The obvious absurdity of this "Christmas" song begs the question: should we be re-packaging authentic cultural expressions to accommodate a market that is steadily employing the belief that ethnic sells, and it's sexy, too? "Hava Nagila" has had its share of pop-culture mash-ups over the decades. On Saturday Night Live, The Sweeney Sisters, a duo of party singers (played by Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn) did a spoof cover of "Hava Nagila" in their very high-pitched voices. On the comedy TV sketch show, In Living Color, the soul singers Cephus and Reesie sang "Hava Nagila" at a bar mitzvah but with the lyrics "Hava nagila, have a tortilla." The pop musical group "Party Animals" (from the Netherlands) recorded "Hava Nequila" on one of their albums. Bob Dylan recorded "Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues." A Polish heavy metal band, Rootwater, recorded "Hava Nagila" in Polish and in Hebrew. Do a "Hava Nagila" search on YouTube, and the results are copiously amusing. "Hava Nagila" - Thai Style, and "Hava Nagila" - Ukrainian Style are two of my favorites.
I'm not sure I see the connection between Hava Nagila and Christmas (other than in the artist's imagination). On the other hand, recent discussion on the Jewish-Music mailing list led to the claim that almost all popular American Christmas songs were written by Jews, starting with the secular ballad, "White Christmas," written by Irving Berlin (and recorded a few years ago in Yiddish by Mandy Patinkin). In the spirit of that double cultural reverse, and as an antidote to yet another "hava nagila" recording that seems banal above all else, I present this Yiddish take on an American icon of this season: "Yiddish Rudolph" [ video on YouTube ]
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