In a span of two weeks, the Jewish Songwriting Competition received 335 submissions from men, women and even children, ages 8 to 78, from over 70 communities around the world.
Singer Avraham Fried, composer Yossi Green and music producer Moishy Goldstein will be deciding the winners of the men’s submissions. Singer Bracha Jaffe and singer-songwriters Esther Freeman and Chaya Kogan will be deciding the winners of the women’s submissions.
The winning songs will be professionally produced for free at Music Studio NYC, including music creation, vocals recording, mixing and even the album art. Runners-up will receive significant discounts to record their song at the studio to help share these beautiful compositions with the world.
“The response was way greater than what could have ever been expected,” Goldstein – who created this initiative – commented, “which just emphasizes the need for opportunities like this. There is so much talent that sadly never sees the light of day.”
When will the winners be announced?
“With 335 submissions to go through, it will understandably take a while to properly hear every submission,” Goldstein answered. “Every submission is someone’s heart and soul. It cannot just be listened to at 2x with half an ear. Every song, and the story behind the song, needs to be intently listened to with an ear for its real potential. So we cannot yet say how long it will take but rest assured, every song will receive the full attention it deserves in due time IYH.”
What will the panels of experts be looking for in the Jewish Songwriting Competition?
Avraham Fried provided a short-and-sweet definition of what makes a good Jewish song: “A real, good Jewish song makes you feel more Jewish and closer to Hashem.”
Yossi Green explains what he finds important in a Jewish song composition as follows: “A Jewish Song, being composed of text and melody, is one where the melody clearly defines, interprets and brings the text to the heart of the listener, making the listener think of the depth of the text. It is then that the melody has done its job and the Jewish Song is complete.”
Singer-songwriter Esther Freeman’s tip on songwriting: “A great song isn’t one where the lyrics spell everything out but rather the composer leaves it up to the listener to interpret it for themselves and make it their own.”
Goldstein offered his perspective on how he listens to the submissions: “When we listen to a fully-produced song, backed with great music and great mixing, it’s easy for us to hear the beauty of the song. As a music producer though, I need to be able to listen to just a raw voice recording of the composer and be able to envision the beautiful potential and world of possibilities that this composition holds inside of it. When I listen to each composition, whether a raw voice note or accompanied by glorious music, I’m not listening to the current sound of the recording, rather envisioning the potential that the composition has.”
Each participant was (optionally) asked to share the story behind their writing of the song. The response was so powerful. For some people it would be a heartfelt song describing their bitter situation that can be best felt through song alone, while for others their song was an expression of hope and gratitude to Hashem, or a Tefillah that they feel a special connection to. This initiative aims to bring these masterpieces into the world. With the composer’s permission, Jewish singers can get access to the collection of submissions to be able to buy compositions that they will then sing and publish to the world, with the songwriting credit remaining the composer’s.
• The word “I” was the most commonly used word in the lyrics, appearing 1,520 times.
• The words “pain” and “love” both appear exactly the same amount of times.
• 42% of the submissions were from women.
These, along with many other fascinating statistics were published on the studio’s WhatsApp Status.
To see future WhatsApp statuses of Music Studio NYC, click here: https://wa.me/message/
More details about the Jewish Songwriting Competition can be found at MyJewishSong.com
That’s a lot! Can’t wait to hear!