Re: Holiday Music

[robert wiener <wiener...>]

Reyzl,

Please post the Mostly Music website address if you find it.

Perhaps when Purim comes I will share with the list a list of some of
my recordings.  For the present, is your lament that there aren't
enough new songs in English?  Should we stop singing Kol Nidre and
Yiddish songs that are over 50 years old because they are old and in
foreign languages?  (Not that they should serve as a role model, but)
Christians still sing Silent Night and the same standards on their
Christmas albums.  Handel's Messiah seems to get sung every year.  Not
many complain "been there, done that".

I have a single Israeli LP with 30 Hanukah songs.  How many songs do
we need?  If it's children's songs you're talking about, how many
classic American children's songs (or Christmas songs, for that
matter) can you list?

To repeat my reference to BJ, thousands come each week to sing
basically the same songs.  And they don't seem bored.  How many Purim
records do we need?  Again, I don't quite understand the problem.  Is
it that you know kids who hate Hebrew school?  Not all do, you know.

Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl (at) flash(dot)net>
To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 3:53 PM
Subject: RE: Holiday Music


Just called the Mostly Music ,store and was told by the clerk that
they have 15 Purim recordings (tapes/CD's).   When I asked for more
info he transferred me to Mr. Mendelowitz (I guess the owner) who upon
further inquiry explained to me that 15 recordings may be an
exaggeration, but he was too busy right now to go count them; and
"anyway these tapes are put away till their season."   He explained
that the repertoire is limited and what he basically has is different
performers presenting their versions of the same limited traditional
repertoire.   Some Purim recordings include various contemporary
parodies, but this is basically it.

As for the Hanukah recordings, it's basically the same.   Different
recordings by different performers each singing the same limited
traditional Hanukah repertoire, "nothing new".  When I asked him if he
has any Sukes or Shavuoes recordings, he said he has very little.
Those recordings with the sukes- or ShavueS-related title have very
few sukes- or shavues-specific songs, but do include regular Jewish
songs that are sung on these holidays AND at any other times of the
year.

So this is a confirmation of what I wrote here before.    I have spent
many afternoons at Eichlers Avenue J store over these many, many years
I know the Chassidic/Yiddish/religious market very well.

There may be more of a variety of holiday material in Israel, but I
don't know the latest Israeli songs.

I also don't know the English Hanukah recordings that have arisen in
the last few years (because my kids refuse to listent to them).
Heard a few songs on the Tara web site by very popular singers and was
most unimpressed by the material.   Maybe that's why American kids
hate Hebrew school.

By the way, I am told that Mostly Music has a web site where we can
even sample the music.  They also have a snail-mail catalogue.   Will
go visit.



Reyzl





----------
From:  Rachel Heckert[SMTP:heckertkrs (at) juno(dot)com]
Sent:  Wednesday, December 16, 1998 11:19 AM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
Subject:  Re: Holiday Music

Rezyl & Chevra,

>There are no Shavuos, Purim, or sukkos records, as far as I know.  If
you know of any, I would love to know about them.

I don't know about secular stores, but Chassidic and ethnic Orthodox
bookstores have quite a range of music for various holidays, including
Purim and Simchas Beit HaShoeivah/Sukkos, although it's almost
entirely
in Hebrew or Yiddish.  There's a store devoted to recorded music in
Brooklyn - Mostly Music, 718-438-2766, 4805 13th Avenue.  I'm sure
they'd
be delighted to ship, and they might even have a catalogue.  I've been
there and yes, they do speak English, despite being in Boro Park!  :-)

Also, you can check Tara Music's homepage - they might have something.

Rochel Sara Heckert

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