Chaim Dovid Berson "Ten Lanu Chaim" Z Report Interview With Yossi Zweig 1-17-18

1201 ladies and gentlemen as as mentioned they said we would have a guest on the phone he is a newcomer to recordings but he has been singing for many many years please welcome the one and only hi i'm david burzon hi jessie hi to all the listeners great to be on your show this is the first time i think we've actually spoken i've never actually bumped into you at a wedding yet i know i know better late than never better i think it's just just the fact that you know we're at a different place in our lives i mean you know we're both in our in our 30s i would say at least i think you are i'm i'm i'm in my upper 30s and uh most of my crowd isn't getting married every night you know and a lot of the relatives have gotten through that that hump over there so i'm not going out at weddings every night i'm sure if i did i'd bump into you at least 15 times a year probably uh yes yes you know it's it's still nice to go to weddings you know you come introduce yourself you know it could be a nice activity issue and you love music so it's a home run right there you're definitely right the question is how many nights a year are you actually performing in lakewood though um that's a good question i i've been out there recently a few times but but true not most of our weddings are not uh all the way out there and although they're great wedding halls and it's the weddings are beautiful there i'm i'm happy not to have to drive an hour and a half from the city down to lakewood so i take them when they come but i'm also happy if the weddings are closer right so tell me i'm david i mean i i hear a little bit of a an accent in your voice i remember reading a while ago that you were born and raised in your slime and you are the chief cantor of the prestigious manhattan jewish center and over the years i've seen uh you know videos pop up here and there i believe it was probably uh aaron applebaum of nafshana orchestra that first you know introduced me to who you are so why don't you tell me how you came to be in this business especially in the united states so uh that's all true what you mentioned i uh i was born and raised in israel i grew up there uh and lived there for most of my life um until about eight years ago when i was uh i got the job i was hired to uh to be the hazan to be the canter at the jewish center on the upper west side and i moved from europe israel to straight to the upper west side you know before then i i was a full-time wedding singer in israel for many years and i also was a cousins i would travel i uh was a cousin for a couple years in montreal and uh for the high holidays and you know pay sakes all over the world and different weekends and stuff like that um but i was in the music business since i was since uh i don't know i started officially i guess when i was 18 19. so this is something you've thought about for a while this is what you wanted to do with your life you know it's it's very interesting hashem sort of has a plan for everyone sometimes we know it sometimes we think it's what we want sometimes i i can say one thing i love music and i just wanted to do it for the love of it and i really enjoyed it and i'm very very blessed that the past also opened up and it worked out that i can also um work in that field and make a living from uh sharing music with people um and it's it's amazing it's not that i can say that i always had a plan that's what i wanted to do but um if someone would have told me that's what i'm going to do i would have been very happy and thank god so far so good so tell me you say you're a music fan since you're young you know growing up in their tissue in in that time you know what what were your influences what did you grow up listening to you know was it israeli was an american so i grew up listening to the mainstream um uh musica they like calling in israel um you know if it's uh often from street mbt regesh the veikos you know the kirches uh of course uncle meishi when we we had a lot of my parents are american they made aliyah so we did have a lot of the american stuff at home as well so i was uh we love music in the family and we always used to listen and it's something i always tell people um today there is it's amazing there's so much out there and it's so accessible but at the same time in a way we lost the the we don't have the the time you know the attention to to sit down and and just listen to music so i that was my entertainment i that was my fun thing to do when i was a kid i used to just listen to music and when new stuff came out i would be the first one to get the cassette back then before cds and uh i love it love love listening to jewish music now tell me i'm david you said you were living in in arizona and then you moved to manhattan what was that culture shock like i mean you know eric's stroll always sunny always warm uh kids finishing school at you know like two or three in the afternoon and you're going to the city they call it uh what do they call it the the brick jungle big apple no but they call it they call manhattan like like the cement jungle you know everything's all very little trees very little greenery all buildings what was that like for you right uh it obviously was a very uh uh it was very different and it uh it was a big adjustment and it's still you know when we had like this freezing cold weather these last couple of weeks that does remind me it does make me miss home uh again and uh it thinks that it's hard to get used to um it's different in so many ways so a lot of things i adjusted to things i'm still discovering and still figuring out it it was you know it was for a good cause and for something that i i want to do and meeting new people and joining a new community and it's amazing and i i i see it as something that's it's a good challenge and uh you know herb growing up in yugoslavia it's definitely different but at the same time in some ways it's urban living i was living in a city right moving from a city to a city in some ways it's uh it's it's different than almost moving from the suburbs here to the upper west side which could be in a way another different kind of adjustment but uh new york's new york i definitely hear that hi i'm david berzon with us via telephone we're discussing his brand new album ten la nuchaym so take take me on on a journey so you move to new york you become a hazan and the funny thing is you're now in a very select group of people there are not many people who are khazanim who actually do weddings you know they usually they they'll do a hair there but they don't actually become wedding singers how did you bridge that gap and how did you branch out i mean you said you were a wedding singer in eretz israel but you know now you're doing khazana so you have to learn a different style of singing yeah that's a very good question jesse and it's something that i ask myself all the time you know who am i what do i do but the truth is that uh if you want to call it a hybrid you know it's something music has has common things and no matter what genre of music you're singing there's there's things that are the same and and stylistically it is something i ask myself because you know sometimes the hazardous uh goes into the singing sometimes the singing goes into the hazardous and i think at the end of the day it's something that that um i i i think that's special that i can can can match the two i can combine the two and i i grew up like i said i didn't really grow up with i grew up with with regular music and i love it right and i love the energy and i love the feel and that's what i started with and when the came in i i felt like i'll take the strengths and the qualities of both and and put them together and and then today if in today's day and age also like i went to contorial school and i studied household proper and i appreciated but at the end of the day what people want to hear is not so much what we call the heavy stuff they want something uh they want a proper cousin who knows that mustache who can lead a proper daughter right do you want to hear they want to confuse they want to hear they want to hear about philip but they don't necessarily want to hear that right so so i try to take the qualities from both worlds and use them together people love to sing along i take current and contemporary nikunam and songs and and put them into davening while when you know the the the rules and the guidelines of of the structure and music musical structure of davening you can do that in the best way because you're not just the part of the problem is today is that a lot of people um bring tunes that are beautiful tunes but they put them into parts of davening that it just doesn't match it doesn't interpret the words it's sort of forcing something on something that doesn't really fit and you know the nusa has musical uh modes and frameworks that you're supposed to work in and these are things that are going with us for you know as long as we can record and it's it's something that's good to know and then that's what i do i kind of you know sometimes i lead a little more towards the calvary i find myself doing like these uh hardcore hazardous concerts and sometimes it's you know the pop and then jumping up and down and i think they're all great i don't think they they contradict each other right so tell me i'm david so you're in the you're in the states you're you're a hazan in manhattan you're doing weddings at night you i believe you started off with um aaron applebaum enough shane now you think you branched out to everybody else how did you decide to put out an album and then how did you get to your producer or did it sorely approach you about doing an album i mean how did this all come about so recording and putting out an album is something that's been uh a long a long time you know a dream of mine to do to to do something of my own to share my music to uh do it properly and i'll do a project an original project and it's something that that i really was looking forward to and as you know there's so many parts to it both financially and you know working with the right people finding the right songs and actually doing it so it's it's uh theoretically the idea has been there for many for many years um about i think three years ago i made the decision that i really want to take the next step to uh to do this and i was introduced by a mutual friend too surely i was actually working with you if you know the name steve blumenfeld sure blue rhythm label yes exactly so i was uh recording i was working with him in his studio on a different project i you know i've been in the studios many times before but not obviously from my own album and we were discussing this idea and this project and he said you know i i've been working here i think he was working on uh shapiro's album at the time and uh he said you know let me introduce you to surly meyer and we sat down we met and uh it was a great meeting and we both really it clicked and we felt that uh let's get started and then you know it's a long journey we first thing was finding materials and we listened to hundreds and hundreds of songs and they came from all over and uh you know making the decisions trying to really identify the potential of every of every song that we got and if it works for me if it works for today if it works in the context of the album and you know there's every album has like 10 12 songs there's sort of a structure and every song has to fill a certain box and a certain has to you know you want to give a variety the people should you know it shouldn't all sound the same so you got to find different styles and different types of songs and once you know that was the whole process and at some point we moved on to uh finding the right arrangers for every song and sending it out and as you can see there's a long list of arrangers from all over the world really uh the top guys in the business there's some are are you know old school some are like new talent there's a lot of new talent out there that's amazing and and that's you know that was the process and some things happened early some things there's some songs that i just recorded and arranged like a few months ago and there's some that have been done you know two years ago so it's uh it was it was a long process but it was uh it was amazing it was very uh most of the time very enjoyable and uh it was hard work but it was uh totally worth it i've gone through the album you know uh and and you're right you know rakula ellie client sea berry to tell em a yearly dickman arrangement uh c bloomfield by llama and then this it's a various different flavors it's definitely a uh commendable first album you know definitely it will introduce people to who you are as far as what your sound is i'm still still learning it but i'm sure it must have been a learning curve for you i mean you know you grow up listening to music but you have no idea what the other side is creating it and going through these songs and then trying to figure out okay do i want to do a little hazardous in the album okay i don't want to do too much hazardous because i want it to be a mainstream album but you know which songs do i do i mean surly has worked with benny and mark shapiro and many other projects but he's never worked with a a cousin like you so what was you know what was that like uh the give-and-take between the two of you because you've never done an album and he's never worked with an artist as unique as yourself right so that's that's been something that we uh discussed a lot and as you can see from from the album listening to it that it's it uh they're hints very very subtle hints every now and then the people can pick up on like the more classical training and maybe a little that color but the idea was to put out a mainstream straightforward you know uh pop album and that's really what it is it's not it's not hazardous by all means and it's something that i find um people when they hear that i'm a cousin or they hear that i'm a canter you know they right away think one thing and and part of it was to show that that's not really all i am or or that you know there are other other sides and and that can be done well it doesn't doesn't necessarily mean because you're a hazard that you're locked into a certain style in a certain sound well i definitely agree with you and i definitely see that and of course i see a lot of these songs can be sung at weddings uh one that's doing fairly well that came in and number four last night in our countdown was the ratna you know which is usually a a slower song it starts off fairly slow but then it picks up by the hard part and people are really digging it like i said you have the song um featured uh the one and only nissan black london is amir which is a very different style and yeah if you think hassan you're definitely not thinking i mean how did you how did you decide that wow you know let's you know what let's already doing pop and let's do electronic music with john frater let's stick nissim into this song you know let's go backwards um he did an amazing job and he really brought uh his style and and his uh his angle and and you know he wrote the lyrics that he's saying and with his own you know with a special feel it really i think took the song to a another level and when when i got this song originally uh was composed by mordechai brazil which also was a new upcoming uh name and on the list of composers he's done a whole bunch of the latest hits it was great and i loved it and that's why i said i want this song at the same time you know the song is describing like a party it's describing a wedding everyone coming together we're just here to dance and to be honest it's pretty straightforward and i just felt that i wanted to add another element to it to really you know for going in that direction or going in that style let's uh take the next step let's make it real let's uh spice it up and uh we were we were looking for ideas for quite a while and then we had this idea of bringing in nissim and i think it was uh it was it was a good move i i love the result i think uh you know it's a great energy and hopefully it's something that we'll pick up and we can i can sing at weddings and get people going you know it's uh it's something when i hear it i i i want to dance it's a fun song i i definitely agree with you and i and it's fun listening to as a listener uh looking through your booklet here i mean first of all it's been a few weeks since your albums came out what what kind of response are you getting from fans and peoples at simcoes that you've been performing at since the album was released so so far so far great stuff you know it's it's it's getting stuff out there is uh is another uh another project on his own on its own um you know where that's what we're talking about and uh um it it takes a little bit of time you know getting the cd out there getting the music so people can hear it once they hear it then hopefully it's a lot easier and um again you know when you're relatively a new name on the market so it it also it's not people are not looking for it they need it needs to get to them somehow mm-hmm well we know we've been playing we've been playing it a lot here and we know we've been getting positive yeah yeah i heard i heard that that's great and i've been getting responses and and like you said like you mentioned you played iran and i've been getting a lot of comments about that people really um like this it's like a surprising song that's definitely expected to go in one direction and suddenly it comes in another direction and it's a lot of fun and it works somehow it's also something we we there was a lot of work that went into uh bringing it uh making it to the bringing it's the final result that it is uh now and uh yeah the songs are great i've sung a few of the fast songs at weddings they work um you know the more people learn them the more people are familiar with them i think they would work even more um and uh it's still fresh fresh off the press so it's it's new but so far so far responses and and i think the things work and i'm excited to to more opportunities to share them and to uh have people dancing to them no definitely do that ladies and gentlemen with us via telephone the one and only heimdall berzon discussing his debut album telling him produced by surly meyer available through music available for digital download online itunes amazon music google play you know david as i'm going through the playlist i see there's a lot of things here that have to do with weddings colonel zameras is is talking about house nicala image of course you sing a lot of people do that after and then your own composition um was this a a theme because of constantly performing at weddings or just ended up working out like this um it's both it's both and and honestly you know in our in our world the platform for music is mainly weddings i mean that's where people hear music that's what we call um meat music that's where the trends are and that's where we we share our music we do have concerts and shows but but they're not as frequent as weddings and everyone goes to weddings not everyone goes to shows they're not gonna have the time to go to shows correct so it's really that's that's our that's the that's the field plus there's no free food at shows yeah that's true that's true that's you someone's paying for it regardless but yes right so tell me if people want to book you or get in contact with you is their website or an email address a phone number they can they can call me directly or they can they can email me actually that'll probably be best you know if it's uh it's a cd person which is a good name cds claimed of it bursting b-e-r-s-o-n at gmail.com um they can also always get me through uh we we worked together with i worked together with nafshana orchestra they could always contact nafshanu and uh they should come out come out and see us hear us and uh i look forward to uh well we're definitely thinking and dancing with everyone yeah definitely hope to see great things from you uh first songs really send me rock google definitely a very very unique song great song to start off the album with i also want to mention some great photography of you in the booklet and your social media and of course cover i'm not sure who did your photography cover was done by cerry meyer the producer uh the photography who did the photography some really nice pictures of you in here um her name is nehama you can see her in in the credits um she's uh from crown heights we did a photo shoot a while back already if you remember the single that came out um right which is a great song and it's uh it's been on uh as a single now we put it at the last long but not because it's uh it's any less it just we figured people have heard it already so um correct but uh yeah it's it's a great uh she didn't become a lightner yeah okay great job i want to wish you a warm winter that's what we tell people here especially for somebody from marriage to israel we're going to play you out with the title track ten linux is there anything you can tell me about this track before we let you go uh composed and arranged by uh yelly dickman which is uh he's a good friend of mine from israel and uh really a superstar he's got it all he's very very talented and a super guy and um he he actually wrote the song and he sent it to me i loved it and it's been a it's been it's been a while in the making and he just he brought you can hear that arrangement there's so much there it's really it's really a fun to listen to and and musically also it goes between a few styles that's kind of on a reggae feel a little bit and then it goes into like a rock shuffle it's it's really it's full of energy and and the message the message is so straightforward and just you know just give us you know long and blessed life you know that's all we want we're not asking for for for more than that and this is something to get today being dish and we just had rich benson you know we're asking for a good month long life all the good right right right right so it's something that we we all we only we all can use and uh you know if uh if we get the highest from god i'm sure we'll you know it's on it's up to us to maximize it but if god gives it to us then obviously he has a plan and uh we can do great things a hundred percent i want to wish you yes yeah yeah just go ahead i want to wish you a a great long winter i hope you see a lot of of hearts luck off from this album i know we're enjoying it here at the network and um i hope we're going to see some videos coming out with you lately you know so maybe a music video here or there from the album um yes yes yes stay tuned they will be out uh uh shortly we're working on a couple of things and uh hopefully we can share them really soon and uh yeah it's great things and and thank you elsies thank you so much for everything you do um and for jewish music and for promoting and for bringing you know getting it getting it out there getting quality stuff and and enjoyable music to to the jewish people and uh it's great keep up the good work thank you so much my pleasure heimdall thank you very much ladies and gentlemen hi i'm david berzon here off his album it's the title track telling hayem composed arranged and conducted by the one and only early dickman and you my friends are tuned in to this airport live on the jewish entertainment network [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music]