By Mark Mietkiewicz, Special to JTNews
Hanukkah is here and that means so are a whole slew of traditional holiday songs. For those of you who’d like to brush up on the classics while learning a few new ones that will have Bubbe doing a double take, I now present eight music sites for eight Hanukkah nights.
Night No. 1: Start with what must be the largest collection of free Hanukkah music on the web. IsraelNationalNews.com’s Jukebox has well over 10 hours of holiday tunes with everything from the familiar to the obscure. Go to bit.ly/chanuk13, click on Holiday Songs and scroll down for the Hanukkah songs (and Rosh Hashanah, Tu B’Shevat, Purim, Passover and others).
Night No. 2: The Jewish National & University Library in Jerusalem has put together a marvelous Web site which preserves the sounds and songs of Jewish communities from around the world. There are five versions for the menorah candle lighting ceremony (Ashkenazi, Carlebach-style, Hungarian, Algerian and Sephardic) with other Hanukkah songs from Algeria, France, Turkey, Italy and the lovely “Ir Kleyne Likhtelekh” (Oh, you little candles) in Yiddish. (bit.ly/chanuk1) All files are available in mp3 format, which can be downloaded and played on an iPod.
Night No. 3: Tonight it’s time for something different. Reggae Hanukkah mixes Caribbean rhythms, traditional Ghanaian dance drumming, Middle Eastern instruments “to batteries of Brazilian and Latin percussion as samba meets mambo for some salsa on their latkes.” Although many of the songs are new, you’ll recognize familiar melodies peeking through the reggae “Maoz Tzur” and “Hanukkah, Skanukah.” You can preview excerpts from the entire album online. (bit.ly/chanuk3) and listen to three longer cuts here. (bit.ly/chanuk4)
Night No. 4: It wouldn’t be Hanukkah without Adam Sandler’s modern classic “The Hanukkah Song,” in which he reminds the world about prominent Jews in movies, music and sports. In the process, he devises some interesting rhymes for the word Hanukkah: “Put on that yarmulke / It’s time for Hanukkah / Two-time Oscar winner / Dustin Hoffmonica / Celebrates Hanukkah.” (bit.ly/chanuk6)Sandler’s written a couple of sequels with lyrics that aren’t always as gentle as “I Have a Little Dreidel.”
Night No. 5: One of the most famous pieces of music associated with the holiday is G.F. Handel’s “Judas Maccabeus.” The oratorio celebrates the victories of the ancient Jewish loyalists against their pagan foes. Eliezer Segal examines how one of Handel’s themes, “See the Conquering Hero Comes,” has been adopted by Jews as a Hanukkah melody. According to Segal, the irony is that when Handel composed Judas Maccabeus, he was more concerned that it become a “pageant of English patriotism rather than a source of Jewish national pride.” The tune will play as you enter the Web site. (bit.ly/chanuk7)
Night No. 6: A few years ago, the gifted wordsmith Tom Lehrer composed another seasonal favorite. “I’m spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica / Wearing sandals, lighting candles by the sea.” Now someone has added amusing photos and posted a not-to-be-missed video on YouTube. (bit.ly/chanuk8) For an encore, enjoy a suave rendition by Brandeis University’s Jewish a cappella group, Jewish Fella A Cappella. (bit.ly/chanuk9)
Night No. 7: They’re classics in Israel and they can be in your home, too. If you can read Hebrew, I think you’ll appreciate the Chagim Web site. You’ll find the lyrics to over 27 Hebrew Hanukkah songs including “Ner Li” (I have a flame), “Levivot” (Latkes) and “Nes Hanukkah” (Miracle of Hanukkah). (bit.ly/chanuk10)
Night No. 8: Everybody’s favorite little dreidel is, of course, made of clay. But if you want to have a new dreidel to sing about, look no further than the Hava Nashira Jewish Songleader’s Resource. (bit.ly/chanuk11) There are dozens of modern variations of the classic, including:
I have a little dreidel,
I made it out of glue
The baby tried to spin it,
And now she’s spinning too.
I have a little dreidel,
Made from a CD-ROM.
It helped me launch a start-up
Called DreidelSpin-dot-com!
I had a little dreidel,
I made it out of clay,
Said a Kabbalistic blessing,
And it got up and walked away
Mark Mietkiewicz is a Toronto-based Web site producer who writes, lectures and teaches about the Jewish Internet. He can be contacted at highway@rogers.com.