Top Five (Top Six): Shir Aydah

Update: When I put out a poll a few weeks ago asking if anyone wanted to write an entry, I got a few people who responded yes. If you are actually interested, (even if you don't have a topic per say) let me know (email is the best way - yoni.h.silverman at gmail dot com) . Anyone K'11 and older can write if they want.


How do you win Shir Aydah?

I think the answer to this question depends on the musical talent[1] of the counselors or Kerem more so than for the other Zimriyah song categories. For an older aydah, the more complicated the song, the better the result. It is relatively easy for an aydah with musically knowledgeable members to reap the benefits of creating a great mash up[2]. I think these types of songs gives an aydah the best chance to win. Hands down.

However, most people don’t have extremely musical people in their adyah. So what do they do? I see two different options. One option is taking the route of Maalot ‘07 and Maalot ‘05 by making a medley, which musically is not as complicated as a mashup, but actually has a similar effect. Once again, usually this type of song choice wins due to the apparent difficulty of the arrangement.  In fact, all six mash-ups/ medleys that have been done over the past 10 years (including Gurim’s “Grease” medley) have placed in the top three, which includes four first place finishes, one second and one third.[3] [4]

The other way to do it is to find that perfect song. I personally think that ‘80s music is a fantastic choice. These are all of the winners or second places who used music from the 80’s: Maalot ‘01 (1^st), Arayot ‘02 (2^nd), Kerem ‘05 (2^nd), Maalot ‘06 (1^st), Kerem ‘07 (2^nd), Kerem ‘08 (1^st), Maalot ‘08 (2^nd). If you include the five songs that got top 2 finishes from the mash-up/medleys, then a combination of these categories represents 60% of top two finishes over the past 10 years.  Wow. What is it about ‘80s music that works so well for Zimriyah?  First of all, most ‘80s music is very sing-able. Many of these songs start out with a slow build-up, have a really fast-pace chorus, slow down for the bridge, and go all out for the final chorus. It’s the epitome of a good arrangement for Zimriyah, no tweaking necessary.

What doesn’t work for Shir Aydah? If you can’t sing it in English, it’s probably not a god choice. If the aydah can’t sing it or learn it, they will fail. In general I don’t think the Beatles[5] or for that matter most 60’s music are particularly good choices. Rap or Hip/ Hop: No. Slow Music: No. I guess it its pretty obvious the things that won’t work, because as described before, there is a particular song arrangement that is perfect for Zimriyah. Anything outside of this arrangement will most likely not work.

1. Maalot ‘01- Like a Prayer, Place for Song: 1^st, Overall: 3^rd.

No question, this was the best song ever performed at Zimriyah. This song went well beyond the “best song of the summer” type. The implication of Maalot 02’s performance is removed from even the Camp Yavneh bubble. My best friend Jonah Liben, who has only stepped foot at Yavneh once over his whole life[6], still can sing me the song 10 years later. This is totally wild that someone, completely unaffiliated with Camp Yavneh, can sing a Zimriyah song a decade after it was performed. This was the broader impact that this song had.

In order to do the song justice, I asked Mera Sussman, K’02 to help me give a run down of the song.

 “You can thank Micah Shapiro for this history making Shir Aydah. Micah comes from a background of beat boxing and a capella as a former member of the Tufts a capella group. Micah took all those skills together to not only create this Shir Aydah but also win himself Melech Zimriyah in 2001. This song was made up of harmonies, a capella, beat boxing, solos (infamous Jon Safran solo with one hand over his ear as he sang similar to Boyz II Men), rounds and some great hand motions.  (WRITER’S NOTE: Even though almost all of these are staples of Zimriyah performances nowadays, remember that most of these were novelties in Zimriyah back then.)  This was the one and only time this aydah came together and through hard work and dedication produced one of the best shir aydot of all time. After this Shir Aydah was premiered in 2001 it became a camp staple as something sang in the bunks, chadar ochel and even KTV.”[7]

These guys revolutionized the meaning of a Zimriyah song, not only was the melody catchy and singable,[8] they had an intense passion about the whole song. It is so clear to me that “Like a Prayer” was the gateway to what we know Zimriyah is today.

2. Arayot 09- Heartless/Live your Life/All the above, Place for Song: 1^st, Overall: 1^st

When Neal Freyman told me about this song early in to camp that summer, I didn’t really understand the implications. Even after they pulled off the victory for the song as well as for Zimriyah as a whole, I didn’t fully comprehend that it was really that good. After listening to it afterward though, it really clicked. I already articulated how important mash-ups and medleys are, so I’ll spare you a second rant, but doing what Arayot did that summer has completely redefined what a great Zimriyah song is. Listening to the song again, it was cool how they flawlessly transitioned between the different songs. As if they were all meant to be one song in the first place. Counselors know now what they are up against, and if Maalot ‘11 does not win Zimriyah with another masterpiece, I will be quite surprised.

3. Kerem ‘04- Mr. Blue Sky Place for Song 1^st, Overall Place: 2^nd 

Kerem ‘10- All These…/Kim Possible/I’ve Gotta Feeling, Place for Song: 2^nd, Overall: 2^nd

Maalot ‘06- Heaven is a Place on Earth, Place for Song: 1^st, Overall: 1^st

Kfirim ‘06- Every Time we Touch, Place for Song: 2^nd, Overall: DNP

Mr. Blue Sky- What does whistling, pretending to be in a trance, boys singing in falsetto, and repeating the best stand up of all time[9] have in common? Yep, that’s right, Kerem ‘04’s Shir Aydah. This song was funky as well as totally weird, but it turned out to be a fantastic song. It started with David Webber repeating the stand up from the previous summer in which sung to tune Ode To Joy but instead of using the German words, he used our names and called us out one by one.[10] As alluded to at the beginning, we really used tricks that aydot don’t often use when it comes to Zimriyah. And the only reason we could was because of how weird the song was, and encouragement from our equally-weird counselors,  Jon Gradman and Josh Kirstein.  They certainly inspired us to think out of the box - when it came to Zimriyah and everything else - and I think this song’s performance was certainly influenced by them.

All These…/Kim Possible/I’ve Gotta Feeling - A little back story to the making of this song: Originally, Kerem just wanted to do Kim Possible, but after telling them that it was not the best song, they put their thinking hats on and came up with a very complicated arrangement that the aydah just could not pull off. It interwove three songs by pulling out the certain segments and layering them with segments from other songs. It was really an amazing accomplishment. And as objective as I can possibly be for this[11], I do think that this song  is inherently better than the song that Leviim performend that year. It was far more complicated, had more parts, and more overlapping sections where the aydah was effectively singing multiple songs at once. But overall, I think two things doomed it to a non-first place finish. First, Kerem screamed, rather than sang, parts of the song. Second, one of the judges came up to me afterward and asked what song it was. Right then, I knew we had lost because it was mashed up too well and became too subtle. Yes, I will say it, I can completely see how Leviim deserved to win for this Shir Aydah in 2010, but at the same time, I don’t know how much better, on paper, a song could actually be. It just shows you that execution in Zimriyah is everything, and clearly Leviim knew how to get it done.

Heaven is Place on Earth- I remember the exact place on the highway up to Acadia National Park when five counselors driving in the van produced the clinching lyrics to this song. I know in hindsight that lyrics don’t really matter, but at the time, we needed the best of the best. We were trying to think of a pun between Maalot, Stairs, heaven, and staircase to heaven and we were having a very difficult thinking of them in Hebrew. But finally, with an inspiration from a local pizza bathroom in the middle of Maine, we got it. “Beyachad Machanenu/Gan Eden Beolamainu/Anachu Hamalachim/ Al Maalot Lashamyim. ”  In English it reads, together we are a camp/ heaven on earth/ we are the angels/ on a staircase  (Maalot) to heaven. Beautiful. Too bad judges don’t understand Hebrew when 51 kids scream it at them. I honestly think we could have said gibberish for that entire verse and it wouldn't have made any difference. We won with intense energy and passion. We had a few gimmicks along the way, but mostly this Maalot really wanted it. This is also a good place to mention that Maalot ‘06 is the only aydah in a given year with two top 15 choices. In addition, songs fromZimriyah ‘06 had 5 top 15. I guess I really liked Zim ‘06.

Every Time we Touch- I love it because it is so cute when Kfirim does a good job, because for the rest of the summer all they want to do is get up in the Chadar Ochel and sing…. Not. But in reality, they did a great job, and the only reason why they didn’t win was because Maalot beat them out by a hair. I remember right after this song came out, my sister and I would debate in the car ride to New Jew/Gann the validity of whether this would be a good Zimirah song. We ended up agreeing it would only be good for a younger aydah did it because it is too simple for Leviim-Kerem. I guess we were right. Even though I wasn’t in that aydah, and even though it is more than 4 years later, I can still sing that chorus and do the funky hand motions with my fingers. Yeah, you know hand motions I am talking about.

---

[1] By this I mean music composition and theory.

[2] Remember, mash, not medley. Mashing is significantly harder.

[3] Now if this doesn’t convince you that medleys and mash-ups work, nothing else can.

[4] The only second place win (Kerem 2010) would have been first if Leviim didn’t have (or mashup of their own.

[5] Yes, Maalot ‘07 won with a Beatles medley. But, first and for most, it was a medley.

[6] Jonah grew up at Camp Ramah, New England. The only time he came to Yavneh was when Machon, the aydah equivalent to Maalot, came to visit Yavneh for an inter-camp sleepover. I not going to go into all of the details, but let’s just say this will never happen again.

[7] Yep, Leviim ‘02, the girls in my adyah, did this song for KTV and won.

[8] You bet it was an eighties song.

[9] There is no question that the standup that my aydah did in 2003 was the best stand up I have ever seen.

[10] This “motion to stand” started by David Webber, has been used multiple including most recently in 2009. Talk about an epic stand up.

[11] Which is obviously up for debate considering I was their Rosh.