Kirtan Rabbi’s new album “Achat Sha’alti”
I have previously written about Kirtan Rabbi here and here.
Kirtan Rabbi, the alter ego of Rabbi Andrew Hahn, seeks to excite Jewish words and ideas by presenting them in the framework of Kirtan, an Indian devotional style, which relies on ecstatic call and response. I’ll begin with this video, letting Hahn and his biggest fans speak for themselves and then I’ll review his new album “Achat Sha’alti.”
OK. So the folks in the video are a little woo-woo for me and I can’t see myself every actually going to a Kirtan Rabbi event. But, and this is a big but, “Kirtan Rabbi Live!” and “Achat Sha’alti” certainly bring something sublimely unique to my Shabbos Playlist. The basic question of this blog is whether the music I’m talking about will make it into my Shabbos Playlist. And this album certainly will.
The album consists of three medleys separated out into eight tracks, bookended by an intro track of Kaddish and a closing track of Ozi Ve-zimrat Yah.
KR’s approach to Kaddish is unique. As he says in the intro to the Kaddish track on the live CD, he sees Kaddish as what we would say if we could see what the dead, in the presence of God were seeing. Again, we’re moving a little too far into woo-woo territory for me, but it is invigorating an refreshing to hear the words of Kaddish sung happily, rather than chanted dourly. Even if you don’t buy what KR says about see what the dead see–which I don’t–you still have to admit that the words of Kaddish are happy. They praise God over and over. So the joyful tone makes sense.
The first medley, the title medley, “One Thing I Seek,” is great, not just because it sounds great, but because he’s playing with a relatively unfamiliar text. Though the third medley is Lecha Dodi, this one and the next are working with texts that Jewish songwriters don’t generally rely on. “One Think I Seek” plays with the text of Psalm 27:4, 13. The beginning of Pslam 27 is quite familiar (“The Lord is my light and my help. Whom shall I fear? etc”) and this Psalm is read throughout the month of Elul, but this section is not one we tend to dwell on.
In the first track of the medley, KR simply recites verse 4 once through. The second track focuses in on the title verse,
“Achat sha-alti mei-eit Adonai: Shivti b-veit Adonai kol y-mei chayyai.”
“One thing I ask of Adonai, on that do I seek: To live in the house of Adonai all the fays of my life.”
Throughout the track, this line is repeated back and forth in the Hebrew with longing.
The third part focuses in on a different line, emphasizing the phrase “The Land of the Living.” This line transitions nicely into the second medley, “Resurrection.”
“Resurrection” uses line from the sidur to explore spiritual resurrection. And the third medley is Lecha Dodi. Every Jewish musician seems to be required to have their own version of Lecha Dodi and Kirtan Rabbi is no different. The three tracks of this version focus on, in this order the verse “Shamor ve-Zachor,” the verse “Lo Teivoshi” and the chorus of Lecha Dodi.
The closing track is by far my favorite. Everything comes together perfectly in this track. Using a melody by Shefa Gold (woo-woo here we come), this track’s Indian harmonium, repeating string sounds (what is that? I can’t figure out what’s making this noise, but it’s great!) and Hahn’s voice and the chorus of repeaters come together to make some that is just perfectly beautiful.
It’s certainly a different experience than listening to the older live Kirtan Rabbi album, but I love it just as much.
I like this immensely more than the slickly produced rap stuff (and I love hip hop).
Glad you like it!
I remember checking it out the first time you wrote about the Kirtan Rabbi on Jewschool. I still haven’t gotten around to getting the CD (due to finances) but enjoy what is available online for the time being.
If you ever want to hear my attempts at Jewish music, let me know.
Bring it on.
Hey this is closer to who we are than all the Ashkenazi/Klezmer stuff out there. Something to think about for all the critics of this stuff.