With so many stories about enmity between Jews and African Americans, it’s worth remembering that for a brief shining moment, the two were the closest of allies.
The bond made sense during the Civil Rights era, considering both blacks and Jews claim ownership to the phrase avadim hayinu — meaning we were slaves — which Jews intone around the seder table.
Maybe that’s what makes the CD “Let My People Go” so enjoyable. The CD may be somewhat flawed in its pacing and execution, but there’s plenty of heart to make up for it.
Performed by Woodstock, N.Y., natives Kim and Reggie Harris, Rabbi Jonathan Kligler and special guests like Pete Seeger, the CD blends the new, the old and the very old. Classics from the folk scene and Civil Rights era are interwoven with familiar melodies from the Haggadah.
It’s a soundtrack for that seder you always wanted to host for your black friends, liberal friends and ’60s burnout friends.
Much of the music is first rate, especially songs on the African American side of the equation.
“In the Mississippi River” and “Freedom Road” capture the rough-hewn beauty of “Negro spirituals,” many of which drew on the Israelites’ Exodus story to express the pain of slavery and the hope for redemption.
Hebrew language songs like “B’chol Dor Va’Dor,” “Ilu Finu” and “Mah Lecha Ha’Yam” are performed with folk-flavored charm, but black soul tends to trump Jewish kavanah here. Still, the CD’s acoustic-flavored arrangements play down any cultural divide.
One highlight has to be the reworking of Phil Ochs’ “What’s That I Hear.” Not only is it a superb performance, it serves to remind listeners of the remarkable legacy of Ochs, an undersung hero of the ’60s folk-rock scene.
The Harris/Kligler team overreach when they set to music the Emma Lazarus sonnet “The New Colossus” (inscribed on the Statue of Liberty) and by including spoken word tracks like seven minutes of Rabbi Arthur Waskow recalling the 1964 Democratic convention.
It’s almost as if the creators kept in every fully baked and half-baked idea they had while brainstorming the CD. At 18 tracks, “Let My People Go” is made too long by the inclusion of those spoken-word reminiscences. In addition to Waskow, the CD has Seeger weighing in on the origins of the anthem “We Shall Overcome” and Sonny Ochs
Still, the CD delivers on tunes like the Springsteenesque “I Won’t Turn Back” and “I Have a Million Nightingales,” which was co-composed by San Leandro-based Cantor Linda Hirschhorn.
And even after all these years, “We Shall Overcome” remains an astonishingly moving song.
Kligler and the Harris team may come from very different ethnic and racial backgrounds, but they became close friends. They teach us something about finding common ground and sharing cultural experiences. They’d make great company at any seder, as would their CD.
Next year in Woodstock.
“Let My People Go: A Jewish & African American Celebration of Freedom” is available from Appleseed Recordings for $15. Information: appleseedrec.com.