Mood Mix with Yossi Honig   

He’s a son of chassidish vocalist Isaac Honig, yet YOSSI HONIG is a talented music personality in his own right, having produced Zanvil Weinberger’s Min Hashamayim album as well as his father’s recent masterpiece Kol Bayaar. He’s also composed Yiten Lecha for Shmueli Ungar and produced songs for Hershy Rottenberg. Although he doesn’t work in the music field full-time (he runs a real estate business by day), it’s clear where his passion lies.

A SONG I NEVER MISS SINGING ON FRIDAY NIGHT

“Vehei Raava,” the tefillah we say before Kiddush, that Yossi Green composed for Rabbi Shloime Taussig. The song is so beautiful — it feels like a composition from 100 years ago. I just naturally slip into it every week without even thinking. To me, the melody is simply the peirush hamilos — it just sings itself. Other than that, I generally sing the basic zemiros like my father does. My father used to joke that for him singing is uvda d’chol, but I can’t make that excuse since music is not what I do for a living. I generally alternate between a few “Kol Mekadesh” niggunim that I heard my father sing, and I find myself humming Yossi Green’s “Chukoseha/Shomrei” and “Ani Shabbos” from MBD’s Moshiach album. And it might sound cliché, but “Kah Echsof” never fails — it just does it every time.

A SONG THAT TAKES ME BACK TO MY CHILDHOOD

For some reason, whenever I listen to MBD’s “Ve’ohavto” from the Lulei Sorascha album, it takes me back to 1999 when the album was released and we listened to it the first time on a Motzaei Shabbos in my father’s car.

A MUSIC ARTIST I FEEL CONNECTED TO

Of course, I’ve always lived my father’s music and been part of its production, but I connect to a wide range. When I grew up, Avraham Fried was probably the most played in our house. I’m always inspired by Fried’s vocal ability, MBD’s incomparable way of owning the song, making every word an entity of its own, Lipa’s flawless singing, and Yeedle’s deep understanding of a melody.

MY GO-TO MELAVEH MALKAH SONG

Yom Tov Ehrlich’s “A Gutte Voch,” that Avraham Fried sang on his early A Melave Malka album — ideally sung while sitting at the piano on a snowy Motzaei Shabbos with my kids around me.