27 Oct Remembering R’ Shlomo Carlebach ZT”L On His 26th Yahrtzeit: Q&A With the Legend, Yisroel Lamm
FAST FACTS:
Name: Yisroel Lamm
Title: Conductor and Arranger
Currently Works For: Aaron Teitelbaum’s Orchestra
Years in the Jewish Music Business: Over 50 years
Number of albums arranged: Definitely in the hundreds
Instruments played: The trumpet, but can play every instrument at a very basic level
How did you get into the Jewish Music business?
I went to Camp Agudah where I met Sruli Teitelbaum, who played the trumpet. It was preCovid days and he let people try it. I tried it and I had a liking for it. By the time the summer was over, I was able to play it on a very basic level. I thought that was it. After that I went to my grandfather who owned a farm in Connecticut. I went into the towel closet and I saw a trumpet! I asked him “What’s this trumpet doing here?” I took it as a message from the Aibishter that I should be playing trumpet. So I took that trumpet and I played it throughout the years. Eventually I got my own trumpet and I started taking lessons. I always enjoyed music and I tried to figure out how to make a hobby and parnassah come together. One of my early projects was with the London School of Jewish Song in 1973. It was done with Isaac Gross who ran Neginah Orchestra, of which my brother Yitzchak was a member, as well as Yigal Calek and his choir. In those early days, I also had the privilege to work in Camp Sdei Chemed with Rav Baruch Chait & Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum A’H, who were certainly two of the pioneers of the modern Jewish music industry. Eventually, I met Isaac Gross from Neginah who was just starting to put together his orchestra. My brother Yitzchok was a member of Neginah. He asked me to arrange an album for him and I told him that I really didn’t know anything about arranging. I thought it over, called him back and said, “I accept the challenge!” I went to the library, I read a lot of books about arranging, I started doing a lot of listening, and eventually I became an arranger. They both helped me with my first album.
For people that are not in the business, how would you define what an arranger is?
That’s a great question. When somebody composes a song, it’s just a skeleton. It needs harmony and an introduction, style and flavor. I like to think of it as a universe to live in: What does the song mean? How is it supposed to sound? What feeling is it supposed to give? That’s all part of what the arranger does. Besides preparing the song for the musicians to play, whether at a chasunah or a concert with a 20 piece orchestra, the idea is to get those 20 musicians who are all playing different instruments to play them together. The arranger puts his signature on it and gets everyone to play his particular sound.
Everyone knows that you composed (and arranged) the “A Time for Music” song intro. What other famous songs have you composed that people would know?
The other one that people go back to is V’nikesi that was on the Sdei Chemed album way back when. I composed it together with Eli Teitelbaum. He actually composed the first part and asked if I could compose the second part, which I did. Avraham Fried actually sang that as a boy on the Sdei Chemed album, one of his first solo albums as a little boy.
Can you tell everyone a story about “A Time for Music” HASC concert?
Was there a time or performance that stood out? Year 5 was, to me, one of the most incredible and meaningful years. The theme was “Showcase of the Masters.” They got different musicians, they got Yaron Gershovsky and the Piamentas and so on and so forth. These musicians were given the opportunity to get up in front of 3000 people at Lincoln Center and to show them what they could do. Some very special music came out of that year, so I think that was my most meaningful year. The HASC show raised the bar; it raised the level of Jewish music that we’re still feeling today. So that was the most special year to me.
Growing up, who did you look up to in the music industry?
I always loved classical music. Beethoven and Mozart were always my heroes. As far as contemporary music, I didn’t like rock and roll that much. I liked orchestral music more; Henry Mancini was one of my idols. Eventually, as time went on, I got into people like Paul Mauriat. As far as Jewish music is concerned, in those days the only person that was really doing much was R Bentzion Shenker zt”l and then eventually R’ Shlomo came along. These people were giants, even in a time when nothing was going on.
How has the music industry, especially the Jewish music industry, changed over the last fifty years in your opinion?
It’s become more techno leaning. I think in general the Jewish music industry started to copy what’s going on in the secular music industry and there’s some good and some bad in that. The good and bad is always relative; what some people like other people don’t like. In general, I think the Jewish music industry has advanced in a really positive direction, becoming more sophisticated and varied. There are a lot of people that really know what they’re doing and I think for the most part things are really going well.
What was the most moving moment in your career?
I have to be honest and say that, for me, it’s very simple to find that moment. It was when Sheya Mendelowitz convinced me to stand before sixteen orchestra members who were playing in the second HASC concert. Until that moment, I’d never conducted a live orchestra such as that. It was Sheya who told me, “You can do it.” And as I stood there, conducting those many musicians who sat there responding to my gestures — that was one of the greatest moments for me.
Do you prefer chassunas or concerts?
I love them both. It’s really a question of which kind of concert or which kind of chassuna. When it’s going well and there’s good music and a good atmosphere and a good audience, it really doesn’t matter. A musician wants a good audience and to make good music.
Although today’s wedding music is frequently about the latest and greatest hits, sometimes the band segues into a familiar intro as guests smile at the sound of a beloved classic. Which gracefully aged songs do you still love to perform at weddings?
The Alter Rebbe’s niggun “Arba Bavos,” played only at weddings and other specific occasions, is requested at some weddings, and is clearly one of the holiest of niggunim. Playing it is certainly an opportunity.
Do you still get nervous before a performance?
The short answer is yes. A big yes. I think all performers, if they’re answering honestly, will say yes. When you’re nervous, you’re really showing that you care how the performance comes off. Often you’re trying new things and you don’t know how it’s going to come off. Often people will say “Oh, you did this a thousand times already” but really, it’s not true. Every time you get up to perform, you are doing something new that you’ve never done before.
How has covid affected your business?
It definitely affected it in a not positive way. Concerts do not exist right now and chassunas are scaled back. The music industry was one of the hardest hit by covid. I’m looking forward to getting back.
This coming week is R’ Shlomo Carlebachs’s 26th yahrtzeit. What was your relationship like with R’ Shlomo?
I did a lot of backups at his concerts, especially in the early days. He didn’t go on stage with arrangements like most people do today. It was all very ad-libbed and loose. We got familiar with the way he did things and ended up doing a lot of his concerts. Eventually we did some concerts that were arranged. We did his first arranged concert, a Yom Kippur concert at Brooklyn College, and there were many other projects, recordings, and concerts that we did together.
Is there a specific R’ Shlomo story you can tell us?
This is a classic story. Sheya Mendlowitz and Mordechai Ben-David were walking in Manhattan. A black, homeless person approached them and said, “Do you know Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach?” They said “Yes, we know him well.” So he said to them, “Shlomo Carlebach is my favorite Rabbi because he always comes to me and tells me I’m his favorite homeless person.” I think that’s the essence of Shlomo. He always treated all of Hashem’s creations with respect. What was Rav Shlomo like when he wasn’t on stage? What type of person was he? When he was on stage, the whole thing was a performance. R’ Shlomo himself was a very down to earth yid and you could talk to him about anything! He was an amazing Talmid Chacham. I attended some of his shiurim and you would have thought that you were in the presence of a Rosh Yeshiva. He just loved every human being and that came through when you spoke to him.
Is there something about Rav Shlomo that you know that other people might not know?
R’ Shlomo’s music was both simple and complex at the same time. I think therein lies the secret of R’ Shlomo’s music. When someone’s singing it, they don’t realize that it’s actually deeper and more complex. I’ll give you an example. When the Camp HASC show started, Sheya Mendlowitz and I recorded something called the Philharmonic Experience. It was probably the first time a large symphony orchestra played an arrangement of Jewish Music and one of the pieces on that album was the Carlebach medley. I think it was the first time that Shlomo’s music was ever presented with a symphony orchestra. A certain gentleman, I won’t say his name, came over to me and said “That’s a very interesting thing you did with the R’ Shlomo Carlebach medley, but I think you’re making mountains out of molehills.” I said to him “That’s where I disagree with you. We think they were mountains to begin with.” That’s the sort of conflict people have in understanding Shlomo’s music and I think therein lies his greatness.
What’s the largest orchestra you’ve ever conducted?
It was 64 pieces at the HASC 18, thanks to Sheya Mendlowitz’s idea. It was the year after 9/11.
What is your favorite Rav Shlomo song?
Hisna’ari. I think he really hit the neshama with that song. There are notes that mamish come from shamayim. I know Rav Shlomo often complained that people said later he made more simple songs than at the beginning of his life. But really, they thought it was simple and it really wasn’t simple. Rav Shlomo was frustrated that they didn’t get the complexity.
Does it surprise you that many people look at Rav Shlomo as the Godol Hador in the Jewish music industry?
Modern, Yeshivish, Israeli, Syrian & Chassidisha singers all look up to him. Not just the gadol hador, he’s the gadol of this tkufah, of this whole time period. I think that’s exactly right. A Chasidishe Rebbe once heard a song and asked me “Who’s song is this?” I told him it was Rav Shlomo’s song. He said “Rav Shlomo?! I thought I knew all of his songs!” He crossed over to everybody and the reason is, as we said, his music touches the Neshama.
Is there anything else that you’d like to mention about R’ Shlomo?
People do great things because Hashem gives them the Kochos and the ability to do them. When a person makes the choice to do those great things with the kochos that the Aibishter gave them, you have to put that into perspective. Rav Shlomo did great things with music thanks to the abilities Hashem gave him, but I think a person should get the most credit for what kind of person he is. I think that’s where Rav Shlomo shone the most. He loved everyone and he cared for everyone. The thing that bothered him most was when people weren’t treated well. The neshama of that kind of person is very large. That is what I admired most about Rav Shlomo zt’l.