Category — Horah / Hava Nagila

Our latest Hava Nagila of the month took the top spot on the UK music pop charts and became a bestseller on Christmas Day in 2007! This catchy modern rendition of the song is sung by then 17 year-old Lauren Rose.

I was recently interviewed for this article on the chair lift – you know, that part of the horah dance when you and your new husband are lifted up high in a chair by your wedding guests. Being that I did not have a Bat Mitzvah, I saw the chair lift as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I did however make a concerted effort not to make that face, that really unflattering face that is an expression of the unbelievable fear that you might fall right out of the chair.

It seems as though there is a new backlash against the chair lift.  Some couples are choosing to omi this tradition from their wedding celebration. What do you think of the chair lift? Have you ever witnessed a chair lift mishap? Do you plan to include the chair lift at your wedding?

Photo credit: Carla Ten Eyck

Did you ever think that you’d see someone do a triple axel to the music of the Hava Nagila? Neither did I, but watch as Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko skates to the Hava Nagila for his short program at the 1999 World Figure Skating Championship. It’s Jewish Wedding Network’s  Hava Nagila of the Month!

Neil Diamond sang Hava Nagila in not one, but two films. He first sang the song in the movie The Jazz Singer in 1980, and then in the film Keeping Up With the Steins over 25 years later!

Being that today is my third wedding anniversary (amazing how time flies!) I thought I would share the version of Hava Nagila that we played at our wedding. It was important for us to play the Hava Nagila at the wedding, but at the same time many of the ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ style versions were just not our cup of tea. We must have sampled dozens of versions on iTunes before we settled on this techno version of the Hava Nagila by Alex M vs. Marc Van Damme. The non traditional rendition of this traditional song was perfect for us. Have a listen…

If you’re a fan of Ben Folds, you’re sure to love this version of the Hava Nagila which he played at a concert at Charter One Pavilion in Chicago.  Enjoy this Hava Nagila of the month!

I posted this Bollywood style Hava Nagila before and it was such a huge hit that I’ve decided to post a unique version of Hava Nagila each month! This month, it’s Bruce Springsteen performing the Hava Nagila at a concert in Washington, D.C. (View the video about 2 minutes in.) One of the concert go-ers knew that Bruce would probably play Stump the Band as he often does at concerts, and so he decided to bring a sign with him. He chose the Hava Nagila in deference to his daughter who is a 14-year-old student at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md. Imagine rocking out to this at your wedding!

Thank you everyone for your help selecting an image for our invitations!  We decided to go with the image of Loren proposing to me. Here is what Loren and I came up with after merging our designs:

I asked my bridesmaids to wear black, because I figured everyone would have a black dress and that way they wouldn’t need to buy anything new. Each of them will have a different color flower in their hair (naturally in rainbow order). Loren is having his groomsmen wear black suits, white shirts- slightly open with no tie, and Converse All Stars. I wanted his groomsmen’s boutonnieres to match my bridesmaids flowers, but he wasn’t having it :)  He said his dudes weren’t going to wear anything floral!

I love things in rainbow order. These are some spools from my art studio.

As for my own dream off-white mermaid cut/ sevillana style wedding dress…  it still  has to wait another two weeks… My thesis exhibition opens May 8th, I graduate May 15th, then on May 16th I will FINALLY go wedding dress shopping!

Having a band rather than a DJ is important to us, and having a band that can play the Hava Negila is especially important – there’s just something about inserting a CD for the most exciting song of the reception that doesn’t sit well with us.

My first instinct was to hire my favorite band from college. They’re one of those bands that does the perfect cover of both Van Morrison and Ludacris, and whose gigs have been the destination on many a Friday night for me and my friends. Although they didn’t know the Hava Negila, they were willing to learn it for us. Ultimately, I realized that as much as it pained me to admit it, this wasn’t college and our guest list consists mostly of older Jewish relatives – not exactly the college bar scene audience.

Our search took us outside of the city down to New Orleans, where Judaism isn’t as much of a rarity. There are three reform temples, two JCCs, and at least one band that knows Hava Negila: The Panorama Jazz Band (PJB).

The band had performed for Simchat Torah at our synagogue one year, and although I was not in attendance,  I was aware that they existed. I checked out their webpage, and not only do they have an impressive playlist of Jewish music, they are also technically a New Orleans jazz band. Since we can’t let our guests sample traditional Louisiana fare like crawfish etouffe or shrimp and grits, we figured we would treat them to a different facet of Louisiana culture, the music. In addition to playing at our reception, The PJB will also serve as our ceremony musicians.

Since PJB doesn’t typically play much popular music, we had a few decisions to make about our first dance. We could either choose an actual style of song and learn the dance (waltz, foxtrot), or we could ask the band to learn a song of our choosing. From the beginning of our wedding planning, choosing a song has proven to be one of our biggest challenges. We don’t have “a song” per se, but I wanted the song we chose for our first dance to have some kind of personal meaning.

Eventually, I realized that there was one band whose music seemed to follow us around. See, my fiancé and I love to travel and don’t mind long drives. Our longest trips were a two week vacation that involved driving from Louisiana to Los Angeles, and a month long road trip from Louisiana up to Toronto via NYC and Boston, and back down through Chicago. On both of our journeys, my fiance’s iPod contained every Beatles song you could imagine – and luckily, the PJB knows a few of their songs. We chose “Something”, and I’m excited to hear PBJ’s jazz rendition of it… I’m crossing my fingers that their talent will overshadow our lack of dancing skills!

In celebration of Slumdog Millionaire cleaning up at the Oscars, I thought I would share this Indian version of the Hava Negila. Enjoy!