
video of him at jewishrapper.com, when he was thrown off the stage at recent
L.A. Chabad Telethon!

I'm not saying that hip-hop should or will, replace our beloved and
important 'standards', but I will remind you all that the musical tide has
turned along with the millenium.  It's a new generation with different
tastes and a culture of its own. Hip-Hop has an equivalent meaning for many
kids today as the Beatles had for my generation.

I am often reminded of Paul Simon's great lyric, "Every generation throws a
hero up the pop charts..."

Finally, happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  We've been singing 60s
freedom songs all week in religious school and that music still resounds
with spirit and hope!

jeff klepper






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