By Aaron Symonds
Far too often, the religious element
of Jewish pop music seems to come at the price of unoriginality and
low production values. So it
was with some trepidation that I started listening to Banjo Billy, the
11 track debut album by Pinchas Spicer, who wrote the music
and lyrics, plays the banjo on and produced all the songs on this album,
recorded recently in Tsfat Israel. I'm happy to say that five
seconds into the first track my fears proved to be groundless.
With a substantial backing band of eight highly polished musicians,
the songs practically jump off the CD with energy and
excitement. The musical style of the album is firmly in the American
folk music genre, clearly delineated by th line-up of banjo,
harmonica, mandolin, guitars, clarinet, violin, bass, keyboards and
percussion.
The themes of the songs are very personal, reflecting the trials and
tribulations Pinchas faced on his journey to becoming an
observant Jew. The first two tracks, "Banjo Billy" and "
soul Searching , introduce us to his growing awareness that there's
more to
life as he sets out on his spiritual journey. Several of the other songs
- "I'm a Car", "Sweet Gifts", "Do You Mind?",
and "Right
before Our Eyes"- explore his relationship to G-d and his place
in the world.
However, despite the serious nature of the journey, throughout the album
Pinchas maintains an upbeat attitude, always looking on
the wacky side of life. Topics such as making Aliya ("Lech Lecha"),
starting to keep kosher ("Kosher Boy") and becoming
observant ("One More Mitzvah") all provide humorous fodder
for his catchy banjo-backed melodies.
While most of the album is in English, with the occasional Hebrew word
and "yeeee-ha" exclamation sprinkled in for good measure,
the last song ("T'kah B"Shofar") is entirely in Hebrew,
based on a common prayer, It would be interesting to hear Pinchas come
up
with original lyrics in Hebrew for his next album which had better not
be too far behind
Aaron Symonds writes for the Newtown Synagogue.
