Shabos Zmiros – Raz Hartman
I’ve been wanting to feature Raz Hartman in a Shabos Zmiros post for a long time, but I can’t for the life of me find any videos of him singing online, so I spent my morning on an online adventure, trying to figure out how to make videos and upload them to youtube, which after a valiant effort, I failed at. So I figured out how to do this:
Yiram Hayam
[audio:http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/35124_ssucf/03%20Yiram%20Hayam.mp3]
Al Hatzadikim
[audio:http://www.upload-mp3.com/files/35125_xqefg/08%20Al%20Hatzadikim.mp3]
By way of explaining Hartman, check out this post from DailyJews:
With his trademark white Yamulke and Rasta-like payot, Raz Hartman comes across as being a cool frum Jew, comfortable with his religious perspectives and wanting to share it with other people – which he’s done through his music.
Combining traditional Hebrew and religious melodies with Middle Eastern rhythms, Hartman is one of Israel’s best-kept musical secrets. His album, Shabbat Olam, features his piano-based interpretations of several Sabbath songs – he describes the CD as featuring, “songs that express my Shabbat experience”. He composed all the tracks himself, inspired by traditional tunes and songs from the Sabbath service, and the album has a sparse feel – the songs are mainly piano-based, with only the occasion intrusion from another instrument, such as percussion.
Some of his music is astonishingly beautfiul to me, especially the two tracks I’ve included here, Yiram Hayam and Al Hatzadikim. One thing I love about it is that is highly liturgical, but something you would never actually sing in shul. It kind of elevates liturgical music to a performance art, without becoming operatic and cantorial.
Thanks to all the Jewschool contributors who put up with my e-mails this morning as I tried to figure this audio file thing out.
Enjoy. Shabat Shalom.