Jewish Music

I've been thinking a lot about Jewish music lately, as I've been to a number of Jewish concerts. The idea of a Jewish band is nothing new, that's for sure, but it's really interesting to see what Jewish musicians are doing now.

First, we've got Rick Recht, who came to perform for the Religious School where I teach. In case you don't know, Rick Recht is kind of like Christian rock, but for Jews. He uses some Hebrew, but also a lot of English. There's a lot of clapping, and audience participation, and his music sounds like any lite-rock band. I have to say, despite the obvious qualms I have (er... not the biggest fan of his music, plus, there's something sort of weird and crowd controlling about his music), he does some really interesting things. One of his biggest projects is a multi-faith music group that performs at a mega-church in the south. It's much needed, and really a cool way to get different people together.

I also got to see Hadag Nachash this week. I have to say, I love Hadag Nachash. They were performing at a big Israel party, and because this party was on a college campus, there were anti-Israel protesters. When Hadag Nachash came out on stage, they started their show by greeting the Palestinians, saying that they are all about peace in the middle east. Their first song was called "shalom salaam peace," and included an Arabic rap about peace in Jerusalem. It was really wonderful and amazing.

On Friday night, Golem played a show.
I had never seen Golem before, and only sort of knew their music. Basically, Golem is a Yiddish rock band. They are amazing. One of the reasons I think Golem is so wonderful is because of the way they work with tradition. They took some classic Yiddish songs and really made them their own, with their own sound and style. It's the way Judaism has to move forward-- we ought not forget about our history and traditions, but we have to make all of it our own, and make it for now.

Basically, I think that it is through such avenues as Jewish music and Jewish bands that this contemporary Jewish culture is evolving. These bands create a sort of cultural pride, and take pride in themselves. Their projects propel us further along.