Secret Ancient Jewish Music of Hogros the Levite

On Yom Kippur we read from the Talmud tractate Yoma, the section dealing with Yom Kippur in the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Chapter 3 mentions Hogros ben Levi, one of the Levites in charge of music in the Holy Temple:

"Hogros b. Levi - We have learned in a Boraitha: When he had to render his voice melodious, he placed his thumb in his mouth, and the index in his mustache. When all his fellow-priests heard his voice, they bent to the ground (from ecstasy)." Other translations state that he put his thumb under his tongue to create a most beautiful melody.  

For more information visit:
* http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Talmud/yomatoc.html
* http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t03/yom08.htm

Mogwai - My Father My King - Avinu Malkeinu

20 minutes of droning, trance-inducing guitar distortion should put you in the Rosh HaShanah spirit. Special thanks to the Teruah Jewish music blog for reminding me about My Father My King by Mogwai. I originally found this song back in the olden days when Napster was still around and popular. I used to type in key words like "israel" or "jewish" and one day I found something called Jewish Hymn, which is officially entitled My Father My King. It is Mogwai's version of Avinu Malkeinu and is is about 20 minutes long. Avinu Malkeinu actually translates at Our Father Our King.



Mogwai is a band from Scotland. None of the members are Jewish. You can purchase a CD single / EP from iTunes. I made a new iTunes iMix with it and other electric guitar based punk-esque sounding songs.

 

Here are some reviews of it:

"The encore is a hymn they like to call "The Jewish Song," taught to the band by famed hip-hop producer Arthur Baker. A chiming chord progression gets faster and louder - only to drop away and build back up, over and over, for twenty minutes. Braithwaite pulls up the hood of his parka in a futile effort to protect his eardrums. (He doesn't follow his own advice on earplugs.) Finally, the melody disappears underneath an ocean of distortion, as Mogwai spin random knobs on their instruments. They walk offstage, leaving the road crew to turn off the amps. When they finally do, everyone's ears are ringing and there's a loud silence, a silence filled with a threat that didn't exist before."
- GAVIN EDWARDS
Rolling Stone 875 - Aug. 16, 2001

"So Mogwai stops playing and they leave the stage. Then they come back on after a few minutes to play an encore. The entire encore was made up of one song called 'My Father My King', a reworking of a traditional Jewish hymn that Mogwai recently released as a single on Matador Records. This song made the entire trip worthwhile. I can’t even tell you how incredible it was. They take one single progression and build it up into one of the most brilliant pieces of live music I have ever heard. The climax of the encore was cut off by every single string being pulled from every single instrument, all instruments turned up to 11, guitars hung on top of racks, and feedback eating away at the audiences eardrums. While Stuart (the guy who stands where the singer would stand if Mogwai had a singer) sang something over and over. Very moving, and the song turned my impression of the evening around a full 180 degrees. Well done Mogwai, you are true rock and rollers.”
Steve Kowalski
Interference Magazine
Volume 2 – Issue 6

"This one track, 21 minute long EP was recorded in London in August 2001 and released two months later.It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Steve Albini and is based on a traditional Jewish Hymn which was introduced to the band by Arthur Baker."
Mogwai Official web site
www.mogwai.co.uk

Also on the Teruah blog there is a version of Avinu Malkeinu by the band Phish, which does have some Jewish members. I did an interview on Teruah which you can find here. I am sure there are more interesting versions of the song. Maybe I'm make a mix to play on my next show. If anyone knows of any, or has suggestions or Rosh HaShanah music, email me or leave a talkback.

Today my little Sarah we go to war...

I have always been fascinated by the song Alei Barikadot by Michael Ashbel, which was an anthem for the Irgun  underground in the 1940s in Israel. My friend Eitan called me the other day and we were chatting about current events. He told me that last year he attended the funeral of Sarah Livni. And then he started singing Alei Barikadot. The first line of the song is "today my little Sarah, I shall go to war..." I never knew this was referring to a specific person.

The following is a brief bio of Sarah Livni from this site

Sarah Livni was a member of the Irgun, a pre-state paramilitary organization, and was arrested by the British and imprisoned in Bethlehem. Sarah Livni was known as 'Little Sarah' during her Irgun days, and the famous song 'Alei Barikadot' begins with these words which was written by Michael Ashbel, another member of the Irgun. Sarah married Eitan, a fellow Irgun member, one day after Israel declared independence. The two were the first to be married in the modern state of Israel.

The following is a bio of Michael Ashbel from this site:

Born in Vilna, Lithuania, at an early age he joined Betar and later joined the Irgun in Poland. After the German invasion of Poland, he fled to Russia and joined the Free Polish Forces and reached Iraq. From there he made his way to Eretz Israel and joined the Irgun. Soon after, he joined the Fighting Force and took part in numerous operations, such as: the blowing-up of the British Intelligence offices in Jaffa, the attack on the military airfield in Lydda etc.

On March 6, 1946, he took part in the attack on the Sarafand army camp, and was injured in the exchange of fire, together with his friend, Yosef Simchon. They were loaded into a car, which set out for Tel Aviv in order to take them to hospital, but encountered a British roadblock on the way and were arrested. Two months later Ashbel and Simchon were placed on trial before a military tribunal and sentenced to death (June 13, 1946). However, the kidnapping of British officers by the Irgun forced the British High Commissioner to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. Ashbel was wounded by British gunfire during the breakout of Acre jail and died of his injuries several hours later.

The lyrics of Alei Barikadot are from this site.

Raise Up the Barricades
by M. Ashbel

Today my little Sarah
We'll part as I go to war
To establish the state
On both sides of the Jordan
Harden your heart
And tighten your belt
Embrace me, take the Sten
And join me in the ranks
Raise up the barricades we shall meet
Do not cry For such is my fate Wipe away your tears

Raise up the barricades we bring freedom with blood and fire.
Rifle to rifle, barrel to barrel
Bullet to bullet we shall fire
Raise up the barricades we shall meet
And if on the gallows
I shall give my life for the nation
Do not cry
For such is my fate
Wipe away your tears
Hold the Sten close to your heart
And choose for yourself another
From the men of my squad

I found the song on a couple albums, Songs of the Underground, Songs of the Etzel and Lechi and Betar Songs. But I don't like the renditions of it. Its a kind of a dated style with lots of instrumentation and a chorus. Not the way I imagined an underground anthem.

You can listen here and here and also on my latest radio show here.

There is a cool album called Songs of Jabotinsky which has more modern versions of some 1940's songs, as peformed by Shlomo Artzi and other Israeli pop singers in the early 1970s.