Israel National News: Baron Cohen Releases Hanukkah Album
Submitted by admin on Wed, 2009-08-05 14:24
Article Date:
Thu, 2008-12-11
(IsraelNN.com) "When I was a child I remember my parents used to play an old Hanukkah record with school children singing out of tune and a bad piano player." says Erran Baron Cohen. Now, the musician known for his "world beat fusion" music has released a Hanukkah album that can be enjoyed by children as well as hipsters.
Songs in The Key of Hanukkah is a compilation album features musicians from the funky rapper Y-Love to the world-beat feel of Yasmin Levy and Idan Reichel to new folk acoustic versions of Rock of Ages. Baron Cohen, whose brother is the star of the hit movie Borat, spoke with Israel National Radio's Ben Bresky about Hanukkah, recording in Germany and cool Jewish music.
Question: Tell us about the new album.
Answer: It's aimed at adult audience but kids also love it. Half of the album is reworked, updated Hanukkah classics like Dreidel, Hanukkah O Hanukkah and Sivivon, and half are new original tracks written especially for the album. We were very lucky to work with some great artists including Idan Reichel and Yasmin Levy. In New York we worked with Y-Love who is a Black Jewish Hasidic rapper. In London I worked with my friend, the great singer Jules Brookes and Avivit Caspi who is also sings with my band Zohar.
Question: What is the Idan Reichel track Relics of Love and Light about?
Answer: It's quite an emotional track with the theme of light. I recorded it in Tel Aviv this summer. Avivit Caspi sings on it as well. She's Israeli and she sang the Israeli national anthem at Wembley Station when Israel played there.
Question: How did you start the band Zohar and get involved in Jewish music?
Answer: Zohar started when I was writing music for a play that my friends were showing in London. It had some Jewish themes and identity in it. I basically fused Hazanut with middle eastern beats and electronic texture. It got really good reception including being a bit of a hit in Israel. Later on, I got on the Buddha Bar compilation album from this French club in Paris. It was quite a big album at the time. We had two international album on Miles Copeland's label. We toured around the world which was good fun. In terms of music, I've always been doing music since I was a kid being in bands.
