Jewish Music…An Aphrodisiac for Our Souls!
In olden times, there have been a lot of Jewish musicians and also in modern times. They have all provided us with different kinds of sounds such as the appealing traditional Jewish religious music which began in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Israel Zohar is one of these great musicians, whose music which is accompanied by the clarinet leaves a mark in the souls of those listening.
The first music found in Synagogues carried a lot of meaning and the choir in the temple had 12 male singers.
The figure 12 represented Israel’s 12 tribes and a number of various musical instruments. After the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem’s music was prohibited for some time. However, the Jewish people’s beliefs and strong tradition ensured that the music was not forgotten and the music lived on.
Development of Jewish Music
After the laws discouraging this music in Jerusalem were relaxed, the music was revived in the temple and it is performed there up to now. Another great aspect of Jewish temple music is that it had a great deal of flexibility.
Being flexible means that when Synagogues came up in different countries, they would retain some lines of the first temple music. However, they would also present new words to reflect the tradition of the State where the Temple was presently in.
This shows a very open approach which is moderate as well. It helped not just to keep traditional Jewish people pleased, but to also attract the youth who had more of the modern state’s tradition embedded in them.
Generally, religious Jewish music always attempted to meet the needs of different generations of Jewish people but always included a number of phrases from their book of prayer.
Today’s Jewish religious music contains a nice tradition of having a huge range of sounds such as classical, opera, jazz and blues.
Other Kinds of Jewish Music
Jewish music has greatly improved in terms of variety in the last 50 years. It has originated from all kinds of music presently available. This may be rock, jazz or pop.
Israeli musicians such as Israel Zohar have gained popularity because of their ability to slightly alter the music they perform and create a very unique musical sound.
In the 60’s, Jewish music sounded very liberal and had a great impact on the explosion of rock and pop originating from America and the UK. This trend has continued from the 70s with Jewish Music groups like Kavert, which is very popular for blending American kind of pop music and traditional Jewish music.
Jewish bands even blended music from a lot of the Middle Eastern States which was their neighbor. They had a very exclusive kind of oriental music which these clever Jewish musicians incorporated into their blend of musical sounds.
This Jewish music which had a Middle Eastern sound brought some element of Yemen, Morocco and Greece. Actually, this kind of music is played today also at clubs in Israel and night spots as well, which are very famous.
This arrival of immigrants has introduced some of the music from their countries as well as traditions which have assisted the country as well as its people to expand in their own tradition.
Conclusion
Jewish Music can be described as eclectic. This music contains richness in diversity and communicates with a lot of people even if they are not Jewish.
