“It’s always been imperative that the tune fits the words, and that the niggun is something I would be comfortable playing for my rebbeim”

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Fit for my Rav

“For me, it’s always been imperative that the tune fits the words, and that the niggun is something I would be comfortable playing for my rebbeim,” says Eitan Katz of his compositions, as his newest all-original album, BEIS HASHEM, hit streaming platforms last week. While Eitan has grown musically and diversified his sound over the years, experimenting with an expanded range of styles, there is a certain consistency that means listeners know they are getting what they love in his 18 albums and two dozen singles. On his latest album, there is no electronic music, only authentic singable niggunim composed by Eitan and played by real instruments.

While none of the songs have been pre-released as singles, the last song on the album, a deep and meditative niggun based on a quote from the sefer Tzidkas Hatzaddik of Rav Tzadok HaKohein of Lublin, will strike a chord with anyone who was at the “Live in New York” concert over Succos last year, when Eitan shared it for the first time. Now, he chose to add the English lyrics, “Just as one must believe in the greatness of Hashem, so he must believe in the greatness of himself, for his soul comes from the Source of Life.”

In contrast to this reflective song, a beautiful upbeat track is “Nigun Kinyan,” which expresses some of the fountain of joy inherent in learning Torah. It was composed while Eitan was completing a final soundcheck for the annual Kinyan Hamasechta event, when thousands of individuals who have dedicated themselves to learning and retaining masechtas of Gemara gather for celebration and inspiration. It’s an event Eitan says he feels blessed to be part of, and the joy is contagious through this niggun.

The title track, “Beis Hashem,” hails from a trip to Poland, when Eitan was part of a group touring abandoned shuls and davening at kivrei tzaddikim. “We were walking in and out of these shuls, and I got the chills as my mind pictured the Yidden of old streaming in with joy to serve Hashem. This niggun came into my mind, with the words from Tehillim “Samachti be’omrim li beis Hashem neilech….”

He’s especially excited about a first-time collaboration with Shira Choir on the song “Ufros Aleinu.”

“I composed this niggun around five years ago while sitting at a seudah in the succah,” Eitan says. “I don’t often write niggunim in this style, and I had no idea how to arrange it. After building its general structure, I asked Avremi Gourarie to take on the arrangements. I knew I wanted it to sound like his arrangements for some of my favorite vintage Avraham Fried albums, specifically the ones that cover Chabad niggunim. I was blown away by his arrangement, but it took me a while to come up with Shira Choir, with its chassidishe taam, as the ideal vocal accompaniment.”

Eitan’s father, Argentinian-born chazzan Avshalom Katz, who was the producer of his first few albums, joins in with the family to sing “Yom Zeh Mechubad,” so full of sweetness and Shabbos peace that you can imagine Eitan’s young family singing around their table.

Some songs on the album, though, predate Eitan’s professional singing and songwriting career. He wrote “Yedid Nefesh” and “Mimaamakim” decades ago — more in the style of a personal journey than a classic sing-along niggun, but offered here to listeners as a heartfelt gift.

Mic Drop

Keep It Simple

CHAYALA NEUHAUS’s songs, such as “A Yid Never Breaks,” “Miracles,” and “Broken Heart,” have become icons of our time, expressing eternal truths through eloquent but simple and catchy lyrics and music. The simplicity, Chayala explains, is not incidental; it’s her goal and trademark.

“I don’t like overly sophisticated words that overload the song, because my feeling is that lyrics have to be relatable to be singable. And most importantly, the words have to lie in the right spot on the melody. A word lying incorrectly, where it wouldn’t be sung the way a person would normally say it, can make the song unsingable.”

But while the words may be simple, the concepts underneath carry deep universal truths. One such song, “Unspoken Words,” composed for a Neshei Adirei HaTorah event, produced by Doni Gross and sung by Shmueli Ungar, was commissioned to carry an empowering message for women. Yet Chayala was careful to choose something that would resonate, but not feel pressurising.

She wrote the lyrics on a plane to Eretz Yisrael, based on an experience she had when singing for a cancer patient in Lakewood.

“It was a young woman in her forties, battling stage-four cancer. She didn’t need me, but I was asked to sing for her kids. It struck me how this lady was so weak that she could not do anything for her family, but every time one of them walked into her peripheral vision, she made a superhuman effort to smile at them. She couldn’t take care of them, yet the one thing she could do for them was smile.

“We are sometimes so immersed in our to-do lists,” says Chayala, “but I wanted to give over what I learned from this lady, that the main power of the mother is her presence in her children’s lives. That is the heartbeat.”

Summer Notes

What are some of the main music trends this season?

In general, the trendy music requests are now Israeli-style songs. Artists like Ishay Ribo and Hanan Ben Ari, for example, have exploded onto the Jewish music scene with many top requested songs. In addition, oldies from the 1990s and on are suddenly coming back to life, and being requested quite often.

—Shloime Dachs

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1065)