We asked both veteran and younger singers and musicians which songs they personally never tire of playing and singing
True, there is always fresh material sweeping across the Jewish music scene, capturing the mood of the moment and soaring in playlist popularity. Wedding performers and guests on the dance floor thrive on the thrill of up-to-the-minute energetic tunes. But there are also the classics that continue to touch hearts and minds decades after they first played. We asked both veteran and younger singers and musicians which songs they personally never tire of playing and singing.
YITZY BERRY, Composer and arranger
The oldie that I’d pick would be Mrs. Dina Storch’s iconic “Someday,” made famous by MBD (JEP 4 — Someday). It’s a song full of hope that embraces you with anticipation of the bright, glorious days to come. Particularly now, as we spend so much time sitting apart and alone in these crazy times, it really speaks to me. We are all praying and hoping that “someday we will all be together.”
HERSHY ROTTENBERG, Composer and kumzitz singer
There is a memorable Yiddish song titled “Ahavas Yisroel” on MBD’s Efshar Le’taken album — it might not exactly be classified as an “oldie,” but it’s a personal favorite of mine. The concept is beautiful — that when everyone joins together in love, no matter their status, great blessings will be bestowed and Geulah will come — and together with Lipa Schmeltzer’s warm, apt lyrics, the melody really brings a crowd in to sing along.
MICHOEL PRUZANSKY, Singer
I always find myself coming back to singing “Acheinu” by Avraham Fried (Forever One). There is something so profound about those words — “Acheinu kol beis Yisrael, hanesunim batzarah… All our brothers of Klal Yisrael, trapped, held hostage, in danger, steeped in pain and tragedy… HaMakom yeracheim aleihem… Hashem will extricated them from darkness into light…” — together with Yossi Green’s composition and the way Avremel sings it in the original, that gets me every time.
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