A poster at MoC has gotten all hot and bothered by a new recording, to a dance beat, of Shlomo Carlebach’s Niggun Neshama. I commented:

I think you may be overreacting. Rav Shlomo, in his capacity as a composer, was an artist. I am sure he would understand, and maybe even be in favor of, other arists borrowing and using his niggunim, and reimagining them in their own artistic. The idea of one artist being inspired by another is as old as art itself. To say that just because the beat is more modern makes the music bad just shows a bias against modern music. However, many people enjoy and ar touched by it. Another Jew is singing a Rav Shlomo niggun is not a bad thing. Oh, and I think kishke was referring to having women sing on his albums. And if this recording of Niggun Neshama bothers you, does the one that Neshama Carleback put out bother you? Are Rav Shlomo songs and niggunim so holy that no other artist may touch them? Come on, don’t be ridiculous! Or is it only that artists that you approve of, and whose music you like, that can sing the holy, holy niggunim?

And he responded:

I think you both misunderstand Carlebach. He would not have had any problem with Neshama doing his niggun because she interpreted it the way he intended it. Same with Shlomo Katz’s version. The Ohad techno-disco-trash version that I blogged about earlier and this horrible version with its prust and silly dance moves is another story. Shlomo did not like when people sung his songs incorrectly (which they often did (and still do)). I suggest that he would not have liked this garbage at all from a musical and esthetic perspective. It’s simply crap.

(Notice that he didn’t really address my argument of his approval of who can sing Carlebach. He just reiterated that he thinks techno beats are crappy.)

I don’t understand it. Personal feelings of Reb Shlomo himself, and whether he was holy man, completely aside (I really don’t want to get into it), why is there such an insistence that his music itself is holy? Is there such a concept to holiness of music? I’m conflicted.

On the one hand, music is nothing more than a compilation of notes. However, in the same way that I compilation of letters and words can make a writing holy, perhaps there is a certain way that a compilation of notes and bars can make music holy? But then what is that formula? Does it have to emanate from a holy person? Or maybe a talented musician, who can touch your soul, even if he doesn’t think you have one?

I don’t know, but my feeling is inclined that there is no holiness to any music. Music is a highly, highly personal experience. And if each person can experience the emotional connection to a different piece of music, how can it be universally holy? If Carlebach’s music is holy, does that mean Chaim Dovid’s music is holy? Does that mean Shalshelet’s music is holy? What about Yehoram Gaon? And then why not Andrea Bocelli’s? See where I’m going?

Further, I think it is dangerous to ascribe holiness to a tune (like I’ve written before). If there is any holiness to music, it is because of the words that gets you to sing. When I was in Yeshiva, I once had a conversation with a couple of friends who were visiting. I was saying how I was getting really, really fed up with the repetition of certain songs. They responded that if the boys sang “V’Yed’u, V’Yed’u, V’Yed’u, ki atah shimcha hashem…elyon al kol ha’aretz” over and over, maybe the very idea that hashem is elyon would sink in. They would start to realize. I was skeptical at the time (I knew some of those guys…) but I think the idea has merit. But the song isn’t holy because of the annoying tune it’s put to, or the annoying chasidish accent people insist on singing it in (no, it’s holy because of the Dance that goes with it…duh!). What makes the song holy (if anything) are the holy words that we repeat over and over. There’s a reason we say “Hashem huh Ha’Elokim” seven times at the close of ne’ilah, and why it’s the stirring climax. Repetition reinforces the idea. But the music is simply the vessel to carry the words.

So why the insistence on an almost cult-like adherence to Reb Shlomo’s holy, holy niggunim? So much so, that when a modern artist is inspired to add his own soul to the beautiful tune, to add his own flavor to mix, it inspires such vitriol? To suggest that there’s a “right way” to sing Carlebach is simply absurd! The very point of a Niggun Neshama, a “Song of the Soul” is to let your soul express the song however it can.

I think it’s misguided. Certainly, there are people who love and are inspired by Reb Shlomo’s music. And there are certainly some pieces that I absolutely love and feel inspired by (including niggun neshama). But to canonize the way Reb Shlomo did it as some untouchable piece of our mesorah is to focus the attention of our mesorah in the wrong place.