Hiphopkhasene

A Jewish hip-hop wedding music piece conceived and performed by klezmorim and klezmerettes, by DJs and MCs, by “young klezmer violinist, ragga jungle DJ and composer”s, and guaranteed to send your head spinning in its multi-culti chaotic beauty. I suppose it helps to know the various parts of a(n old-world) Jewish wedding ceremony and accompanying rituals but one can appreciate these pieces in their isolation as well. The creation myth in the liner notes is amusing.

1. Slow beat and a rap sort of introducing the whole thing … in Yiddish
2. Bittersweet violins and tsimbl (cymbalom/dulcimer)
3. A short incantation
4. An oddly scratchy little dance tune with drop-in samples of Yiddish exhortations; David Krakauer’s “laughing” clarinet is brilliantly good fun
5. Wedding jesters in Yiddish and English chant/rhyme over a slow, “alt shul” beat
6. Slow, tense swirl of violins and clarinet
7. Hebrew blessings over a badass beat
8. Funky beats with cutesy samples of “pelt me with rice” and a nice horn section at the end
9. Old/new-fangled ska, complete with toasting, horns, organ; catchy as hell
10. Keening song with a slow break
11. An accordion and violin heartbreaker
12. Yiddish hip-hop polka that’s considerably better than the Weird Al Yankovic implications of that phrase may be
13. “Yardstyle” in the title is an allusion to reggae (“Yardie” is a derogatory term for Jamaicans in England); this is a mellow reggae tune augmented by a description of some of the rituals of the wedding
14. A touch of the glitch-break in the rhythms of this extended kitchen sink mix; the rap is maybe a bit too “straight” but the overall effect is pretty exotic
15. Bouncy beats with sort of 1940s era vocals, “beh-ay-beee”