Di Nigunim

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"Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free" -E.V. Debs



Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both
parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard
Humanity i love you because
when you're hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you're flush pride keeps
you from the pawn shops and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house
Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down
on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death Humanity
i hate you
~ e.e. cummings



DI NIGUNIM
BALAGAN! (CD-EP)
Di Nigunim is an anarcho-punk collective from San Diego. Politically and musically radical, Di Nigunim plays an intense brand of punk rock inspired by traditional jewish music employing an expansive roster of musicians who rip shit up on accordion, piano,sax, trumpet and a fuck ton of drums. Think a more dynamic and rougher Gogol Bordello and your'e on the right track. Traditional songs such as "L'Cha Dodi" and "Havenu Shalom" are sung in hebrew with vocals from everyone, creating a sonic atmosphere of a socially lubricated and riotous Jewish wedding. Throw this one on at your next socially conscious dance party.
Jeff Proctor (Drunken Goat)
The NIGUN (from the Hebrew 'lenagen': play music) is a simple, wordless and easy to remember, often religious folk tune, usually composed by a rabbi or a member of a 'hoyf' (rabbinical court), sometimes borrowed from the local folk or foreign tunes and 'sanctified' ('mekadesh zayn a nign')! Sung repetitively and with 'kavanah' (concentration) by all the members of a community, it bears (among prone subjects!) a kind of mystic ecstasy. The 'tish nigunim' accompanied meals, the 'Deveykus nigunim', often arrhythmic, were dedicated to God, the 'Gass'n nigunim' used for the processionals and the 'treredike nigunim' for meditation and crying. The nigunim are usually sung with onomatopoeia: 'bim, bom' around Moditz, 'ay di gi day' in Ger, 'Ti la lidl la li la lo' à Karlyn, 'lay lay lay' in Bobov or 'oy, yoy' in Lubavitch.