Over the past few months of dissertation writing/quarantine living, Ishay Ribo’s music has been a calming influence & an inspiration. I wasn't expecting anything, & today he releases a commentary on our times! Def. worth listening to his beautiful poetry.
Some reflections on the piece:
My personal experience has been that Ishay Ribo’s most powerful music is his pieces (and covers) relating to the Yamim Noraim and Teshuvah, whether it’s Lashuv Habayta, Achat Uletamid, Ochilah La’el, or the recent Seder HaAvodah.
My personal experience has been that Ishay Ribo’s most powerful music is his pieces (and covers) relating to the Yamim Noraim and Teshuvah, whether it’s Lashuv Habayta, Achat Uletamid, Ochilah La’el, or the recent Seder HaAvodah.
Somehow, despite it being Pesach season, the song has a Yamim Noraim feel. From the single’s title – Keter Melucha (drawn from ויאתו כל), to closing w/ Shema & a request for “tearing up the evil decree,” it turns Nissan into Tishrei, appropriate for this time of self-reflection.
The sophisticated lyrics also feature multiple references to earlier Hebrew literature and Jewish tradition –the word play of Parashat Vayakhel and the ban on gathering, invocations of Midgal Bavel, and the universalist invocation of “Yishmael, Edom, and Yisrael.”
Ribo even includes a reference to modern Hebrew music (Aviv Higia Pesach Ba). Most haunting is the homage to Unesaneh Tokef, asking “who will stay and who will travel?” invoking not only the Masa’os (Bemidbar 21) but also the poignant Yom Kippur’s Mi Yanuach Umi Yanua.
Ishay Ribo’s music is strongest when it bridges the mundane with the transcendent. One’s everyday travails, successes, and failures are framed by one’s encounter with God.
This piece’s success rides on the transition btwn the verse's matter-of-fact depiction of the past month & the chorus, a primal scream, asking God “What do you want us to learn from this?” You can feel the human reflex of theodicy, ruminating over suffering & turning to God.
At the same time, the lyrics thoughtfully contemplate the experience of loneliness, asking “how do we unify amid the separation?” and “how can we distance yet come close?”
They also connect the challenge of limited human interaction to the challenge of human estrangement from God in these times, pleading “I want to live (with) You, not be alone.”
If we must limit our human interaction now, at least this bold song can serve as most welcome company.
If we must limit our human interaction now, at least this bold song can serve as most welcome company.
Read it unrolled!
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