Liturgical music was never like this when I went to synagogue, and even in my Jewish youth movement, songs always received a respectful treatment. Change The World With A Sound has changed those songs into something completely different.
RebbeSoul is the stage name of Bruce Berger, who used to be an LA session guitarist. He was looking for a way to express his own musical vision when one day he perceived how he could achieve this by reinterpreting traditional Jewish melodies and texts. More about the Rebbe can be found at his Web site, and a little spelunking with Google will lead to several interviews. This is his fourth album, made with a complete band, as opposed to some of his earlier efforts which tended to be more solo and acoustic. There are eleven songs on the disc (not including a short spoken introduction), which plays for fifty five minutes, meaning that none of the tracks are short.
Eclectic modernism is the name of the game. The opening track, "Tzama L'Cha Nafshi" ("My soul is thirsty for you" would be my off-the-cuff translation) is an excellent example: it takes words from King David, marries them to a Lubavitch melody, includes extensive rap passages by guest Prophet X, and moves at a swift pace. There is roots drumming mixed in with psychedelic guitar, zydeco accordion and mandolin, and the entire cauldron boils with energy. The sound is both unusual and individual, and whilst it takes some time to become familiar, the result is very catchy. Another track in this format is "Eliyahu" (ie the prophet Elijah) which wouldn't be out of place on any contemporay hip-hop disc. It features declaimed nursery rhyme vocals, Prince-like guitar licks, samples out of nowhere, metronomic percussion and whispered Hebrew in the background. The prophet must be turning in his grave.
One track that would go over well in the "world music" market in Israel would be "Shalom", which mixes the word for peace in several languages (Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit), and asks why "it can't it be now, why it can't be today". The semi-acoustic sound is similar to that of a few Israeli groups (such as Gaia), and again is fairly catchy. This track also features multiple percussion instruments and a partial rap vocal shared by both the Rebbe himself and guest vocalists Lena K and Lynn Rose. Interspersed with the verses are what sounds like calls from a muezzin, thus stressing the universality of the lyric.
But not all of the tracks are at such a high energy level; "Rock Of Ages" (not the Anglican hymn, but rather a Chanuka song - whose title is actually one of the poetic euphemisms for God) is set here to a new tune, and features plain acoustic guitar as its accompaniment. I didn't like this as much as the opener, probably because of the new tune and the comic effect of the American accent mangling the Hebrew words. Presumably American audiences don't notice anything strange: the websites show that RebbeSoul has a strong following on the West Coast of America, an area well-known for religious sects and cults.
The final track on the disc is "Avinu" (Our Father); apparently this is the song that gave RebbeSoul his epiphany as to how to find his individual musical voice. Different versions of this traditional song have been included on all his discs, and the version here is a fairly dark acoustic guitar version (complete with Sephardic flourishes) with intriguing samples in the background. The vocal sounds too strained to my ears, marring a unique instrumental approach to the tune. It's interesting to compare this to the version on the Roche sisters' Zero Church which I reviewed for the GreenMan several months ago.
As an Israeli, I'm familiar with many of the songs (albeit in different settings) and am well aware of the errors made. For example, the cd sleeve lists the songs with Hebrew names, in both Hebrew and transliterated English letters; unfortunately the sleeve designer would get a poor mark in school as almost all of his Hebrew has spelling mistakes. There are no translations of the song titles nor lyrics included, which is disappointing: Gaelic language discs which I have reviewed have included the lyrics in both Gaelic and English, and presumably don't have spelling mistakes.
Who knows - if "Shalom" receives heavy airplay in my troubled corner of the world, then maybe Bruce aka RebbeSoul will be able to change the world with a sound..
