Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on June 21, 2017

Email a copy of "New Book Explores and Preserves Hasidic Musical Heritage" to a friend

Jewish worshippers at the Breslov Hasidic synagogue in Safed. Photo: Yaakov Naumi / Flash90.

JNS.org You dont haveto be a scholar of Jewish music to enjoy Velvel Pasternaks new book, Behind the Music: Stories, Anecdotes, Articles & Reflections. You just have to be someone who wants to learn about the adventures of the authora man who has done more than anyone else in our time to discover, record and transmit the treasures of Hasidic music.

In the book, Velvel, as everyone calls him, tells wonderful stories about his experiencesstories that will make you laugh, but also help you understandwhat lies behind some of the songs that you think you already know.

How did Velvel get into the work of transcribing and recording Hasidic music? One day, one of the children of the Bobover Rebbe came home from school singing a niggun (tune). When his father asked him where the niggun came from, the child had no idea it was his grandfathers melody. That was the day when the Bobover Rebbe realized that his familys musical heritage needed to be recorded, or it would disappear. The job fell to Velvel.

June 20, 2017 4:07 pm

Some of Velvels stories are hilarious. Once, while recording a Hasidic song, a religious leader told him not to conduct the singers,since the Hasidim would sing with their eyes closed anyway; they were more concerned with expressing the melodys spiritual meaning than with paying attention to Velvels conducting. The leader also told Velvel that the musicians he had hired to accompany the Hasidim would not be necessary, since the Hasidim would pay no attention to them. Velvel realized he was arguing with an irresistible force, andlet the Hasidim sing without trying to conduct them. Then he dubbed in the musicians playing after the Hasidim left. The recording came out fine.

Velvels first album was a bestsellermuch to his surprise, and to the Hasidims surprise. He went on to publish many more albums, rescuing treasures of Hasidic music that might otherwise have disappeared.

My favorite story from the book relates to the Hasidims request that Velvels recordings be autentic (how the Hasidim pronounced authentic). Velvel had no idea what autentic meant. He gathered a crew of 15 professional cantors to be the choir. The first song he chose was Siman Tov UMazel Tov, which is sung at many Jewish weddings. He dutifully transliterated it, using the Bobover dialect to please the rebbe, who had come along that night to make sure that the recording would be autentic. But when the choir got to the words yihai looneymeaning it will be to us in English and more commonly pronounced by its Hebrew dialect, yehei lanuthey broke up in laughter and could not continue. They toldthe Bobover Rebbe that they could not sing looney without laughing.

The rebbe listened politely and said, Let me tell you a story. He recounted how the cultural ambassador of the Ivory Coast once went to his counterpart, the cultural ambassador of Israel, and suggested a cultural exchange. The two nations could send each other their singers and dancers, but with one condition: The Ivory Coasts dancers would dance naked from here to here, said the African nations envoy, drawing a line from his shoulders to his waist. The Israeli ambassador was shocked, and refused.

The Israeli ambassador offered a compromise: You can wear whatever you want in your own country. But when you land at the airport here, I will be there and I will give you shmattes (rags) that you can put on, and that you can wear while you are in my country. The Ivory Coast ambassador replied that if the dancers were to wear the shmattes, they might be able to dance well, but they would not be authentic.

Then the rebbe told the choir regarding their unwillingness to sing yihay looney in the Bobover pronunciation: If you change the pronunciation of our song, it may sound nice to you, but believe me, it would not be authentic to us. And if the people of the Ivory Coast understand what is authentic, then you should too. That ended the discussion. The cantors sang yihay looney, after all.

The book is full of such stories. It contains fascinating material on some of the songs whose origins you think you know, but dont. For example, do you know why the French national anthem is sung at the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on Lag BOmer? Do you know where Naomi Shemer got the idea for Jerusalem of Gold? Or where Naftali Herz Imber got the music for Hatikvah, Israels national anthem?

Behind the Music is enriched with some wonderful photographs, and tells readers where to find performances of every song that the author discusses. Even if you think you already know Jewish music, this book is worthwhile for the insights that it provides into the worlds of Hasidim, classic Jewish cantorial music and Yiddish theater. And perhaps most importantly, youll get to know Velvel, the man who recorded a heritage and saved it for a new generation.

Behind the Music: Stories, Anecdotes, Articles & Reflections; by Velvel Pasternak; Tara Publications; May 2017; 229 pages; ISBN-10: 1495098966; ISBN-13: 978-1495098963.

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New Book Explores and Preserves Hasidic Musical Heritage - Algemeiner

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