Seasonal Music (it isn't all about Xmas!)

Most Jewish families have their own musical traditions.  You know, like songs that are sung at the Passover seder just so... and everyone else's versions sound, well, wrong.  Other holidays have their own musical traditions too, but Hanukkah seems to have gotten short shrift in the music department. 

Maybe it's just the natural comparison to the wealth of other music  - secular/seasonal as well as religious - we hear during the ramp-up to Xmas.   But with the exception of old stand-bys like Yevanim, most of the Hanukkah songs that come to mind seem to be kiddie tunes ('I have a little dreidle', 'Sivivon sov sov sov', etc.) that we quickly outgrow.  This leaves us stranded in adulthood with nothing much to do while the Hanukkah candles burn.

Oh sure, most of the people I know sing Maoz Tzur and  'HaNerot HaLalu' after lighting each night's candles.  The former uses the very warm 'Rock of Ages' tune (you can listen to a midi file here) which is all fine and good... but the latter uses a completely forgettable tune (listen to midi file here). 

When I was still single I heard another version of Hanerot Halalu that really caught my attention and seemed much closer in spirit to the traditional Maoz Tzur.  I later met and worked for many years with the talented musician who wrote and performed the new Hanerot Halalu; Gershon Veroba.  *

Unfortunately, the album which contained the version I liked so much (Called Man to Man) was a very small release (on vinyl only) and never got the kind of exposure it deserved.  Never-the-less, this was the version that Zahava and I adopted as our family tradition when we got married and celebrated out first Hanukkah together.

Here it is. (the hisses are due to the fact that I had to rip the track from the vinyl record)

I'd like to wish everyone a great weekend... a restful Shabbat... and a very happy Hanukkah.

* Gershon Veroba has a new album out called 'Reach Out' that has remakes of many of his older hits... including Hanerot Halalu.  It has great production values and is all around a 'better' album.  But I wish he'd re-released 'Man to Man' on CD.  It was a much more innocent album, in large part because of the less sophisticated studio work.