Jewish Music

For the purposes of this assignment, I looked at the compilation album, Bojac, The Best of Jewish A Cappella.

The first thing I notice about the CD is the album cover which has uses a Hebrew-like typography for the phrase "Bojac" and microphones that make up a star of David. You don't even have to listen to the CD and you are already faced with Jewish imagery. I'd like to quote the CD's booklet, if I may.

"Historically, a cappelle means 'in the style of the chapel.' How appropriate, since the roots of Jewish vocal music might be traced from our tradition of singing informally in the synagogue and around the Shabbat table, all the way back to the first gig on record, Miriam's Red Sea Crossing celebration (a.k.a. the original 'Matzoh Ball)"

This quote is very interesting because of its explanation as to why a cappella can be considered "Jewish", at least for the purposes of this album. The pamphlet goes on to describe Jewish a cappella as its own culture.

The songs in the CD range from English, Hebrew to Yiddish; so we have Jewish identity wrapped around the languages Hebrew and Yiddish. Next, some songs are religious prayers so we come to the notion that Jewish identity is about one's religion. Naturally, as one would expect, we have songs about Israel. Do I even need to explain this one?

Additionally, the CD takes a moment to thank its sponsers, all of which are Jewish organizations ranging from Hillel Foundation, the Sameach Music Staff (Company specializing in Jewish music), independant Jewish bookstores.