musical propaganda

[Sam Weiss <SamWeiss...>]

At 11:46 AM 2/27/03, Kfarcenter (at) aol(dot)com wrote:
>It'd nice to get back to Jewish music.

I'll do my part to nudge it back.  This is obliquely related to the topic 
of subtle ideas contained in music, from the other ("pro-Jewish") side of 
the coin, as well as to the discussion of Szól A Kakas Már.

"Cucumber" is a Long-Distance phone service provider run by a Jewish 
charitable organization in Lakewood, NJ that had been advertising heavily 
in Jewish venues and recently started to expand its advertising into 
broader markets. Yesterday I heard a radio spot for the company on WCBS 
(the NY area station of CBS News) that didn't mention anything at all about 
their Jewish affiliation, at least not overtly.  But their inane jingle 
(that goes well with the inane brand name) uses the melody of a short 
Lubavitcher Kosachok-type dance tune (the exact title escapes me) to 
deliver the subliminal "Jewish" message. It's a very clever choice, since 
to the uninitiated general public the simple tune in major has no Jewish 
overtones at all, being one of the many Ukranian tunes that the 
Lubavitchers adopted whole.  It actually took me a couple of hours to make 
the connection myself.


_____________________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ 

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