Monday, December 3, 2012

Gangnam Gangsters Gyrate Grotesquely



Blogging Buddy The Partial View, has posted recently on the phenomenon of Yeshiva Bochurim dancing at Chasunahs to current Pop Music trends.

Apparently I had been living in a cave, as I was not aware of this Youtube sensation that has Garnered upwards of 800 million hits, and is Glorified as the most watched Youtube Gig of all time.

To satisfy my curiosity, I foolishly unfiltered my PC for some Gratuitous Gratification, only to be Greeted by a Garishly Garbed Gangster, Galivanting about in the Gutter in his Goal to Get the Girl.

This Godless Gentile, Grossly Garmented, Generates Glee as he Glides, Gropes and Grooves the Gauntlet, his Gallery of Ghastly Greed.

It seems that this topic surfaces every so often. Not that long ago, there was the Macarena, before that was Yidden (Ghengis Khan) etc.

As the electronic world Germinates and Grows, bringing the Gamut of Western Culture to every nook and cranny, there is little that can be done to filter out the Garbage. Many years ago I heard Avrohom Rosenblum from the Diaspora Yeshiva Band defend the use of the rock-n-roll Genre for his music. The argument was that every culture has influenced the music of its Jewish inhabitants. What we call "Good" Jewish Music today is in reality the music of the Russian/Polish/German etc. of yesteryear.

Although this argument has some merit, there still is the "jungle beat" which is unnerving. Also, even if the tune is slow and beautiful, it may not be appropriate for Davening. Not everyone will appreciate their Lecho Dodi distrubed by conjuring up images of Simon and Garfunkel.

12 comments:

  1. לוקח עיניו במקחו. Who cares about silly far-be-it theories like soul and genuine-ness in music when there is money to be made?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did you see Lipas new video? I'm very troubled by this...
    http://www.gruntig.net/2012/12/lipa-schmeltzer-believe-in-miracle.html?m=1#comment-form

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This certainly crosses a line, as a community that frowns on publishing still pictures of women will not appreciate flauting glamorous Shaitels...

      Yet on the other hand, It seems that this video was produced by Lubavitch, and in those circles, part of the Kiruv affect is that their women dress is such Levush.

      The problem is that Lipa has many fans outside of Lubavitch, hence there is bound to be some backlash.

      Delete
    2. Korean Krooner Kashes Horses instead of Kows.

      Brought to you by Kars for Cids
      Galivanting about in the Gutter in his Goal to Get the Girl
      maybe I'm too obsessed with the latest issue of "Dialogue" but to me there was plenty of gaiety in this clip as well.."Gyrating in Jacuzzi and elevator to get Guy"

      Delete
  3. Furthermore, I think the entire video is inappropriate, certainly smacks of Chukas HaGoyim, yet I don't know where to draw the line.

    Some years ago even making music videos was considered by some to be Chukas HaGoyim.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe wearing a striped t-shirt is also Chukas Hagoyim (G-d forbid it be any color but white!). It's always great to have halachic some category H into which we place all items T where T is anything we find distasteful in the current moment.

      Delete
  4. I think the Lipa video crossed a line, but that's not why I'm commenting.

    I'm frankly shocked that Gangnam Style is popular at all. It's a nauseating song to listen to. And to include it at Jewish weddings? Come on, let's pretend to have a semblance of kedushah.

    ReplyDelete
  5. let's pretend to have a semblance of kedushah.

    Good call. After all... hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I yawn and roll my eyes at the killjoys who seem to think that the mere existence of hypocrisy somehow discredits the idea that one should at least attempt to act ethically.

      Undoubtedly I could extrapolate on this quote, but I'll assume you get the point. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.

      Delete
  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IJjpOE4UUg&feature=youtube_gdata

    ReplyDelete

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