Little Voices, Big Impact

INthe spirit of Kislev and in the best of our annual tradition, we have another quiz for you. It’s not a latke-eating contest or a blindfolded pin-the-candle-on-the-menorah. This year, it’s trivia with a twist. In tribute to beloved choirmaster Yigal Calek a”h, we’ve decided to test your knowledge about children’s choirs over the decades since Yigal’s London boys made their first appearance.

If you can answer these correctly, you either have an amazing memory or are a true all-star Music Maven.  

Questions

1. What was the famous Tzlil V’zemer song composed by Velvel Marantz?
2. What group did choir conductor Yerachmiel Begun compose songs for, prior to his Miami Boys Choir?
3. Which famous English song was on Yigal Calek’s 1973 London School of Jewish Song?
4. (This is a question for a real maven) Which album was released in 1978 on the East Coast, coordinated by Mordechai Bulmash and Rabbi Dovid Yankelewitz, and featured the famous Modzhitzer “Baruch Keil Elyon”?
5. Which album, produced by Yigal Calek, featured Dedi in the choir?
6. Which choir in America was started by Yigal Calek, and then handed over to Hershel Lebowitz and Ephraim Klein?
7. Which choir was formed on Chol Hamoed Pesach 1978, recorded the next day, and then was dismantled?
8. Which famous adult singers began their careers as a member of Yerachmiel Begun’s Miami Boys Choir?
9. Which summer camp produced two music albums, the first under Chazzan Dovid Werdyger, and the second with Heshy Walfish?
10. Which choir from New York featured a brother of the choirmaster singing in the choir?
11. What was the name of the 1968 album that featured chassidish children as soloists?
12. Which children’s choir had the most misleading name, but was a big hit anyway?
13. Who put together five amazing albums with endless and ageless hits, yet never performed at concerts, with the exception of HASC 2?
14. Which two child soloists sang the solo for “Times of Joy” on Jep Volume 2?
15. Which two choirs from two different countries were featured on one album?
16. Aside from Yigal’s famed London choir, what other children’s choir and album hailed from the United Kingdom?
17. What international summer camp released three albums and sold out Binyanei Ha’umah in their annual Jerusalem concerts?

Answers:

1. “Aibishter.” The song was actually sung by Zohar and a young Mendy Wald. The choir conductor was Avraham Rosenberg. 2. Toronto Pirchei choir. When Yerachmiel was in yeshivah in Toronto in the mid-1970s, he composed most of the songs for Toronto Pirchei, which released three albums. 3. “Children of Silence,” composed by Susie Rein with English lyrics by Jeffrey (Yehuda) Craimer a”h. The song was originally composed in conjunction with demonstrations outside the Soviet embassy in London in 1971. 4. Baltimore Pirchei Choir, conducted by Alan Pearlmutter. 5. Pirchei Yerushalayim, arranged by Mona Rosenblum. Dedi didn’t solo on that album, but he did in the live concerts Yigal arranged in such venues as Brooklyn College, early on discovering his trademark stage presence. 6. The New York School of Jewish Song (not to be confused with Yitzy Bald’s New York Boys Choir). 7. Montreal Yeshivah Boys. They sang on MBD’s V’chol Ma’aminim, which Suki and I produced. We were in Montreal then and needed a choir for the album, so we brought a group of boys we knew from Camp Agudah in Toronto to the studio for a few hours, called them the Montreal Yeshivah Boys, and then promptly disbanded them. 8. Yaakov Shwekey, Mordechai Shapiro, Sruly Wulliger, Ari Goldwag, Yitzy Spinner, and Nachum Stark. 9. Camp Kol Ree Nah. Under the direction of Rabbi Yaakov Greenwald. 10. The Yeshiva Boys Choir, conducted by Yossi Newman and featuring Yaakov Mordechai Gerstner, brother of choir creator Eli Gerstner. 11. In Cheder Arain, directed by Dovid Werdyger. (Maybe that’s where Yossi Green got his idea for Yiddish Nachas.) 12. Amudai Shaish, directed by Shmuel Borger a”h. Everybody thought that the name “shaish” meant “six,” as there were six original members of the choir. However, the word “shaish,” as in the Megillah, actually means “marble.” 13. Pirchei Agudas Yisrael, which debuted in the late ’60s with star soloist Yussi Sonnenblick and such enduring songs as “Eilecha” and “Ani Maamin.” 14. Shloimy Reich sang the low part, and Moshe Mostovsky sang both high parts. 15. Miami Meets Toronto, where Yerachmiel Begun showcased his two choirs. 16. The Gateshead Boys Choir, with their 1994 album Chaim Shel Tovah, featuring two compositions (“Min Hameitzar” and “Sim Shalom”) by Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro ztz”l, rosh yeshivah of Beer Yaakov and a noted baal menagen. 17. Camp Sdei Chemed, under the direction of Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum a”h. Not only was it a camp experience, it was a nonstop music festival, with such personalities as Yisroel Lamm, Yigal Calek, Suki Berry, and Rabbi Baruch Chait, among many others.

May the flickering flames continue to illuminate our days with light, happiness, and music.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1039)