Here is an EXCLUSIVE REPORT by our JMR ISRAEL reporter. Please do not reuse without a direct link to this page.

Many thanks to our dear friend Baruch Ezagui for the amazing photos! (2 videos below review as well)

Avraham Fried performed last night in Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh to a sell out crowd in Sultan’s Pool Auditorium. The last time a singer with a long beard was the main act at this venue was when Matisyahu performed here over Sukkos. This was an evening that celebrated Avremel’s achievement of 30 Years singing Jewish music—and he did not disappoint the diverse crowd that ranged from—Secular, Lubavitch, Litvishe, Mizrachi—every type of Jew was present to reminisce with Avraham Fried and to enjoy the surprisingly cool summer night! Throughout the evening, as Avraham Fried sang songs throughout the decades, the theme was clear—he wanted to inspire his audience to remain conscious of the Geulah, Moshiach, and The Beis HaMikdash.

To that end, while the computer graphics malfunctioned a bit—he even admitted so during the Concert—the animated visuals were IMPRESSIVE and only further enhanced the sweet voice that sounded stronger than ever as the night went on.

On another note, I continue to be impressed with Avraham Fried’s grasp and use of the Hebrew language—he spoke one word of English the entire night (guess which word it is, I’ve placed the word at the bottom of the pictures!). In fact, he even modified some English Songs into Hebrew!

The crowd was enthralled by a guest appearance by Israel folk singer…Ariel Zilber, who in a duet with Avremel, sung his hit song: Ten Li Koach click here!

Plus, Avraham sung a NEW SONG click here to hear it, called Kumu V’Naaleh Tzion. Better yet, he sung seemingly forever his current hit, Ki Hirbeisa, featured already on JMR here.

He closed the evening, with a song in Hebrew in which he thanked everyone for joining him on this musical journey. The song was called: Kamma Tov and in the background it had pictures of Avremel throughout the years…I forgot he wore a vest for a period of time in the 90′s :)

Lehava Orchestra’s Amazing Double Album: ‘The Double Project’

(Download here)

At the end of three years of concentrated effort the Lehava Orchestra, the most successful religious orchestra, has reached the finish line with a fantastic double album which is without doubt by far the best collection of wedding music to appear in recent years. The album contains thirty-six mostly original tracks well made with superior production and sound quality never heard before.
The Lehava Orchestra presents a project which is elaborate, well thought out, rich and fascinating that includes Jewish, Hassidic and Israeli music featuring brilliant arrangements and combinations, as well as different and varied style content. It encompasses on the one hand ‘Ki Hirbeita’, ‘Vezakeini’ and ‘Kah Echsof’, and on the other ‘Azamer Bishvachin’ country style, soul songs such as Shlomo Carlebach’s ‘Beshem Hashem’ with Avreimi Roth, Jewish hits such as ‘Ana Efneh’ and ‘Ruach Stav’, from electro-tech dance music to Jewish & Irish rock. Yechiel Greenberg and the Lehava band have gone all out in order to give
you one of the most original albums ever produced by a wedding orchestra.

Obviously, a band playing at simchas night after night knows precisely which songs will catch on and which ones will be quickly forgotten. Armed with this experience, Yechiel Greenberg, the group’s leader and founder, has produced an extensive collection of popular hassidic music ranging from old-time, well-known medleys to new hassidic and jewish music compositions, featuring both old and new tunes. Previous singles brought out by the band sparked much attention and have been frequently played by religious and traditional Israeli stations. Now that the album has finally been completed excitement is mounting and it is eagerly awaited by the listening public. Even the price of the album reflects the amount of thought invested in it.

The Double Project will combine exclusive packaging at a popular price and will sell for a mere 69 shekel, most definitely a great deal. Lehava say there are more surprises in store. Stay tuned. The group was formed four years ago by Yechiel Greenberg, former founder of the Shalhevet Orchestra which he left after 12 years. “Lehava” consists of six musicians and a vocalist (Yaron Bar) and as mentioned prides itself on its professionalism. The band includes guitar, trumpet, 12 different types of flutes and recorders where necessary, saxophone, trombone, keyboard, violin and drums. The band also puts special emphasis on the artistic content of the chuppa, with a musical accompaniment composed of five musicians playing and harmonizing.

New single by Avi Gasner – Modeh Ani

(Download sample here)

Avi Gasner (aged 55) from Kfar Saba, an insurance agent by day, with a rich musical background which he acquired through his own hard work. Gasner has studied music, sung, played and dreamed. A glance at his personal history reveals that he has sung in a local group, appeared on stage, played flute, accordion and guitar. In the past he “took a break” from music, until five years ago, following life-changing events, or a mid-life crisis, depending how you look at it, he took up music again.

This particular song was written by Moshe Laufer. Barak Ben Tzur, known drum player and producer of the whole album is responsible for musical accompaniment and arrangement. Of Ben Tzur, Gasner says “We connect, he understands me and knows what I am looking for and manages to make all my musical dreams come true.” Gasner put Laufer’s musical creations away in a drawer, as he couldn’t spare the
time needed to devote to them. Until two months ago when he was looking for a song to sing for Shavuot. Gasner’s father who had passed away four months before, would have been 88 on Shavuot. “He left happy memories, so I wrote a song for his birthday basically thanking him for what he left me.”

Avi Gasner presents “Modeh Ani” a song of gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the people he sent to accompany him through life. “Abba was a messenger from Hakadosh Baruch Hu who taught me so much in life. He was always happy, no matter what and was always thankful for everything, now it is my turn to thank Him.” The debut album which will appear be”H this winter, promises to be richly flavoured with various styles, from Laufer to Bocelli and Pavarotti. Gasner enjoys light opera, but in addition has been studying for the past four years at a Jerusalem school of cantorial music, with the aim of becoming a fully fledged chazzan. Fellow shul members say that to hear him leining is like listening to a performance of light opera…”

Eitan Kleinman – “About to Change”

(Download here)

Eitan Kleinman is a 36 year old religious computer guy, married and the father of five from Peduel in the Shomron. He works in hi-tech as a web developer. Over the past ten years he has occasionally retreated to the studio to record parts of his debut album. “Throughout this period, and in my life in general”, recalls Kleinman “I kept asking myself where is the mountain, when will I reach the
Everest, so that we can say that we have reached the peak, that we have planted the flag of proof…”

Then along came the Second Lebanon War to change his very way of thinking. Eitan is drafted and suddenly comes to the realization that he is basically missing the point. “I began to understand that one should also enjoy the process, or at least give it the respect it deserves, its importance “lechatchila”. The journey is a central part of what we are trying to achieve. We should never forget that in this
world, which is a very narrow bridge, we should always try to do our best and that each and every moment has meaning and uniqueness, hence it exists”. He wrote the theme song of the album “About to Change” after experiencing this understanding. Kleinman has been studying singing for the past seven years. “True musicians never stop singing” he says with a smile. “There is never a moment when a song
is not playing in my head. Music is an integral part of my life, the ability to articulate, to express oneself and to change exists in music that surrounds us resounds in each one of us.”

The new album is the fruit of the labour of two people. Amichai Koppel, a graduate of the “Hed” School of Contemporary Music and with a degree in Musicology from Bar Ilan University who has produced and arranged all the songs, and Eitan Kleinman, writer composer and singer. The pair have worked, created and even documented the long process in a lively blog which has attracted great interest. Once the album is released, Kleinman plans a round of intimate performances throughout the country “wherever I am asked to sing, I will go” he promises.

It was a major event for Gush Etzion when Yaakov Shwekey arrived on June 2^nd for a one-night-only concert in the huge new outdoor amphitheater in Efrat. Set right into the slopes of the Judean hills, on the outskirts of the Rimon neighborhood, once there one could watch the arriving people streaming down the winding path in ever increasing numbers as it got closer to show time. I arrived early with Lexi, her friend Kareen, Eitan and Maya and we patiently waited for the main event.

The last big concert I was at was the legendary Paul McCartney concert in Tel Aviv.  In a city of 400,000, there were more than 40,000 fans, crowded in the outdoor Park Hayarkon. Of course you can’t compare McCartney to Shwekey; the crowd that packed this amphitheater was estimated at 4000 people – one tenth of the McCartney crowd. Actually, since the Gush has a population of only about 30,000, relatively speaking I suppose Shwekey did even better than Paul…

The concert opened with a recorded song, “V’shavu Banim l’gvulam” (And your sons shall return to their borders) accompanied by a moving multimedia p

resentation, on massive screens, of our soldiers that are missing in action. A special focus was placed on Gilad Shalit who has been in captivity for nearly four years. They got us in our guts – we were all theirs.

Aharon Razel then opened the concert with two songs. When he started singing “Higiya zman” (“The time has come”) dozens of exuberant youths decided the time really had come and ran to the front and started dancing. We happened to have gotten excellent seats with a great view; when dozens of kids started dancing in front of us, we had a view of them… But it was all good.

Finally Shwekey got on stage. The crowd went wild! I was sitting there thinking, Now here is a religious singer, wearing a huge, black kippah on his head, singing religious songs about “Toyrah”, playing to this crowd of modern orthodox people. Nobody looked or dressed like him, hundreds and hundreds of youth, some not looking religious at all, are totally getting into the music. Yaakov Shwekey is not like many Jewish singers who try to weave religious content into a pop music sound; he simply delivers authentic, Jewish music. And yet he manages to appeal to all ages, from the most religious to the barely-at-all. Appeal? The people were going nuts over him!

Even the guards, all official in their yellow reflective vests, could be found dancing and singing along like the rest of us. Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before. In fact, about those guards: At one point I was fairly close to the guardrail taking pictures and a guard approached me. I thought he was going to make me move. But instead he offered to go even closer and take pictures for me!

After the intermission Shwekey invited about a dozen uniformed IDF soldiers up to thank them, and through them all of the soldiers, for defending the Jewish nation and Jewish people. He sang the beautiful song “Im Eshkachech” (If I forget thee O Jerusalem). It was gorgeous! Even the soldiers were crying.

A surprise shout-out to Lexi’s dear friend who is engaged to be married preceded a song dedicated to her and her fiancé. It reminded me that this crowd of 4000 people was in some way an intimate gathering of neighbors. A BIG intimate gathering of neighbors… A few more big hits were sung as the crowd got more and more involved by dancing and singing like crazy.

Shwekey spoke about Jews all over the world being “Areivim zeh lezeh” (Responsible for one another). That we are all the same, regardless of where –and how – we live. From the concert he gave I’d say he really delivered on that message – through the songs he sang, the media in the presentation, and the crowd that he drew.

Yaakov Shwekey finished with an encore of “V’hi She’amda” dedicated to Shayetet 13, our naval Special Forces unit that was ambushed on the Gaza flotilla this week. The enthusiastic crowd joined in as one, “v’HaKadosh Baruch Hu matzilainu miyadam” – And G-d will save us from their hands. As we watched the ending fireworks explode in the sky, it was truly as if G-d were punctuating the prayers evoked in the songs.

[Republished from "The Aliyah Blog" which you can check out here.]

The concert started with a Lubavitch Niggun called Anim Zemiros that both Eitan and Shlomo sang together.

Then Eitan took the stage and sang in this order:

Three New Songs from Baruch Hu, Ashrei Tivcharu, Galie Kivod, Ma Navu el, From Eitan Katz Unplugged he sang Yisbarach, Then he sang Baruch Hu, Lemaancha, Niggun Dmin. Chaim Dovid sang next: 7 Sheppard’s, Open Up the Gates. Chaim Dovid and Shlomo both sang Kshoshana

Shlomo Katz then sang Vaaf Al Pe, Yismechu: but sang it with a change as well V’Samachta B’Chagecha… Hazorim, He then started with singing the Hashanah’s and then moved into Shema Koleinu, The Yarhzeit Niggun Eitan and Shlomo sang together…he said it was the 1 song he’d want to sing to R. Shlomo Carlebach if he’d still be w/us… Od Yishama: This niggun came down the night before the wedding of Chaim Dovid’s daughter, Shifra, Kevodo Maleie Olam: He sang with his father Cantor Avshalom Katz
He then talked about how his father’s mother jumped off of the train to the gas chambers and how we all need to dream big which led into singing Niggun Nevo and then of course Niggun Neshama…the musician who really stole the show was the Violinist, whose name was Nimrod…

Here is some photos of the event as well:

Here is some video of the event as well: