'Shabbat Unplugged' rides trend of hipper music at services

"It's a new trend in liturgy, offering worshipers a chance to relax a bit as they prepare for prayers. And people like it."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
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(photo credit: )
Composer/arranger Idan Irelander, The Religious School Music Director at Temple Emanuel in Andover, Massachusetts is the creator of a new and Friday evening service called "Shabbat Unplugged". Judy Wakefield, a writer for the Andover Townsman newspaper has called it "The Sabbath with an MTV twist, "Shabbat Unplugged" rides trend of hipper music at services. The spiritual journey mixes music and prose on Friday nights, just as has been happening for years at several congregations in Andover." According to Rabbi Robert Goldstein of Temple Emanuel, "It's a new trend in liturgy, offering worshipers a chance to relax a bit as they prepare for prayers. And people like it." This experience is an opportunity to rediscover the spirit of the Sabbath with an evening of soulful music and insightful prose. Irelander and the Temple's Youth Chorus have joined together on "Shacharit Inplugged", a CD filled with inspiring prayers, vocals, musical arrangements, and compositions in a lively manner. Irelander is the composer, arranger and the creator of the CD, or as in Idan's own words: "To "Inplugged" our children as well as our adults to Judaism, to God." The "Shacharit Inplugged" CD features the morning prayers such as: Ash-rey; Bar-Chu; Sh'ma; Ka-Dosh, Ka-Dosh, Ka-Dosh; Halleluyah!; Mah Tovu; V'Ahavta; Mode Ani; Birchot Ha-sha-char (For Our Blessings); Mi Cha-mo-cha, and more. Irelander was born in Netanya, Israel and has performed and arranged several albums for Israeli musicians as well as for his own solo album, "Schizophrenic Bass", a unique work which features Idan's virtuosity on the bass. After becoming a Berklee College of Music B.E.S.T. scholarship recipient, Idan left Israel in 1997 to study in Boston. In 2001, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music and received two prestigious awards including the Award for Composition Excellence and the Award for Achievement in Film Scoring. Recently, Irelander was added to the Jewish composers catalog of "Beth Hatefutsoth", the museum of the Jewish people and the Diaspora in Tel Aviv, Israel. To visit Idan Irelander's website go to: www.IrelanderMusic.com