Once he released his first single, “Mah Tovu” last year, YISSACHAR DROR has been unstoppable
Professionally, I’ve learned a tremendous amount from Yitzy Waldner, who composed and produced my releases “Mah Tovu,” “SheMashiach Yavo,” and “Bo’ee Kallah,” among others. In my free time back when I was in yeshivah, I would work on Jroot Radio’s Leil Shishi program, which put me in touch with top Jewish music talent. I grew up in Brooklyn but lived in Deal, New Jersey for several years, where I became close to Yaakov Shwekey. He’s always inspired me, and one main thing he advised me is “just keep on singing.” Yaakov is never fazed by what people are thinking — he just continues to sing from his heart. When you put music out there, you’ll always come up against people’s opinions, but I’m learning from my mentors to stay focused. Hashem gives each person his own voice and style.
“Can the mercy of mere flesh and blood run deeper than Yours, our Creator?” — from Abie’s “Mama Rochel.” What a plea!
Shwekey’s Those Were the Days, Volume 1. I have great memories of being part of the team who suggested those beautiful old songs that just needed to come of out hiding and be sung again.
I’m usually the chazzan on Shabbos morning in Rabbi Ashear’s minyan, so on Friday night I find myself singing zemirot in the makam of the week, which gets me into the right frame of mind for the next morning. A makam is an Arabic type of musical scale, and in some Sephardic traditions — Syrian, Egyptian, and Djerban — the tunes for the tefillot are improvised to fit along the particular makam which fits the week’s parshah theme. Actually, my father did not sing only Sephardic tunes — he also sang Ashkenazi and even chassidish zemirot with us sometimes, so I include those too.
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