Tag Archives: Chazzan

MBS with cantor Israel Shorr, the brilliant composer who left too soon

27th November 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

And we’ll listen to a cantor that is also the author of some of the most celebrated pieces of cantorial repertoire: Israel Schorr, born in 1886 at the Polish Galicia.

Hello, how are you? I hope well. Today it is the black Friday, isn’t it? Well!!! I have a super offer for you: your subscription to Music Before Shabbat, now, half price! ? Guaranteed.

I am having a super demanding week and I must say I am exhausted but when I start to delve in the thrilling Jewish music and history my strengths are renovated.

This week many people have seen the “secret” Hassidic wedding with 7 thousand guests in New York. If you haven’t seen it yet, check this. I hope the time to celebrate with massive amounts of people together will come back soon…  In the meantime, I was thinking what are the usual insights of the population about the Hassidic Jews. Our protagonist of today, Israel Shorr, was from a Hassidic family so I will dedicate a part of this MBS to the Hassidism.

? And remember, there are previous editions of MBS about wonderful hazzanim from the Golden Age: Pierre Pinchik, Yossele Rosenblatt, Gershon Sirota and Moishe Oysher.
– And, as usual, find the music piece at the bottom – ?
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The cantor and composer that left too early

The life of Israel Schorr, as of many great cantors, is reasonably well documented. But Schorr is not as famous as others, because he died quite young at the very early age of 49 on April 9th 1935. This way, he was not a witness of the horror that would trap his mother land.

He was born in 1886 in Khyriv, or Chyrov, that was at that time in the Polish Galicia that was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and that now is Ukraine. But other sources say that he was born in Rymanów, two hours to the West from Khyriv, that is currently Poland.

He started singing as a boy soprano and became the official cantor in L’vov in 1904. He succeed his distant relative, the Hazzan Boruch Schorr, who was very appreciated because of his improvisations and his innovative compositions. There is some nice information about Boruch in this book, Discovering Jewish Music, by Marsha Bryan Edelman.

He served also in Brno, Kraków, Piestany and Zurich before emigrating to the USA in 1924, thanks to a visa for artist that he got with the help of Solomon Bloom. This man deserves attention too, his life is absolutely fascinating. You can start with this.

There at the USA, Schorr served in synagogues in Chicago and New York. Shorr was a composer as well as a cantor himself and one of the most famous pieces for hazzanut art, Sheyibone Beit Hamikdash, has done by him. You can find many renditions of this piece in Youtube. But my favourite is the one by the aforementioned Moishe Oysher, of whom I talked in this previous edition. Israel Shorr died at his 49 years old, because of a heart condition.

Sources for Schorr’s bio (check them to learn more):

Poland at the Google Maps Street View is always sunny. This is Rymanów nowadays (Khyriv is not streetviewed yet):
 

Hassidism in (very) brief 

Do you remember the edition about John Zorn and the piece Sippur? Find it here. In that edition I already talked about the founder of Hassidism, Baal Shem Tov, who made many sippurim, many tales, to teach in an easy and appealing way the ethics and practices of this new line of Judaism. It you are not familiar with it, this video is very nice. Maybe I am a little childish? ? The fact is that it is very nice!

The happy way of approaching the religious celebration that you can see in this wedding in New York is explained in the way Hassidism understands life and the relationship with the divinity.

Listen to Av Horachamim by Israel Schorr

Listen to the rendition by Israel Schorr of this Shabbos prayer, Av Horachamim, written in memory of the communities that were wiped out during the Crusades. This brief explaination is from this work by Rabbi Y. Friedman on the web Chareidi and there you can find also a part of the poem: “In his tremendous mercy may [our] merciful Father […] recall in mercy the holy kehillos that gave up their lives in sanctification of [His] Name […]”. The kehillos are the congregations. For the full lyrics in English, check this web page.

There is more information about the use of the poem in Shabbat, on this site of the Ortodox Union.

I found a brief historical explanation about the destruction of the Jewish communities in Germany by the Crusaders in XI century and the use of this poem on this page of the St John’s Wood and The Saatchi Synagogues:

“Its origins lie in the wake of the First Crusade. Many Jewish communities in Germany were decimated as mobs found an outlet for their religious zeal in killing Jews before making their way to the Holy Land to wrest it from the Muslims. Thousands of men, women and children lost their lives in the communities of the Rhineland. Mainz, Worms, Speyer were ravaged over the course of a few weeks as the Crusaders made their way down Europe. […] As the black plague swept across Europe during the mid-fourteenth century, annihilating nearly half the population, Jews were taken as the scapegoat and were accused of having brought about the plague and were persecuted and killed.”

Click the picture to listen to the recording:

 

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Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path.

These is our artistic offer for live show:
Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

MBS before Rosh Hashanah with Keter Musaf by Rabbi Hagay Batzri

Shabbat is almost here. Rosh Hashanah is almost here

May you be inscribed in the Book of Life. Let’s begin this time of reflection with a contemporary chazzan of outstanding artistry, Rabbi Hagay Batzri

Hello! How are you? This is the first Rosh Hashanah of Music Before Shabbat and I am thrilled for sharing with you this moment, that is full of meaning. I think you can take advantage of this time to reflect, whether you are religious or not. To find yourself and to consider your contribution to the world. Have a prosperous, a sweet year. Shanah Tovah. 

As usual, you have the video at the bottom. And if you like this, as usual, please: share it with your friends! Thank you in advance.

“Music crosses all boundaries and unifies us”. The voice of Rabbi Hagay Batzri

I love the old recordings. In previous editions we have listened to Sephardic chazzanim, like İsak Maçoro (don’t miss to listen to his Avinu Malkeinu, in this previous edition) and İzak Algazi (listen him in a love song, here). It is not that easy to find currently alive singers who get close to them and that haven’t tended to a commercial sound. Even so, some are really enchanting, like David Kadosh (listen to him in this edition) and our protagonist of today: Rabbi Hagay Batzri.

According to his Facebook Page (from where I got the portrait), “Rabbi Hagay Batzri was born in Jerusalem into a family of rabbis and cantors. He is descended from the Ben Ish Chai and from Rabbi Yehuda Ftaya, and his father heads the supreme rabbinical court of Israel. In 1997 he received his rabbinical smicha from Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi for the State of Israel.”

Who was the Ben Ish Chai? According to Chabad.org, “Chacham Yosef Chaim (1832-1909), known as the Ben Ish Chai, was a highly-revered Torah scholar and master of Kabbalah. Based in Baghdad, Iraq, he was recognized by the Sephardic community both locally and abroad as an eminent Halachic authority.”

And Rabbi Yehuda Ftaya? According to JewishIdeas.org, Hakham Yehudah Moshe Yeshua Fetaya (in the picture, from Wikipedia, was born in Baghdad in 1860 and was disciple of the Ben Ish Chai.

What is chacham? According to Jewish-Languajes.org, khokhem, chocham, chochem, hacham, haham, chuchum, chochem, means wise, genious and for Sephardic, it is the same as rabbi.

“Rabbi Batzri enjoys teaching what he calls practical kabbalah, the kabbalistic reasons and explanations behind Jewish laws, concepts, and practices. He balances his study of Jewish mysticism and his rabbinical duties with concert performances in the United States, Israel, and other countries. […] He has performed, among other venues, at UCLA with the world-renowned Yuval Ron Ensemble. His musical philosophy is simple and beautiful: “Music crosses all boundaries and unifies us.” For Rabbi Batzri, creating music is a way of expressing gratitude and appreciation for all we have. When we make music, we embrace life and all living creatures.”
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Keter Musaf by Rabbi Hagay Batzri

What is Keter Musaf? Keter means crown and has a special meaning in Kabbalah. You can learn more, here. Musaf is an additional offering or prayer, for holy days like Shabbat, Shavuot, Pessach or Rosh Hashanah. It is an aditional religious service for those days, added to the usual Amidah. Musaf would be a fourth Amidah (the usual days they are three Amidah).

Keter is part of the Kedushah. Kedushah means holiness and it is the sanctification of God’s name during the Amidah prayer. What is Amidah? According to MyJewishLearning, “the Amidah is the core of every Jewish worship service, and is therefore also referred to as HaTefillah, or “The prayer.” Amidah, which literally means, “standing,” refers to a series of blessings recited while standing.” The part of Keter in the Musaf prayer recited on Shabbat is sang only by Sepharadim, not by Askhenazim.

According to DailyHalacha.com, “The recitation of “Keter” at Musaf thus marks a very significant and sacred moment, when we join together with the heavenly angels for the purpose of declaring Hashem’s sanctity.”

About Musaf, there is much more information in the JewishEncyclopedia.

Click the picture to listen to the recording:
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I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
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May you be inscribed in the book of life.

Shanah Tovah

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música 

To know more about our artists, click here.

MBS and the colour is back: contemporary artists are cool too ?

31th July 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

And in this occasion I am very lucky, as I have been able to ask the artists about them and about the music piece as well. Because they are alive, and very alive! The Slovak band Mojše Band accompanies us again in Music Before Shabbat.

Hello! How are you in this very last day of July? Maybe just about to start holidays! In my case I am planning to stay and continue sending this little musical jewels to you every week.

The old recordings are charming and we love them. And we have also contemporary artists that are very inspiring too. Our artist of this edition was with us already in this occasion. Why are they back? Because I really appreciate their work, that I have experienced live twice. Michal Pal’ko, singer and cimbalonist of the band has kindly answered some questions and he also sent me a piece, Niezhuryca khlopcy, from their latest album, to share it with you!

Download it here ⬇️ and watch them in video at the bottom. And if you like it, you can order the full album, here.

And if you enjoy this little musical moment, as usual, please: share it with your friends! Thank you in advance.
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Mojše Band, the perfect mix of deepness and joy

 

Mojše Band are František Kubiš, Jakub Stračina and Michal Pal’ko. To learn more about the band, check their facebook and their website.

Michal Pal’ko kindly answered my questions, so let’s let him talk.

About the song Niezhuryca khlopcy

ARACELI: About the song: where is it from, where did you find or learn it. What does it talk about?

MICHAL: It’s a traditional nigun (song without the words, or with some kind of citation). In this case nign “Niezhuryca khlopcy” has in three sections (A, B, C), three typical kinds of texture:

  1. First: Ruthenian citation from originaly Kharpato-Rusyn text
  2. Second: nigunot sound “NAJ-NAJ…”
  3. Third: and finally, C section, typical Chabad nigunot vovels BOI-BOI, or Bo-Bo-BOI… also means in hebrew “go-go”.
All kinds of text has own mystical meaning. But generaly both Rusyn and Yiddish texts versions have very simply meanings: “Don’t be affraid, guy, of what will happen to us, we will go to the pub and dring a few snaps…”. But is is a kind of metaphora. Pub is the house of great tzadik, snaps-vodka is knowledge, meaning the holy Tora. And if you receive Tora to yourself, you definitelly won’t be afraid whethever, whenever…
It’s a typical Chabad nign famous and well known around the world. We have included it in an album by my band, in the second album from collection Musica Iudaica Monarchiae – SAROSI- SARISSKI, Jewish music from Saris region. It is deeply connected to Kurima village, where Rav Michael is buried, who was the grandson of the great rabbi from Zlochyw, one of the founders of Chabad-Lubawich dynasty.

About the outstanding Michal Pal’ko, by himself

ARACELI: About you: year and place of birth, place where you are settled. Did you receive lessons for liturgic singing or anything like that? I think you can conduct religious services and I know it requires a lot of time for studying. What made you interested in that?

MICHAL: I was born in 1988, in the middle of Slovakia, in a town without Jewish community, without any Jewish cultural or liturgical background, so as I grew up I needed to learn everything… I studied classical music (composition, cimbalom and conducting) and at same time, during my studies in Krakow, I studied Jeshiva pardes Lauder and some private lessons from Tora and Kabala, and cantorial chanting as well. In cantorial chanting, I am the most interested in different ways of how to do service, how to be still in touch with all kehila and G-d. and on the other side with the present and the past. Huge tradition behind you. I used feel like in library, you can choose and create in same time. Still perfectly “on-line”.

About the near future

ARACELI: About your future plans: what are you doing in this time of the pandemic? What are your near future plans, in terms of music?

MICHAL: We are doing well with my band Moishe Band on several projects, like the long time term project of editions (Musica Iudaica Monarchiae, Shlomo ben Rivke edition…). And doing music, researching… We are not so many Jews here in central Europe so we have to work as 5 persons in one man.

Clic the picture to listen to Niezhuryca khlopcy by Mojše Band:

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
It is as symple as sending … this link to sign up

Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path.

These is our artistic offer for live show:
Jako el Muzikante – Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

MBS with a super star of the Yiddish films from the 30s

19th June 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

And in this occasion we will enjoy the voice of one of the best singers of the History: Moishe Oysher, spellbinding both in popular music and in liturgical singing.

I hope you are well! I learnt about this artist when I started to search for cantors and I come back to listen him again and again: he is Moishe Oysher. 

While searching for facts about his bio, I realiced that I consider Moishe Oysher as a star but that his niece Marilyn Michaels may be even more famous. The Oyshers came from a family of at least six generations of cantors. Apart of Moishe and his niece Marilyn, his syster Fraydele, Marilyn’s mother, was also a recognized singer. You can listen the ladies here. 

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Poignant cantor, Yiddish cinema star and ‘Kosher heart throb’

Moustache is often a good idea. With this outfit, that defiant gaze and that outstandingly passionated way of singing, I can understand why Moishe became popular.

 

· At the bottom you’ll find the video with his voice ·
This picture is from the film Der Zingendiker Shmid (The Singing Blacksmith), directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, based on the play Yankl der Shmid, by David Pinski. Find here a very interesting documentary about the film.

Moishe was born in Lipcani in 1907, that nowadays is in Moldava. But at the time of his birth, Lipcani was part of Khotin district of Bessarabia guberniya of Russian Empire. With the birth of the state of Moldava, the river Prut that bathes the city would be the natural border with Romania. The border with Ukraine would be also very near, few kilometres to the North.

Today, Google Maps shows in Lipcani the place of the church of the Seventh-day Adventists and also of the Jehova Witnesses. The pressence of Jewish is kept thanks to the thrilling project of repair and documentation of the Jewish cemetery, started in 2013. Before the II World War, many of the inhabitants of the city were Jews. In 1941, they were deported to Brichany and Transnistria. Clic the picture if you are interested in a documentary about Lipcani with testimonies of survivors. In 1952, the Lipcani quarter would be buildt in the city of Ramat Gan, at the East of Tel Aviv.

But the young Moishe wouldn’t have to experience the terror. His destiny was another. From a very young age, he was captivated by the magic of the stage and started acting in theatre as soon as possible. In 1921, a 15 years old Moishe travelled to Canada to join his father, who emigrated to America when he was a kid. He was left in Lipcani, where he would get the spell of the music from both of his grandfathers.

Once in Canada, he joined the Actors’ Union in 1924 and started to work. The following years, he would move to USA, he would marry Florence Weiss, who would be co-starring some films with him (watch them singing together, here), he travelled to Latin America with his own company and, after his return in 1932, all the shows at the theatres had already done the castings. He was finding no job… but the time of the High Holidays was coming: he was luckily hired as chazan for the High Holidays at the First Roumanian-American congregation. His style keeping the prayers of Bessarabia, would enchant the public, as he does nowadays.

And what about the song?

There are many recordings by Moishe Oysher available. I selected this one of a cantorial melody that talks about the reconstruction of the Temple. It was composed by another chazan, Israel Schorr, born in 1886 in the Polish Galitzia, about who I will talk longer in a future MBS issue.

Oysher’s rendition of Sheyibaneh Bet Hamikdash is a 6 minutes joy of dynamic development in which his voice and creativity scale the greatest heights of artistry. Enjoy.

Clic the picture to listen Sheyibone Beit Hamikdash by Moishe Oysher:

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I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
It is as symple as sending … this link to sign up

Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path.

These is our artistic offer for live show:
Jako el Muzikante – Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

Music Before Shabbat, with Izak Algazi Efendi. A declaration of crippling love ?

15 May 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

Enjoy with Izak Algazi, born in Izmir in 1889. Let’s listen his “Reina de la Grasia”, queen of the grace, a recording from 1929, that is a declaration of a crippling love.

I first learned about Izak Algazi from Jako el Muzikante, who told me about this hazzan after a conversation about Izak Maçoro, who was our star some MBSs ago. 

So, after three editions with klezmer, I return to the Sephardic heritage and to some old music. Izak Algazi was mentioned quite recently in Ladinokomunita, a fascinating email group with participants discussing in Ladino, some natives of the languaje and other people that have learnt it, many of them quite devoted to the continuity of the languaje. They mentioned the presence of a street called Algazi in Izmir, name in his honour.

Izak Algazi was very recognized for his artistry during his life. He was the son of another well-known hazzan from Izmir, Salomon Algazi. Izak had a brilliant career in Turkey, he made many recordings for several record companies and even Mustafa Kemal, before becoming Atatürk, gave him an autographed Quran as a present.

Algazi left Turkey in 1933, as the chances for a Jewish to develope any position in public life started to dissapear in the process of turkification. He settled in Paris for 2 years to complete his rabbinical studies and moved to Montevideo in 1935, because he was invited to join the Sephardic Synagogue. Professor Edwin Seroussi, who knows his biography from at first-hand, has helped me to understand a bit better the situation that caused these events, so I thank him very much.

You can find a list of his recordings on SephardicMusic.org, website, where it is mentioned that he recorded this song in 3 occasions: 1909, 1912 and 1929. Below you can hear the last one. In this same link you can read a brief bio.

And what about the song of crippling love?

By the way, I have to thank Joshua Cheek for helping with the term of “crippling” and  some more tips of the English languaje. And I said it is a song of crippling love, because of the lyrics. And it is curious because Izak Algazi’s wife’s name was Reina!!! And reina means queen. The questions is that the lyrics say:

Reina de la grasia
Madre de la bivez
Onde ke te tope
Por verte otra vez.
Vo murir, vo murir
Si tu mas non te vez
 Queen of the grace
Mother of the life
Where could I found you
to see you once more.

I’m going to die, I’m going to die
if I don’t see you again

I wonder if Reina made him a lot of “love sorrows” before getting married and having their three kids. Anyway, with sorrows or not, let’s enjoy the amazing voice and the almost unbelievable melismata of Izak Algazi:

Clic the picture to enjoy Reina de la Grasia,
by Izak Algazi:

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
It is as symple as sending … this link to sign up

Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path.

These is our artistic offer for live show:
Jako el Muzikante – Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

 

Hazan David Kadoch – Tikun Hatal

8 April 2020 – Pesach is almost here

As announced, this week this musical moment has moved ahead two days, as, today, Pesach begins. Let’s enjoy the voice of David Kadoch, hazan of the Abir Yaakob Congregation in Thornhill, Ontario.

I hope you and all your beloved ones are well and healthy. Here we are still in confinement. My father was two nights at the hospital but now he is at home and recovering and I am happy to share one more musical wonder with you.

I discovered David Kadoch by chance, searching for Sephardic music at the Youtube (the true is that I do this very often: it was a matter of time that I found him). He has a huge collection of wonderful recordings in his channel, specially focused on Moroccan Sephardic repertoire.

But the recording I share with you today is in the channel of Darké Aboutenu, an initiative born in 2017 in Canada, with the aim of disseminating the culture of the Moroccan Jewry. Check their website, where you can also join their mailing list.

The portrait is from David’s Facebook profile. And the recording in the video below is Tikun Hatal, the prayer for dew, recited in the Sephardic tradition on the first day of Pesach. I feel it really moving and I am happy to bring you a hazan that is alive and active nowadays and so generous with all these material available at the Internet. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Clic the picture to enjoy the recording of David Kadoch:

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
It is as symple as sending… this link to sign up

Chag Pesach Sameach

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path.
These is our artistic offer for live show:
Jako el Muzikante – Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

Cantor Hans Bloemendal – Kaddish

3 April 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

Get relief with Dr. Hans Bloemendal, chief cantor of the Main Synagogue in Amsterdam, born in 1923 in the German city of Fulda, sent by his father to Amsterdam after the rise of Nazi regime and settled there until the end of his life in 2015. Let’s listen to his Kaddish.

I have been discussing with myself between the idea of chosing something joyful to cheer up or something more introspective, for this occasion in this difficult time.

Today I complete 3 weeks of confinement. My father is at the hospital from the last night (I think and wish he will be well and at home before Pesaj) and many people have died. You are also confined and I hope you and all your people are well. The election of a Kaddish, in this amazing rendition, feels like optimal.

Dr. Hans Bloemendal was chazzan at the Main Synagogue in Amsterdam from 1949. During the war he went into hiding. His family was killed in Sobibor.

His contributions to the world were not only his art: he developed an initiative of books for kids and he was also a teacher and a researcher in biochemistry and molecular biology. This info is available in the bio here. I really recommend to read it. And the picture is from here.

The picture that illustrates the video below, with the recording, is of a grandfather with his blind granddaughter in Warsaw in 1938. The author is Roman Vishniac, who travelled across central and Eastern Europe, photographing the Jewish communities, both in the cities as well as in rural areas, before de II World War. If you didn´t know him (I confess I discovered him yesterday, thanks to this picture in the video, and I spent hours looking at his works), his bio is also worth of reading. It is curious that he was also a biologist.

One last thing. Next week this email won’t be sent before Shabbat, but before Pesaj.

Clic the picture to enjoy the recording of Dr. Hans Bloemendal:

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
It is as symple as sending this link to sign up.

Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of Jewish music for joy in this playlist.

To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path. 

These is our artistic offer for live show:
Jako el Muzikante – Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

Cantor İsak Maçoro – Avinu Malkenu

27 March 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

Enjoy with İsak Maçoro, Sephardic cantor, born in 1918, in Hasköy, a quarter in Beyoğlu, in the European side of Istambul, where many Portuguese and Spanish Jewish settled from the end of XV century. Let’s listen his rendition of Avinu Malkenu.

I know this is not the time to pray with Avinu Malkenu. We are not in the Yamim Noraim, but I feel the message is perfectly suitable for our current situation. If you read this at some moment of the future, today we are finishing the second week of confinement in Spain because of the crisis of Covid-19. Most of the world is suffering this threat, that is costing many lifes and changed our everydayness overnight.

I got to know Cantor İsak Maçoro at the Youtube some years ago, searching for Sephardic piyyutim. The picture of him and a short bio can be found in the website eSefarad. And in the channel of Youtube of Janet & Jak Esim, of which I talked in the previous Music Before Shabbat, there are many more videos of him. You can even see him singing live.

For this occasion I have chosen this recording from 1960, from the Youtune channel of Ozkan Sagliksunar.

Clic the picture to enjoy the recording of Isak Maçoro:

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
It is as symple as sending this link to sign up.

Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

May you always find the light in your path.

Jako el Muzikante – Gulaza – Janusz Prusinowski Kompania Jewish Memory

Chazzan Moshe Bazian – Rachamono D’onay

13 March 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

Enjoy with the outstanding Chazzan Moshe Bazian, born in Chișinău, current capital city of Moldova (region of Bessarabia), in 1925, and settled in USA in 1949.

The first time I listened a chazzan was he, more than 20 years ago. I don’t remember how did that happen. Maybe a compilation of world music? Maybe in one of those P2P programs in which other users could send you music? The true is that I don’t remember but, in the opossite, I never forgot this piece and this voice, the amazing micro melismata, the dynamics, and all of this, serving a message that I was able only to imagine. Even today I don’t know what does Rachamono D’onay mean (any kind soul could explain it to me?).

I felt like looking back to that time… The whole world is in the biggest crisis I’ve seen in my life. In my country it is quite likely that, from tomorrow, we won’t be even allowed to go out to the street. Nevertheless, the standards of life and security of nowadays are much better than in Moshe Bazian’s time. We all are going to suffer but we will recover, you know. In the meantime… 

…clic the picture to enjoy the recording Rachamono D’onay and let yourself go in the spell of his voice:

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us.
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Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.

 

Moshe Band – Klein un Grosser

21 February 2020 – Shabbat is almost here

Enjoy with Jewish music from Slovakia by Moshe Band (Mojše Band in Slovak).

Listen their piece Klein un Grosser, from the album Zipserim, and read these statements about the piece by the leader of the band, Michal Paľko.

CLIC THE PICTURE TO LISTEN THE SONG
“Klein un Grosser is not only the tittle of story about relationships between two members (one rich, one pure) of former Jewish comunity in small city in northern part of Autro-hungarian monarchy, for me its at first funny song about wisdom and satira.

Its very typical music for celebrating Purim because in fact Klein un Grosser story is former famous Purimspiel in ZIPS region. Also the stylisc and plystilistics feeling and sound of track its all that time oscilationg between Hungarian opereta, with deeply klezmer influancies and modern disco=pop=rock song. Enjoy!”

I hope you’ll like it and, if so, feel free to share it and invite your friends to join us. It is as symple as sending us an email saying: sign me up for the Music Before Shabbat. 

Shabbat Shalom.

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi Música

May you always find the light in your path.
And we share with you one hour of music for joy in this playlist.
To know more about our artists, click here.