This year, we were excited to partner with Suzanne Portello on creating a special aired on the first night of Hanukkah. From Suzanne’s first note to us:
I was wrapping Hanukkah presents early this morning to mail to Calif. (as is my custom), and I put on a mix of five of Will’s music CDs to get me in the mood (as is also my custom). As I was listening and wrapping, I realized this was a GREAT mix(!) and thought I wish there was some way I could share this with other Sitkans. These are the five CDs (which range, loosely speaking, from the sacred to the profane):
- Yankele (Chansons Yiddish) with Moshe Leiser (chant et guitar), Ami Flammer (violon), and Gerard Barreaux (accordeon) by Opus 111 Productions 1994, Paris, France
- Klezmer Music (Early Yiddish Instrumental Music 1908-1927), 1997 by Arhoolie Productions, Inc.
- Dave Tarras, Father of Yiddish-American Klezmer Music (1925-1956), 1991, by Henry Sapoznik (a project of the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the Vivo Institute for Jewish Research, NY, NY)
- The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra 60th Anniversary Gala Concert (recorded live in Tel Aviv 12/26/96), featuring, alphabetically, Daniel Barenboim, Menahem Breuer, Zubin Mehta, Shlomo Mintz, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shsham, Isaac Stern, Maxim Vengerov, Pinchas Zukerman (CD, 1997, 2 discs, although I only used the first one in the mix)
- Now That Sounds Kosher – “a collection of novelty songs which milk the Jewish-American experience for melodic laughter, with the artists ranging from…Mickey Katz, Allan Sherman, Weird Al Yankovic, Kinky Friedman’s scabrous “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” Mel Brooks’ epic “The Inquisition” (from his movie The History of the World, Part I), Rabbi Joe Black’s twangy take on “The Dreidel Song” and Steve Kurland’s “Famous Jews” Release Year: 2005, Shout Records
