“I do everything, from kumzitzes and dinners to bar mitzvahs, but my favorite will always be a wedding”

From the time his “Tov Lehodos"became a classic almost 30 years ago, Montreal-based YO AISENSTARK has been an active player on the Jewish music scene as a singer, composer, and bandleader. His first album of original compositions, Shalheves Boys Choir’s Precious Tears (1995), produced together with his brother Binyomin, paved the way for a second Shalheves album, the 2006 Shearim album, and several more recent singles. He’s the longtime owner and musical director of Shearim Orchestra.

MY FAVORITE GIGS

I do everything, from kumzitzes and dinners to bar mitzvahs, but my favorite will always be a wedding. It’s a place of great simchah, with great vibes and everyone in a good mood, and as a bandleader, I get to have a chelek in that. When I have a wedding coming up, whether it’s for a one-man band or a full orchestra, I can’t wait.

THE SONG I CAN’T STOP SINGING THESE DAYS

Say it with me — “Tamid Ohev Oti.” I play it if there seems to be a lull in the dancing, and the room immediately goes back to high energy.

SOME CHERISHED FEEDBACK

One freezing winter evening I arrived for an event, but something felt off. There was going to be dancing, but there was no mechitzah. When I told the family that I wouldn’t be able to play under these circumstances, the young people got upset while the grandparents tried to make it work by putting up a makeshift curtain, but I had a feeling it would come down when the music started. I brought my instrument and sound equipment into the hall, but when I tried to turn on the keyboard, it didn’t work. I realized that the freezing temperatures had affected the wiring. “What can I do? My keyboard is broken. You can use all the rest of my equipment, but we need to find a replacement keyboard player,” I told them. That was the first and last time my keyboard suddenly went kaput from the cold.

MY FAVORITE SET

I love to play the 6/8 beat and I always do a couple of those songs, songs like "Odcha," "Shema H-ashem," and "Ani Maamin" from MBD (not sure if it's the 70s and 80s). These are the songs I grew up with, and as soon as we start to play them, everyone from that age group turns around to the band to enjoy them.

AN ENDURING DANCE SONG

In the first dance, right after “Od Yishama” and “Yasis,” the bands are still playing “Ahalelah,” as we have for years, and it still gets everyone into it. As I slow the tempo, everyone starts jumping up and down, and the song is as leibedig today as when it had just come out.

A GOOD CHOICE TO OPEN A KUMZITZ

Eitan Katz’s “Ki Karov” gets the vibe going. The high part brings everyone into the circle.

MY FAVORITE LECHA DODI

There is a Breslov tune I love — when I hear it I can imagine the Arizal welcoming Shabbos on the hilltops of Tzfas, although when I’m davening in public, I usually use something more current.

ENGLISH LYRICS THAT ARE ALWAYS SPECIAL

“Maybe all You want from me is a broken heart / Maybe nothing’s as complete as a broken heart….” Those lines from Chayale Neuhaus’s song “Broken Heart” might be some of the best lines in English Jewish music. Also "so many happy days... singing, dancing, laughing," which speaks about the euphoric joy we'll feel when Mashiach comes. It always puts me in a great mood.

AN ALBUM I’D TAKE ON A LONG ROAD TRIP

MBD’s The Double Album. Every song there is iconic, from “Samcheim” to “Vehaarev Nah” to “Od Yeishvu” to “Neshomele.” And I’m not just saying this — I have actually taken The Double Album along in the car. I’m a big MBD fan.

AN ALBUM THAT BROKE NEW GROUND 

MBD’s Tomid B’simcha took the music to a new level. That was the first time I heard Mona Rosenblum’s arrangements, and they were out of the box, blowing us away. They are unmatched.

A ZEMER I NEVER SKIP ON FRIDAY NIGHT

The classic “Kol Mekadeish Shevii” always comes around when we serve the soup, as it did when I was a child. It connects you to that Shabbos feel. Then I do “Menuchah Vesimchah” in one of the popular tunes, and after that I’ll just see where the meal takes me.

A SONG THAT NEVER GETS OLD

Many of the classic Carlebach niggunim, such as “Mimkomcha.” There is this timeless simplicity about them, the way the melodies are real music with neshamah, not just notes strung together.

A SONG THAT TAKES ME BACK TO A SPECIFIC TIME AND PLACE

I have a memory of a song playing on the record player when I was a tiny kid, maybe two years old. It started out with “Put your feesies together and let’s dance!” before launching into the wedding songs, and I remember the wave of joy I’d feel and how I played it over and over. I don't know which album this was; maybe a reader will recognize it and help me out.

A SONG WITH AMAZING ORIGINAL, VOCAL ARRANGEMENTS

“Daagah Minayin,” on The Double Album. Yossi Green’s composition, Yisroel Lamm’s music, and the vocal arrangements with MBD’s voice overdubbed were so new. Today, with digital technology, I could create that effect in my basement studio in five minutes, but back then, with analog recordings, it could only have been conceived by Yossi Green and executed by MBD. And it’s perfect.

A JEWISH MUSIC ARTIST I MOST CONNECT TO

Abie Rotenberg. From Dveykus to Journeys, I was always very connected to his music. I remember one summer when Abie spent a month in Camp Rayim, and I would hang out nearby to watch him record and ask a million questions. He was very kind and patient, and best of all, when I recently fulfilled my dream of playing with him and asked if he remembered me as a pesky kid — he didn’t.

A SONG THAT TAKES ME BACK TO MY YESHIVAH DAYS

I was in the Mir when “Shiru Lamelech” came out. It was revolutionary in its oompah beat, and it took the whole olam by storm. I was close to Rav Asher Arielli, and I was once eating a Shabbos seudah together with Rav Asher at the home of his mother-in-law, Rebbetzin Partzovitz, when he asked me to sing it at the meal. That tells you how big the song was — that even Rav Asher had heard it and wanted me to sing it.

A SONG THAT BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER

There is “Acheinu,” which I hadn’t played in 30 years, until it came back to life.

AN INSTRUMENT I WISH I COULD PLAY

Guitar. I do a lot of kumzitzes, and when you play piano at a kumzitz, it doesn’t feel as intimate and warm. I don’t think it would take me long to learn, but I have to find the time for it.

MY MOST MEANINGFUL EVENT

I recently played at the Chanukah mesibah of a mesivta here in Montreal. It began with 40 or 50 kids getting up to make a siyum on a masechta, after which everyone danced for three hours. Who dances for three hours? Only after a siyum like that, fueled by the joy of Torah. Those young bochurim, going out into this crazy world with their hats and jackets and sitting down and completing masechtos, they are our heroes. And the simchah of that night was the proof.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1050)