When did Jewish music become synonymous with cheesy, groove-less and boring?
If someone who was used to attending Jewish weddings in Toronto were to go to Israel with the goal of crashing 20 weddings that person could hear 20 different bands, each one playing a different style of music, and each one rocking a serious fantastical groove.
One night you could hear a bluegrass band, another night you could hear middle eastern music, and on another evening you could be dancing to reggae all night long. And each of those bands would be playing Jewish music infused with all these exciting styles.
So where did this Toronto horah sound come from? I don’t know why but all the bands here play the same square songs and they all play them the same way… WHY!!!. It’s so boring.
The strange part is that they are all really good bands that play pop music with lots of groove and soul, but as soon as it’s time to play Jewish music they think they have to sound boring to sound Jewish. As soon as it’s horah time they start playing choppy, bumpy and square. It makes you envision a 90 year old man rolling around in his wheel chair at Baycrest (no offence Zaidy).
So when you’re planning your live Jewish wedding music here in Toronto, remember that the horah set doesn’t have to be the short painful thing that you have to get out of the way. It can actually be the highlight of the party. As an example, check this video out:
