Streamlined  

Streamlined

For the 24Six kosher streaming app, summer listening is always harder to track. As thousands of kids are using their devices offline while in camp, the data on what music and how much music they’re listening to is only traceable when they reconnect sporadically or after the summer.

As we find ourselves in the saddest time of the Jewish year when music is off-limits, some frum listeners turn to a cappella recordings to set the mood. 24Six has an a cappella mode, where the app can be set to play only a cappella songs and stories. And while tracking popularity in the summer isn’t always accurate, it seems that the most popular a cappella choices these days are Simcha Leiner’s recently released SHIREI NECHAMA, and Benny Friedman’s WHISPERS OF THE HEART, together with Ari Goldwag’s two distinct series of non-music albums. A CAPPELLA SOUL has a mix of both upbeat and slow songs, while the DARKNESS TO REDEMPTION series is more introspective and contemplative.

“The Soul set is more attuned to the atmosphere of Sefirah, where the anticipation of counting up to receiving the Torah coexists with the sadness of the deaths of Rabi Akiva’s students. Darkness to Redemption is always released at this time of year, during the Three Weeks, when we are all mourning and yearning for the Beis Hamikdash and the ultimate Geulah and nechamah,” Ari explains.

The cover of this year’s new Darkness to Redemption album has a picture taken at the “Shaar Hachashuch,” or The Dark Gate, one of the 12 gates inside Jerusalem’s Old City that open up to the Temple Mount. This shadowy shaar, like the others, offers a view to the inside of Har Habayis and the Muslim golden dome, but Ari has replaced it with a picture of the Beis Hamikdash. Like many artists, he says that throughout this turbulent and tragic year he has seen listeners more than ever turn to meaningful songs about our faith in redemption.