A treasure trove of reels and tapes were gathering dust until one music lover shared them with the world

Alongside his fulltime job in kashrus, Chaim Brown — raised in Manchester, UK, and now of Antwerp, Belgium — is on another communal mission: to share rare audio and visual memories of Jewish music with the world. He and his team are in contact with singers, collectors, organizations, and anyone who might have old reels and tapes of past concerts, which he then digitally converts and posts on his Chaimke Productions channel, so that others can reignite the nostalgia spark

HOW THE PROJECT BEGAN

While in yeshivah in Eretz Yisrael in the early 2000s, I became friendly with someone connected to the Zichron Menachem cancer support organization. In their offices, I discovered a treasure trove of reels and video cassettes, recordings of old music events and concerts that had never been released. I saw that all these memorabilia were just gathering dust and thought, why not share it with the world?

My first project was the first Zichron Menachem concert, live in Jerusalem with Michoel Streicher and MBD, which had only come out on an audio CD and, for a short while, on a video cassette that not too many people were buying back then. Chaim Ehrental, the founder of Zichron Menachem, gave me permission to convert it to digital and put it out there. He also let me share his personal videos of the impromptu concerts that Rabbi Baruch Chait, MBD, Ding, and Michoel Streicher gave for his son Menachem a”h in the late 1980s. People loved them.

A SONG I CAN’T STOP SINGING

“Ke’ayal Taarog,” by Efraim Mendelson with Amit Listvand from his Rak Al Avinu album. It’s a classic, and Efraim sings it as well today as he did in 1997.

OUR MOST REQUESTED CLIP

HASC 8. It was never released commercially, and even Sheya Mendlowitz a”h asked me for a video of it. Shlomo Carlebach was supposed to appear, but he passed away suddenly a few weeks before, yet the combination of the Carlebach tribute medley with MBD and the Miami medley made it awesome. I gave Sheya parts of it, but I can’t publish anything without written permission from the hall and producer, and in this case, I haven’t been able to get them.

SOME UNEXPECTED FEEDBACK
There was an event called Leil Hamaalot, held on Har Hatzofim in Yerushalayim in 1996 and 1997. Avraham Fried sang at both, and in 1997 he introduced the famous “Modeh Ani” with Yishai Lapidot. It was outdoors, with around 3,000 people in the audience. Because it was a night concert that started at 11 p.m. and finished with the breaking of dawn, a lot of people have been reaching out confused, asking if the dark and night are real, and why it starts off dark outside and gets lighter.

REACTIONS THAT KEEP ME GOING

When the families of the late great Yosi Piamenta, Leibele Haschel, and Jo Amar emailed to thank us for the clips we posted. We received comments like, “I can’t believe this gorgeous clip of my father, we have never seen it before and we were brought to tears” — and that made all the hours my team put into searching for this old material worthwhile.

A SONG THAT BROKE THE MOLD FOR JEWISH MUSIC

It’s not my absolute favorite MBD song, but “Mashiach” definitely made waves. It brought Jewish music to the mainstream world, because it was the first song to be played not just at simchahs, but “out there” on the radio and even in sports stadiums. It went viral, long before the days of the Internet.

THE CHOICE BETWEEN A FULL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OR A SIMPLE KUMZITZ SOUND

Although there are singers, such as Eitan Katz, who sound unbelievable with just a mic and a guitar, I definitely feel that an orchestra and beautiful music do full justice to vocals and give them that extra oomph. In my opinion, even Shlomo Carlebach sounded at his best at HASC with a majestic orchestra backing him.

A MUSIC GROUP I ESPECIALLY CONNECT TO

Diaspora Yeshiva Band. They performed in the late 1970s and 80s, but they still resonate today, maybe even more than ever. They showed that you can be cool, hip, and Jewish at the same time. I see teenagers today looking for the Diaspora stuff. Communities are frummer than ever today, but we have all these kids struggling, wanting to chill out. And these songs from the baal teshuvah movement are good for them, because they see that the flame of Yiddishkeit and Jewish life can be kept alive in a very cool way.

AN INSTRUMENT I WISH I COULD PLAY

Strings, particularly violin. It infuses emotion into any song and can transform it into something beautiful.

A SONG THAT BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER

MBD’s “Yidden, Yidden!” This was always the opener on the massive Chabad Telethons that were televised throughout the USA. When MBD sang it, the crowds went wild.

AN ALBUM I’D TAKE ALONG ON A ROAD TRIP

A double album, naturally, and my pick would be HASC’s A Time for Music III. What a lineup — Avremel was on fire with a Yossi Green medley, Moshe Yess sang incredible harmony, plus there was MBD, Gershon Veroba, and Abie. It’s absolutely gorgeous and still a favorite after all these years.

A SONG THAT NEVER GETS OLD
I would say Regesh’s classic “Shalom Aleichem.” Whether it’s the glorious trademark symphonic arrangement or Abish’s voice, I find that song is perfect for all moods. The tempo is slow, then speeds up. You don’t only need to sing it Friday night — you can listen to it in the car at 7 a.m. when you’re just waking up, or 6 p.m. on the way home after a tough day.

A SONG I’LL ALWAYS SING AT MY SHABBOS TABLE

We sing “Veyazor Veyagein Veyoshia” by Regesh. It is so simple, but so hartzig
and uplifting.

A SONG THAT GIVES ME CHIZUK DURING TOUGH TIMES

“The Crack of Dawn,” by MBD, from the Mashiach album. The song is about a soldier who sees enemy soldiers and trembles in fear during the night, but with the crack of dawn, he sees that they are friendly soldiers. It inspires with the optimism that no matter what your challenges are, the light is just around the corner. And MBD’s voice is in its prime.

MY FAVORITE TUNE FOR LECHA DODI

I’m not a chazzan or baal tefillah, but I always love to hear the “Lo Seivoshi” made famous by Reb Dovid Werdyger. You can’t go wrong with that.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1047)