Ein Keloheinu

[shirona <shirona...>]

Since this topic came up, and my version of Ein Keloheinu was mentioned -  I 
thought I'd share something personal. 

It was precisely the "German drinking song"  Ein Keloheinu that jump-started my 
desire to compose Jewish Liturgical music, and in fact the first thing I wrote. 
Growing up as a secular Israeli, I knew very little about the "practice" of 
Judaism -  Synagogue life, the chanting and singing of prayers - it was all new 
to me when I first joined a synagogue.  Two things caught my attention - the 
beauty and poetry of many of the prayers, and how the melodies we sang 
interacted with the texts.

I hope I'm not offending anyone ( as I often do, it seems :-) but that German 
drinking song really got on my nerves.  I found it to be heavy, "militant", not 
relevant to the spirit of the poem, and "not Jewish"!  (That of course can 
re-kindle the "what is Jewish music"debate, but never mind...)  I wanted to 
come up with a tune that sounded like it's always been around. In a minor key,  
without a "personal" signature.  Just a folksy tune that could have been sung 
by Hassidim 150 years ago. 

That was my only intention, and I never thought it would end up changing my 
life. 

Shirona 
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* * *  Singer / Songwriter and Teacher of Jewish Music * * * 
          www.shirona.com

          Listen to Shirona's music on:
          www.mp3.com/shirona
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