If you’ve had a chance to walk into a frum or even charedi wedding in the last couple of years, chances are that during dancing you felt like you were in a club. The beats, the music often sound like club music.
There’s been a trend in Jewish music in the last few years to have more and more electronic music. Keyboardists use beats which sound like dance and trance music. This is what the young people are asking for, they say. But I think there’s a problem with this trend.
As I always like to say: Music has power. Music can influence people. And listening to certain styles of music can have an impact on the listeners. Music can easily manipulate the listener’s mood. When one listens, for example, to melancholy music, he’ll start to feel sad – even if he wasn’t in a sad mood before. On the other hand, happy music can get us into a happy mood. Music has the power to transform our moods and even manipulate us. That’s why in almost every movie, there’s always music in the background.
Dance and trance music are genres that developed in the late 80s and 90s mostly for clubs, beach parties, rave parties, festivals, and trance parties. Most of these festivals, raves, and beach parties are associated with drug consumption. Often these parties are called LSD parties.
EDM – electronic dance music – is a genre that gained popularity because of the rise of club culture. Trance emerged from the rave scene and was developed mostly in Western Europe such as Germany and the UK. Trance is a genre of EDM. After a few years of dominating the club scene in Germany, trance music spread to the rest of Europe, where it remained the leading sound in the club scene for about a decade.
This trend also influenced our Jewish musicians. OMB, which stands for one-man band, often refers to a keyboardist who sounds like a whole band. Modern arrangers’ keyboards offer beats and styles that sound like a real band. The keyboardist plays the chords with the left hand, and with the right hand he can play sounds that sound like real instruments such as clarinet, saxophone, brass, piano, flute, etc. One of the popular keyboard models in chasidic weddings is the Tyros 5. Tyros 5 offers many built-in beats and can also create custom beats. The dance beats on the Tyros 5 are very dance- and trance-style. Some blame the Tyros 5 for starting this trend. But obviously it’s not only the Tyros 5. Many other models by companies such as Korg and Roland come with built-in styles and with the option to program custom styles. The bottom line is that keyboardists started to use more and more EDM and trance beats to accompany the singer.
Over the years, creating beats for different models became a whole industry. Programmers sell sets for prices that range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Today, you can’t really perform as a one-man band if you don’t have a good set on your keyboard, as the built-in styles that the keyboards come with are not high-quality enough to meet the demands of the market and often the sets that the programmers sell sound much better. And there’s an ongoing demand for more and more dance- and trance-style beats.
When I purchased a set for my keyboard, I purchased one that is more focused on “freilach” (traditional or classic Jewish) and rock style, with less electronic music. Yes, it comes with a few electronic beats, but I personally like to play more freilach and Jewish rock style. (I also think it sounds much nicer than all the dance- and trance- style beats.) Yes, sometimes I’ll use some electronic, dance, or even techno styles, but most of the time I’ll stick to the music I like to play.
But besides taste in music, I think there’s a bigger problem here. I once spoke with a keyboardist from Lakewood about this. He said that this is what the young people today want, this is what they ask for, and you must match yourself to the market demand. So I asked him: “How do these young frum people know about these genres? How do they know dance music?” “You know, it’s the cleaning lady,” he said jokingly. “They hear the music the cleaning lady puts on in the background…”
While he was joking, in every joke there’s some truth. And yes, he kind of agreed with me that this is not the most “Jewish” style. These music styles are more “goyish.” And here’s the big problem: Once people get exposed to these music styles, they start to get used to them. Yes, the lyrics might be in Hebrew, and even contain pesukim, but the music will sound like club music. And listening and getting used to such music can create a few negative consequences.
Music can generate curiosity. Once young people start to listen to this music often, they might start to look for the “original.” And if it sounds almost the same anyway, why not start listening here and there to more goyish music? After all, they think, we were just dancing to very similar music last week at a wedding.
Or even if people will not intentionally look to listen to such music, if they happen to hear it on the radio or elsewhere, it will sound familiar and they’ll want more.
More than this, we know that after college many young professionals move to New York, and in New York, I don’t need to tell you about the club and party scene.
A person who grew up on more “traditional” Jewish music will feel uncomfortable in clubs. Even if once or twice he joins his friends at a party, he might not like it. He might not connect to the music. He might feel strange. But if he already listens to and is used to this type of music at weddings or in yeshiva, he’ll just blend in and feel at home. And this is a slippery slope.
Now, I’m not naive, and before I got married I lived for a few years on the Upper West Side. And I still think that our youth should not be exposed to this type of music. I think the influence should start early at schools and yeshivos. When they hire an OMB (one-man band) or a DJ for an event, they should instruct him not to play dance- and trance-style music. Trust me, it’s easy. With a few button clicks, any good keyboardist can switch the style. A DJ can play very upbeat music which will still sound like Jewish music. Jewish music has a lot to offer. And if any DJ out there claims that without dance and electronic music the wedding will not be happy enough, please refer him to me.
I’m not rejecting electronic music completely, but it should not be the main event. It should not become mainstream music in frum communities. It should not become the new standard.
The change should come from the bottom, from the clients hiring the musicians. And in order that the clients will demand more Jewish music, the education system has to take a big part. I think rabbis and educators should encourage students not to have their weddings look and sound like a club in Manhattan. At many weddings, the first dance set will still be freilach-style, but then the next dance set will start to sound like a club. You can also see sometimes at the second dance set how the older family members, parents, and grandparents do not really find themselves. You can see they feel somewhat uncomfortable. And not because of the speed of the dancing, but because of the music style. Because of the beats.
Obviously the chatan and kallah’s friends’ role is to make the wedding as happy as possible, and it’s okay to dance and jump, etc. But you can also dance and jump to music that sounds more Jewish. Jewish music has a lot to offer, and traditional Jewish styles can be upbeat and happy, no less than dance and trance styles.
But it shouldn’t start just before the wedding. From an early age, yeshiva kids should learn about the influence of music and how it can have a negative or positive effect on our neshamos. Our youth need to understand the importance of music so that when they come to choose a keyboardist, band, or a DJ for their simcha, they’ll instruct him to play only or mostly music that sounds Jewish.
Yes, our music should sound different. Music has played a big part in Judaism. The Leviim used to sing in Beit HaMikdash. I’m sure their songs didn’t sound at all like dance and trance. Over the years, Admorim and big rabbis have composed songs and niggunim. We don’t need the goyim for music. Our music is rich enough. Our culture is rich. Playing more freilach-style music at weddings and parties shouldn’t be an embarrassment. On the other hand, playing trance- and dance-style music shouldn’t be “cool.”
Here’s another thing I’d like to bring up: Why is chazzanut not popular anymore? Why does it sound like something anachronistic, old-fashioned? Why do fewer and fewer synagogues hire a professional chazzan on a regular basis? It isn’t “cool” enough? But I guess that’s for another discussion.
Jewish music is not only the lyrics, it is the sound. The whole vibe. The atmosphere. We should not underestimate our music. It has so much to offer. From Avraham Fried, Mordechai Ben David, Dedi Graucher, z”l, and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, z”l to contemporary singers and bands, we do not need outside influence. Our music should be different. Jewish music.
