Musician profile: DJ Hillel Goldblum

For all the people who emailed me poems, thank you. For those who's emails bounced, I believe my email wasn't working for a couple days, so try again. And yet, I would prefer the language to be English and it has to be of Jewish and/or Israeli content of some sort. I will read the poems in a couple weeks when the Three Weeks before Tisha B'Av begin. You can email me your poetry at bbresky@israelnationalradio.com. Someone even sent me an mp3 of him reading his poetry.

So I have a loyal listener named Ed from California. Ed once sent me a CD of his favorite music. It was almost all in Spanish. I don't speak Spanish. Ed's favorite Jewish musician is DJ Hillel, also known as Hillel, also known as Hillel Goldblum. He released two CDs in 2000 and 2001 and then ceased to be heard from. Of all the Jewish musicians out there in the world, I don't know why Ed would choose this guy as his favorite. I do know that Ed, like many outside of Israel, have a very limited selection of Jewish/Israeli music. That makes his choice of the obscure DJ Hillel even more interesting.

Several weeks back I did a trivia question contest. Whomever guessed the audio clip I played won a free CD. The clip was from Transformer: The Movie, originally released in 1986, and purchased by me with all Hebrew overdubs and no subtitles in 2008 at the tiny CD shop in the shuk near the felafel stand. (Note: Transformers in Hebrew is Robotrikim.) Ed guessed it correctly. So Ed told me that his request for his free CD was DJ Hillel, the first album, not the second one. I figured I could easily get a copy easy for pretty cheap at any CD shop. But no one has it anymore. I went to about six different stores including both Tower Records, the Eight Note, and several corner stores but no one had it. I'm sure Gal Paz has it. They have everything. Seriously, Gal Paz has to be the largest CD store in the country. But over by Mea Shearim and I havn't gotten the chance to get by there. So sorry Ed, you CD will have to wait.

As for music, DJ Hillel, is smooth pop dance music with Jewish themed lyrics... soft rock / light electronica / pop with a drum machine. One of my favorite song is B'Ahava, the title track off his 2000 album. It has a catchy "oh oh" chorus.

OK, stay tuned for more great shows including an Israeli klezmer group called Oy Division, Yehuda Kaplan, and more.

Poetry submissions wanted!

I want you to email me your poems of Jewish and / or Israeli subject matter. I will read them on the air. Last year I did this and got some great submissions. The Three Weeks before Tisha B'Av is a good opportunity to take a break from music and focus on poetry, which often doesn't get much coverage. So all you amateur writers our there, here is your chance. If you're a famous, published author, feel free to send me material as well. You can also request famous Jewish poems. For example one year I read Uri Zvi Greenberg. But reading original material is more fun, I think. Email me at bbresky@israelnationalradio.com and put in the subject line: Poetry Submission (this way it won't get deleted as spam). Here is a video of a Jewish poet that I hope to interview soon.

Is Jewish music too depressing?

I recieved some interesting emails that I would like to share with you:

Hi Ben,

I thought your blog was very funny and apt. So tell me Ben, I'm an olah and I want to know why is a lot of Jewish music depressing and full of whining, melancholy etc. ? I know about our history but... we're here. We're here because we're here. So why are so many people crying? Maybe it's because I come from A HB but I was at the Knesset for the first time this week and participated in singing Hatikvah and although it brought tears to my eyes I'm not sure they were for the right reason. For a song titled Hope it was sort of a hopeless melody. I contrast it to The Star Spangled Banner which has a lot of punch and fireworks. Isn't there any good up Jewish music besides some of the religious stuff I have heard?

Here's another email:

I live in Beit Shemesh and am recording an album (rock/pop, Atchalta d'Geula-themed) -- the first two tracks are done and I'd like people to start hearing them. http://www.myspace.com/barcohn. Thanks so much and Shabbat Shalom! - David Bar-Cohn

And finally, one about a concert:

Neshama Carlebach with special guest Nomi Teplow perform in Israel celebrating the newly released CD "One on One". Shows scheduled for Binyamina, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Karnei Shomron
Full tour details can be seen at www.rny.co.il

Now to sort of answer the first question, I would like to list some very useful web sites that sell Jewish music CDs (or discs as we call them in Hebrew). They have samples for each song you can click on and taste the music. I could spend hours on these sites just browsing through all the music finding good stuff.

http://www.israel-music.com - They sell mostly Israeli music like Sarit Hadad and Shlomo Artzi, but also have some religious music like Shlomo Carlebach and Dov Shurin.

http://www.mostlymusic.com - They sell mostly religious Jewish music and hasidic pop like Mordechai Ben David and Avraham Fried but also have Jewish rock like Moshav Band and Soulfarm.

http://www.galpaz.co.il - Israel's largest chain CD store with outlets in other countries has an all-Hebrew web site and sells mostly religious Jewish music, but covers all those hard to find Israeli releases. This was the only place I could find Shivi Keller's Ein Od Milvado.

I know there are many, many more, but these are just three for the time being. Feel free to add more in the comments section if you know of any. There is also great stuff on MySpace and Facebook and YouTube. Try typing in Hebrew if you have Hebrew fonts or using keywords like 'Jewish music, Israeli music, Hebrew, Carlebach, klezmer' or different combinations.