A PRE-PURIM DELIGHT THAT CAME FROM ISRAEL ABOUT OUR VERY OWN CANTOR SOL ZIM…
A PRE-PURIM DELIGHT THAT CAME FROM ISRAEL ABOUT OUR VERY OWN CANTOR SOL ZIM…
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On the eve of Shabbat Mevarchim of month Adar II, the “Yuval” archive “remembers” the “Miracles and Wonders” concert, which we held exactly 12 years ago, at the Heichal Hatarbut, in Petah Tikva.
In the cantorial prayer repertoire, it is rare to find works that are appropriate for the days of Purim. Many songs in Yiddish were written, among other things, to make fun of it. At that concert, in 2010, we performed some of them, and some of them we uploaded to our channel last year.
“A Chazzan’dl Oif Shabbos- A Cantor for Shabbat is another “Folk Song”, which laughs at the famous “test” of the cantors in the various communities. The song humorously describes the reaction of three important members of the community, who came to listen to the same cantor and express their opinions:
One is a blacksmith, the other a tailor and the third a coachman. And each of them describes according to his world of concepts, how he was impressed by the cantor.
It is difficult to trace the birth of this “folk song.” But from the cantors’ parade that has performed it over the past 100 years, we learn how much he was loved and sought after.
A partial list:
Mordechai Hershman, Moshe Ganchoff, David Koussevitzky, Misha Alexandrowich, Eliezer Shulman, Theodor Bickel, Jan Pierce, singer Al Jolson, the Barry sisters and even Joe Amar the Moroccan cantor, who did not miss the opportunity to do so in his unique style.
Of all these cantors, it was Jan Pierce’s performance on his 1963 record that greatly influenced Cantor Sol Zim, who sought to perform it in concert.
Sol Zim is considered one of the great “Icons” of today: composer, arranger, teacher, lecturer, cantor, singer and actor, who has adapted his own special style. Zim is known as one who does not try to imitate other cantors, but to bring himself and his diverse personality to the song, to the stage and to the audience in front of him, and he did exactly the same in this song.
Although he really liked Pierce’s performance, Sol expanded on the cantorial part of the work and added examples of his own. And they are made with his own unique coloratura. In addition, already at the beginning of the performance, Sol included the lyrics of the song and the story about the village, the name of the host city – Petah Tikva. The audience liked and responded with a requested laugh, except for one person …
After the show, we stood with the videographer, Yaakov Felberbaum and some of Zim’s fans behind the scenes, to hear Zim’s thoughts and historical stories, spiced with great grace. Suddenly an older man approached him, who apparently did not understand the humor, to which Sol directed the song:
With all due respect, Cantor Zim, he said in English combined with Yiddish: My parents grew up in Petah Tikva and I have lived here all my years. As a guest artist of the city of Petah Tikva, in a concert at the city’s representative hall, you can not insult the residents of the fifth largest city in Israel – a city with more than 200,000 residents, and call it a “Village”.
The surprised Sol understood like us with whom he has business: you must forgive me! He replied with a smile: “I live in Queens, a small town in New York with 2 million residents. How many residents did you say there are in Petah Tikva…?”
Shabbat Shalom and enjoy watching
Ofir Sobol – Musical Director and Conductor
And the management of “Yuval”
