My Zimriah Rankings, Part 1

What is best aydah in Zimriyah? Who is the worst? What is the order?

Before I begin, I would like to explain the method behind my rankings. I tried to rank these aydot as objectively as possible by assigning points to different aspects of Zimriyah performance. In order of most important to least important, I found that the four most cited reasons a particular aydah is great at Zimriyah were the following: how well did an aydah place from Arayot to Kerem? Were there any songs that an aydah performed that were extraordinary? Did the aydah win in Kerem,? Did the adyah sweep? Because of these four categories, and the fact that I already complied a top 15 list for best songs, I will explain how the point system works.

·      If an aydah got 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd place I awarded 3,2, and 1 point respectively. I didn’t bother compensating for ties because when it comes to legacy, it doesn’t matter if you tie.

·      If a song was the top five for any of the best songs lists, I gave the aydah a point. If it was in the top two, I gave the aydah an extra point. If it was the best of any category I gave it a third point. And if it was Maalot 01’s shir aydah, I gave it four (just because it was so good)

·      If an aydah won in Kerem or swept Zimriyah, I gave them 1.5 bonus points. I reasoned that in order to sweep or win in Kerem, you already got 3 points, but when it comes to legacy it is slightly better than having a song in a top five.


NOTE: I am only judging the aydot when they were alone, i.e. from arayot to kerem. For these rankings I wanted to see how the aydah preformed when they were independent and older, not when they had another aydah with them. 

Anyway, here is the order from worse to first.

11. Kerem 11:

 Points 0.

Best song: Boche El Hakirot [1] (Maalot, Yisraeli).

Worse song: I Believe (Leviim, Aydah)

I just don’t know what it is, but Kerem 11 is just 100% horrible at Zimriyah. As the only aydah never to place, nor have a top 15 song, they are an anomaly when it comes to the new era of Zimriyah. Daniel Hoffman once explained to me why they were so bad: “[For their Shir Aydah in Leviim,] they started off key, and then Bentzi tried to match their key so that they wouldn't sound as bad.  However they changed key again, so that despite his best efforts they were still out of key. Fortunately they didn’t care that much- or maybe it was part of the cause.” I think Hoffman got it spot on. Especially among the some of boys, it just doesn’t seem like they care, and really there isn’t a strong male voice to have an epic solo.   In Maalot, they were certainly better, but I think everyone realized going into Zimriyah that year, the competition would be a battle between Leviim and Kerem for the gold. Now, not all hope is lost. They still have one more year, and they need to get 3 points to tie Kerem 09 in my rankings. Kerem has placed in Zimriyah for the past 8 years, so there is a good chance they will get at least one point. If they win, they will automatically clinch, not being the worst (with the bonus Kerem points) but I don’t know how likely that will be.

10. Kerem 09-

 2^nd in Kerem (2), Top five shir Chasidi (1), Points: 3

Best Song: Samachti (Kerem, Chasidi)

Worst Song: Vayhu Ha Devarim (Arayot, Chasidi)

If Kerem 11 thinks they have a chance at being the only aydah not to get at least one Zimriyah point they should look no further than Kerem 09. Why? Because, going into Kerem, this aydah had also received a total of 0 points. However, I really don’t think they were as bad at Kerem 11 has been. Going into Zimirah 2007, a lot of people thought that this aydah (Leviim at the time) was going to win. They flopped. Once again in Maalot, when I was their counselor, and won Melech Zimriyah with them, we had some pretty awesome songs. But when Zimriyah came they flopped again. The only redeeming factor that year was that Gavi Bohan was amazing and they aydah earned second place for shir aydah. Now in Kerem, enter Jordana Suldan and Ben Rotter. In short, these two campers essentially became counselors and for the most part everyone listened to them as if they were. Somehow, someway, it worked, and they performed quite well their Kerem summer. Kudos to Kerem 09 for not being the worst at Zimriyah.

9. Kerem 02-

3^rd in Maalot (1) , Best Shir Aydah (4).  Points: 5

Best Song: Like a Prayer, (Maalot, Aydah)

Worse song: David Melech (Maalot, Chasidi)

Kerem 2002 was like Los del Rio. Yep that’s right, in 1995 Los del Rio released a song called the Macarena. According to Wikipedia they were number 1 on ‘billboard’s hot 100’ for 3 and half months in 1996 which ties it for second longest of all time. And yet Los del Rio made no other legitimate music besides that one single. We love the Macarena but don’t care about anything else they created. In fact, Los del Rio was named #1 on the VH1’s list of top one hit wonders of all time.  That’s Kerem 02 for you. Invested so much energy making that amazing song, but never really performed before or after that. That same year in fact, they did a song called David Melech, which had only five words and they wore gold crown. It was horrible. However, there is no question, for as long as I am still around talking about Zimriyah, they will be known as the aydah that did “Like a Prayer,” rocked it and changed the face of Zimriyah.

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[1] By default, it’s the only song they have ever placed in.