Return to Your sanctuary and to the Holy of Holies, the place where souls and spirits will gather, and they will sing songs and praises to You, in Jerusalem, the beautiful city. [From the "O, Master of the Universe" Sabbath evening meal hymn]As much as I love Chicago, it isn't the most beautiful city in the world. Jerusalem is.למקדשך תוב ולקדש קדשין, אתר די בה יחדון רוחין ונפשין, ויזמרון לך שירין ורחשין, בירושלם קרתא דשופריא. [מהזמר "י-ה רבון" בסדר ליל שבת]א
I feel like this song doesn't need that much of a spotlight, since it does a pretty good job of explaining itself (Aramaic much?). It's about singing the most beautiful songs ever in the most beautiful city ever. Or to the most beautiful city ever. The theme is beauty, so anyone who has ever been surrounded entirely by beauty knows that it's the most trippy feeling achievable. I know that that's the feeling I get each time I visit the Old City. My old friend Tamar Fox once described it more poetically than I ever could on Jewcy.com's FaithHacker blog. I guess this track is an attempt at recreating that. Not that it's subjective at all, or anything.
When I wrote this tune, it was with the concept of 'returning' in mind, hence the repetitive niggun motif. I also wanted to introduce the tune as niggunim have traditionally been introduced, as some friends reminded me, which is that first one person would compose the melody and then others would join in. Later the song would catch on and become a staple at services and in Jewish homes throughout the world (...mmwa-ha-ha-HA!). As Jewish pop goes, this one is pretty adventurous, which is a feeling I'm starting to get used to, I guess.
"Beautiful City" is now available to the public as of yesterday, and it's Stereo Sinai's trippy tribute to the most beautiful city. (For positive reinforcement, our friend Matthue Roth wrote an awesome poem on Jerusalem for Israel's 60th anniversary).
Sorry, Chicago. You're a close second, though.
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