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Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE.
Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. The group's name is an amalgam of "rock" and "a cappella". Rockapella sings original vocal music and a cappella covers of pop and rock songs; and over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music toward a more R&B-style sound. Rockapella initially found their biggest success in Japan throughout their career. They are also known for their role as a vocal house band and resident comedy troupe on the PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, based on the educational computer game of the same name developed and published by Broderbund.
Eight Crazy Nights is a 2002 American adult animated Chanukah comedy film directed by Seth Kearsley and produced, co-written by and starring Adam Sandler in his first voice-acting role with the rest of the cast consisting of Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, and Rob Schneider. The film is animated in the style of television holiday specials and, unlike most mainstream holiday films, centers on Jewish characters during the Hanukkah season, as opposed to the Christian celebration of Christmas.
Hava Nagila is a Jewish folk song traditionally sung at Jewish celebrations.
Dayenu is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The word "dayenu" means approximately "it would have been enough", "it would have been sufficient", or "it would have sufficed". This traditional up-beat Passover song is over one thousand years old. The earliest full text of the song occurs in the first medieval haggadah, which is part of the ninth-century Seder Rav Amram. The song is about being grateful to God for all of the gifts he gave the Jewish people, such as taking them out of slavery, giving them the Torah and Shabbat, and had God only given one of the gifts, it would have still been enough. This is to show much greater appreciation for all of them as a whole. The song appears in the haggadah after the telling of the story of the exodus and just before the explanation of Passover, matzah, and the maror.
Hanukkah music contains several songs associated with the festival of Hanukkah.
Jeffrey Thomas Thacher is an American musician, best known as a member of the vocal group Rockapella. A professional vocal percussionist and singer who emerged on the early contemporary a cappella scene in 1991, Jeff Thacher co-founded the Boston-based a cappella group Five O'Clock Shadow that year and went on to join Rockapella in 1993 as their full-time mouth-drummer. Thacher was a 1990 graduate of Berklee College Of Music's Music Production & Engineering program, and afterward spent several years in television & radio production when not performing
Todrick Hall is an American singer, songwriter, choreographer, and YouTuber. He gained national attention on the ninth season of the televised singing competition American Idol. Following this, he amassed a huge following on YouTube with viral videos including original songs, parodies, and skits. He aspires to be a role model for LGBTQ and people of color. A documentary series about his video-making process titled Todrick aired on MTV in 2015.
The White House Hanukkah Party is an annual reception held at the White House and hosted by the U.S. President and First Lady to recognize and celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The tradition was established in 2001, during the administration of George W. Bush. The guest list includes hundreds of American Jewish politicians, organization heads, and school and yeshiva deans.
"Candlelight" is a song by the band The Maccabeats that was released in November 2010. It achieved viral status. The song is a transformation of Mike Tompkins's a cappella cover of the Taio Cruz song "Dynamite". The Maccabeats are an all-male Jewish a cappella student group at Yeshiva University.
The Maccabeats are an American Orthodox Jewish all-male a cappella group. Founded in 2007 at Yeshiva University, Manhattan, New York, the 14-member group specializes in covers and parodies of contemporary hits using Jewish-themed lyrics. Their breakout 2010 Hanukkah music video for "Candlelight", a parody of Mike Tompkins' a cappella music video for Taio Cruz's "Dynamite", logged more than two million hits in its first ten days; the video has been viewed more than 16 million times as of 2022. They have recorded three albums and one EP, and frequently release music videos in conjunction with Jewish holidays. They tour worldwide and have performed at the White House and the Knesset.
BYU Noteworthy is a nine-member, female Brigham Young University (BYU) a cappella group, based in Provo, Utah, United States. They won 1st place at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) in 2007 and appeared on the first season of NBC's a cappella competition reality show The Sing-Off in 2009. Esther Yoder formed the group in 2003, aided by members of BYU's Vocal Point. Noteworthy began operating under the direction of the Performing Arts Management (PAM) at BYU in 2014. One of their most popular music videos is a cover of Amazing Grace, which won the Contemporary A Cappella Society (CARA) award for Best Religious Video and has garnered millions of views on YouTube since its release. Noteworthy has released six albums since its formation in 2003. In 2018, Noteworthy performed "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" for a Mormon Message for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Pentatonix is an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, currently consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, and Matt Sallee. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, basslines, riffing, percussion, and beatboxing, they produce cover versions of modern pop works or Christmas songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with original material. Pentatonix formed in 2011 and subsequently won the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. When Sony's Epic Records dropped the group after The Sing-Off, the group formed its YouTube channel, distributing its music through Madison Gate Records, a label owned by Sony Pictures. Their YouTube channel currently has over 19 million subscribers and 5 billion views. The group's video tribute to Daft Punk had received more than 358 million views as of November 20, 2021.
"Some Nights" is a song by American indie pop band Fun. It was released on June 4, 2012, as the second single from their second studio album of the same name. The song was written by Jeff Bhasker, Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, and Jack Antonoff. Musically "Some Nights" is an indie pop song with elements of power pop and progressive pop while the lyrics depict the protagonist having an existential crisis.
Mike Tompkins is a Canadian musician from Ilderton, Ontario. He primarily records acapella covers and original songs, using only his mouth and voice. He has been partnered with Maker Studios, but is now an independent artist. He has been featured on both the Today Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Orthodox pop, sometimes called Hasidic pop, Hasidic rock, Haredi pop, and Ortho-pop, is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music popular among Orthodox Jews. It typically draws stylistically from contemporary genres like pop, rock, jazz, and dance music, while incorporating text from Jewish prayer, Torah, and Talmud as well as traditional Jewish songs and occasional original English lyrics with themes of faith and positivity. The genre was pioneered in the 1970s by artists like Mordechai Ben David and the Miami Boys Choir, who incorporated secular pop and dance influences into their music in contrast to the more traditional Jewish music of the time, and has had continued success in the modern era with singers like Yaakov Shwekey, Lipa Schmeltzer, Baruch Levine, and Benny Friedman.
"Minyan Man" is a song composed by Victor Shine, also known as the man who found Yosef Shapiro. It tells the fictional story of a traveling Jewish businessman who is looking for a minyan for Shabbat in the small Jewish community of Mobile, Alabama, and serves as the tenth man for a group of nine Jews. The song was popularized as a pop ballad by Lenny Solomon of Shlock Rock in 1987. In 2015, Solomon recorded an a cappella version with The Maccabeats. Two music videos have been produced.
Rogers Park is an American Hasidic folk rock duo from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 2011 by childhood friends Yosef Peysin and Mordy Kurtz, the group is named after the Chicago neighborhood where they grew up. Their debut album, The Maggid, was released on January 19, 2016.
A Hanukkah film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Films in this style traditionally incorporate the religious aspects of Hanukkah, such as lighting the menorah and the story of the Maccabees, as well as the cultural aspects of Hanukkah, such as spinning dreidels, or eating traditional foods such as latkes, sufganiyot, or gelt. Films in this genre are typically similar to comedy and romantic comedy films in content, however some are similar in style to action, drama, and animated films, among other genres. Hanukkah films are more commonly produced in the United States, however, they are also produced in other countries such as Israel.
Six13 is a New York-based Jewish all-male a cappella singing group. Formed in 2003, the six-voice group is known for parodying contemporary pop songs by adding Jewish themes and lyrics. It also sings cover versions of pop hits and Yiddish and Israeli classics, and produces original compositions based on traditional Jewish prayers. Relying solely on vocals, the group achieves the effects of guitar, bass, drums, and electronic music through beatboxing and multiple layering of vocal tracks on its music videos. The group performs regularly for universities, synagogues, public and private groups, and in music festivals. It has released eight albums and won numerous awards.
References
- ↑ "Stand Four- Shedding Light on the Break Off". The Observer. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ↑ "Former Maccabeats Launch New Group "StandFour" And Hanukkah Song "Eight Nights"". All Jewish Digital. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ↑ "StandFour - Eight Nights - Hanukkah Mashup". YouTube. Retrieved 9 November 2019.