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Showing posts with label Shir Hamaalos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shir Hamaalos. Show all posts

Monday, December 29, 2008

The Yekkishe Shir Hamaalos

German Jews have a very beautiful melody for Shir Hamaalos Ashrei Kol Ye’rei Hashem, (Tehillim 128) which they sing every Mowtsei Shabbose (sic) and at weddings. To get a Yekke’s attention, just hum a bar from this song and it will stop him in his tracks.

Here are four renditions.

(By the way, if you have a Yekke listen to one of these with you, he or she will inevitably comment "Not exactly....)


I
This clip is by Cantor Malovany.This and other recordings are available for purchase.


II
(This one is by Cantor Lawrence Eliezer Kepecs. Double-click on the second song on the list.)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vZJx8J0q2Lk?start=330" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>


III
(This one is by the KAJ Choir. It is done without accompaniment, by non-professionals, but it will bring a tear to your eye anyway.
http://www.divshare.com/download/7363409-503
It is also on TorahMedia, which requires that you sign up for a free listening membership.) http://www.torahmedia.com/filelink.php?sid=91md4uoyveoyu54&cid=&fid=23769&bw=high&lnk=d


IV
Here is the KAJ choir again, even better.


V
(This one is of a young man at a friend's wedding.)

For the benefit of friends and bands that have to sing this at a wedding, and are desperately searching the net for samples, this is also called Shir Hama'alot or Hama'alos, and it is sung


VI.

Thank you very much to an anonymous contributor, who directed us to the original score by Israel Meir Japhet.  It can be found here (at the Harvard Library.)  Click on 'how to read'. Click "read on your browser". When the document appears, our contributor says you should put 120 into the page search box on the bottom right.  On my browser, I don't get a search box on the bottom.  There's a line across the bottom with a circle on the line, and you slide the circle along the line until it says page 120, which will then appear above the line.

Or here, (at th) on page 144 according to the sliding marker on the right side, which corresponds to page 126 in the song book.  But you will have to download the entire book to see that page.