Ancestors - Unrefined Draft 1 by Sound Brown

Simple recording of an old melody, collected by Moyshe Beregovsky (Moisei Iakovlevich Beregovskii) in the early 1900s in Ukraine, later rediscovered in Kyiv, and subsequently adapted by Joey Weisenberg as the "Kane Street Nigun."

May the joyous energy of this nigun be a source of hope in a time of needless destruction and wanton violence now plaguing the region where it originated. 

Learn more about Beregovsky: https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Beregovskii_Moisei_Iakovlevich

Check out Joey's master classes in Jewish song and prayer, where he teaches this melody, explains its history and structure, and includes sheet music: https://bit.ly/jewish-song-masterclasses

Beregovsky Nigun (Kane Street Nigun) - Joey Weisenberg

Ozi Vzimrat Ya (Shefa Gold)

tune by Rabbi Menachem Creditor from Psalm 89:3

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics:
Olam chesed yibaneh

We will build this world from love

Olam Chesed

Origins: An anti-apartheid, sung as protestors were being taken to jail.

Recorded at Boston Passover Prep Meeting 4/17/16

Courage

tune by Shefa Gold from Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2

Recorded at Boston Passover Action Prep Meeting 4/17/16

lyrics: 
Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah

Ozi v’Zimrat Yah - melody by Rabbi Shefa Gold  
Ozi v’Zimrat Yah Vayahi li lishuah (Psalm 118:14 and Exodus 15:2)
My Strength (balanced) with the Song of G!d will be my salvation.

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Ozi Vizimrat Yah

Olam Chesed Yibaneh - adapted from Rabbi Menachem Creditor, written after 9/11 
We will build this world with love      

Recorded by IfNotNow Boston Summer 2016.

Olam Hesed Yibaneh

Nachamu by Shefa Gold
recorded by the Let My People Sing! Core Team: Mónica Gomery, Ilana Lerman, Nom Lerman, Batya Levine & Margot Seigle.

Nachamu
Nachamu Ami X2
Nachamu, nachamu
Nachamu nachamu ami

Comfort, comfort my people

Nachamu

Bostoner Rebbe niggun

Song by Kate Sutherland (we altered the wordless part to be a bit more Jewish sounding)
Sung by Mónica Gomery & Batya Levine

When I am waiting out a storm I come back to my breath
When I am waiting out a storm I come back to my heartbeat

yum ya da da dai

When I Am Waiting - Kate Sutherland

IfNotNow is a movement led by young Jews to transform our American Jewish community’s support for the occupation into a call for freedom and dignity for all. Learn more about the songs we sing in our movement here: http://bit.ly/2mIZUks
>on singing songs from other movements of today and from the past:
We are lucky to have the songs of our own Jewish traditions -- they are for us to sing.  Some of us have ancestors who have been deeply involved in movements across the world for social change for generations, both as those directly affected and as allies.  We are also singing their songs. 
And.
We recognize that this can easily turn into cultural appropropriation, particularly when we do not have direct links. So, before we sing a song we have a practice of honoring where it comes from: we share the movement, the struggle, or the people who birthed this music. Singing these songs is one way of acknowledging that we’re in a long line of movements for justice. 
We continue to create new movement songs. We write new lyrics. We get inspired by old text- Jewish and non-Jewish.  We do not simply translate movement songs into Hebrew in order to connect with them. One possibility instead is to incorporate Jewish text with similar themes and vision. 
From the beginning, IfNotNow leaders have been building relationships with leaders from Cosecha, BlackLivesMatter, The Dream Defenders, and other movements through the Momentum Community where we have been creating and sharing our songs with each other. Diversity keeps our movements strong and interconnected. We understand this as an ecological system of access, ancestries, struggles and strategies for resistance. Song is part of the way we arrive in interdependent relationship. We are building a culture that is accountable, compassionate -- and vibrant as all hell. Please honor the history of each song -- learn it, share it. 
We will lift each other up.

Olam Chesed

IfNotNow

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