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t was almost like pressing Play in a time machine,” says producer Naftali Schnitzler of the track “Ki Yaakov” on the new Fingerprint  album — a project of top-tier chassidic performers singing a variety of upbeat and inspiring songs composed by newcomer Sruly Bodansky. Although “Ki Yaakov” was composed by Bodansky and is sung by Benny Friedman, the musical arrangements written by Moshe Laufer take the sound back a couple of decades. According to Schnitzler, Laufer’s arrangements are a distinct throwback to the songs on the first two Shwekey albums from 2001 and 2002, Shomati and Shwekey Volume 2, which were both arranged by Laufer.

“People who are now in their early thirties came of age with ‘early Shwekey,’ and will recognize the nostalgic musical style,” says Schnitzler. The new song “Ki Yaakov” has a 6/8 time signature and upbeat progression similar to “Hinei Yamim Ba’im,” “Ranenu Tzaddikim,” and other Shwekey classics from those first vintage albums.

There is another similarity too. Back in 2001, when Shomati was released, music for each track was usually recorded in one session, with all the musicians present and playing in one studio. “Today, that’s unusual,” Schnitzler says. “Very few producers still record that way; most record each musician separately and then combine the tracks. For this song, I wanted to go back, to get everyone playing together. It’s a totally different energy.”

One name that will be familiar to long-time listeners is drummer Ron Vered. Vered dominated the Jewish drumming world until about 12 years ago, when he decided to leave the profession altogether and become a policeman. “But I specifically wanted Vered’s musical style,” says Schnitzler, who brought Vered out of retirement for the Fingerprint project. “He’s a drummer who actually plays the melody instead of just banging it out. We hired him to come to the studio in Ramat Gan and when the musicians started playing together, it brought me back 20 years.”

The old-new songs on Fingerprint were all composed by Sruly Bodansky from Williamsburg, a new name on the chassidic music scene — or rather off the scene, as he doesn’t work in music at all, but composes songs as a hobby. These niggunim were inspired by various phrases from tefillos and Selichos.

Other featured singers and arrangers who contributed to the project are Benny Friedman, Shmueli Ungar, Isaac Honig, Shloime Daskal, Menachem Moskowitz, Beri Weber, Zanvil Weinberger, Mendy Weiss, Dovy Meisels, Mendi Hershkowitz, Avrumi Berko, Yumi Lowy, Yesoschor Guttman, and Lipa Schmeltzer — all of whom have worked to put together an album both heimish and contemporary.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 776)

Rabbi Yosef Kanofsky
Director of government programs for OU Advocacy

I would say, “The Little Bird Is Calling.” That was the first real camp song that I heard in the mountains at my yeshivah’s summer program, Camp Hadar HaTorah. Also, “It Happened Yom Kippur” [on Tzlil V’Zemer’s Wake Up Yidden together with Camp Gan Yisrael, to the tune of the Shabbos “Tzamah Nafshi”] is an old-time camp classic that moves the heart in a way that only an English camp song can.

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 773)

Meir Simcha Rubashkin
Son of Sholom Mordechai and activist for his freedom

The Chabad niggun “Tzamah Lecha Nafshi,” the slow version, as recorded at the Rebbe’s farbrengen where it was sung by both the Rebbe and the chassidim, almost like a duet. This song was played in Camp Gan Yisroel every day as part of the “reveille” track in the morning. It’s a niggun that is both contemplative and uplifting and it always set a great tone and put us in the right frame of mind to have an accomplished day filled with both learning/avodah and fun.

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 773)

Ruchi Koval

Jewish Family Experience, Cleveland

Growing up, I went to Camp Bnos for nine summers, so for me summer songs always come back to Dina Storch. Her cantatas, written with Shonnie Perr, haunted me in the best and deepest
place in my heart. “There’s a Place in My Mind” made me cry every time I heard it. As a child I tried to hide my tears from the other girls in the “casino” during the Nine Days. Now I know better and cry freely when I hear the powerful and soulful words of Dina Storch.

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 773)

Dina Storch
Songwriter

Avraham Fried singing “Hear it in the mountain’s echo, in the ocean’s roar,” from the song “Hashem’s the World” on his All the Best album — and originally on Suki and Ding’s Torah.
Last summer my granddaughter and I took the scenic back route up to camp and suddenly this song came up. We sang along as we raced up and down hills. The memories that flooded my mind at that moment were of the joys of breathing in the summer mountain air since I was a baby.

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 773)