By Marco Schneebalg
On Monday 14 March, Major Hayim hosted the NYC-based Jewish a capella band Pizmon for the second time. Pizmon originally reached out to us during the pandemic to perform in our shul via Zoom. The singing team hosted them, and it was an incredible success. We couldn’t stop singing their song Nachamu!
When they reached out to us again saying they would visit the UK this March and asking whether they could perform at Makor Hayim, we said yes without blinking! Martin and Lauretta offered to host the concert. Around 15 of us had a delicious pot luck dinner together with the band before the concert, and 7 of us joined on Zoom.
Pizmon performed around 10 beautiful a capella Jewish songs, which you can rewatch here in the Full recording of the concert (password: PizmonMH1!). It was incredibly beautiful and moving to see them perform in person!
They also taught us to sing a song: Mekimi, from Psalms 113:6-9, Also included in the Hallel service. They provided us with Sheet music and lyrics and we divided in 4 voice groups to learn the parts with different Pizmon members. The result is spectacular! Take 3 minutes of your time to watch our performance, it will make your day: Mekimi major hayim performance
Thanks again to everyone that came, to Martin and Lauretta for their hospitality and to Rabbi Daniel, Kati and Ed for hosting Pizmon members in their homes. We have already asked them to come back next year! If you’d like to make a donation to Pizmon to thank them for the concert you can do so here.