Just hearing “Maccabeats” brings a smile to the face of anyone who knows and loves the music of this uniquely creative, talented, and upbeat a capella musical group.
The Union, Hillside, and Elizabeth communities were treated to a spirited performance by the Maccabeats at the recent Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration at the YM-YWHA of Union county last week to a standing-room-only crowd. Every song elicited a rousing response from the crowd, while hundreds of happy fans danced and sang with the group from start to finish. Opening with “No Oil,” and offering a generous collection of their biggest hits, they also succumbed to the demands of the crowd with encore performances of their signature tunes, “Candlelight” and “Raise Your Glass.”
Prior to the performance, Julian (Chaim) Horowitz graciously agreed to an interview, as the guys munched on pizza from the Jerusalem Restaurant and conversed casually amongst each other and with their sound technician. Julian stated that although he is a founding member and leader of the group, it was the brainchild of Michael Greenberg, and had a lot of “ambassadorial” support from Yeshiva University. The Maccabeats are identified with and have an actively good relationship with YU, who, explained Julian, funded their breakthrough first CD. He described the YU tradition of orthodox Jewish values blended with worldly endeavors as a springboard to the entry of the Maccabeats into the world of popular Jewish music. The Maccabeats started with appearances at YU, and continue to make appearances at YU, although there is no “official” affiliation. Most of the original members still perform with the group.
When asked what influences their selection of music when they compose alternative lyrics to an already well-known tune, Julian responded “Popular music with a lot of public consciousness and a positive perspective is important to the selection process. Without getting into all the legal complications, we choose music that is upbeat and familiar to people.” And the idea is to keep it that way with the lyrics they write for a musical score that is already popular, or while composing an original piece.
Discussing the appearances that are focused on children, Julian expands on that idea by explaining that they also want to spread the message of positivity to the kids, by helping them feel comfortable and happy with learning some of the Maccabeat skills and techniques—even at a young age. For example, on a Shabbos as Kutsher’s a couple of summers ago, he brought young people up to the stage area, while also including the audience, and taught them how to do the “beat box” techniques performed with Maccabeats a cappella style music.
Asked about the production side of the Maccabeats’ work, Julian said that the group does all of the vocal recording in an audio production studio with a professional recording crew. He credits Uri Westrich, a YU talent, with the wild success of their YouTube and other videos—from day one. Uri, amazingly gifted, states Julian, was in medical school but left to devote himself full time to recording endeavors—and has never looked back. Now, instead of medical rotations and board exams, he doctors videos!
The full Maccabeats group consists of 15 vocalists, although they often perform with a split configuration of seven guys in order to cover a greater area, allowing some group members time at home while others are out performing. Julian elaborates: “Every Maccabeat essentially has two full-time jobs.” Rehearsals and practice also require time, in addition to work in the recording studio. To date, the highly successful and popular Maccabeats have three CDs and 30 videos to their expanding credit.
Responding to how this demanding schedule affects their home and family life, Julian says, “There are two ways to look at that question: The first is that many of us love to travel, and we try as much as possible to take our families with us. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to do more travelling in the past few years than we would have otherwise been able to do in a lifetime, and we’ve interacted with so many wonderful Jewish communities the world over. The second is that we love what we do and see it as something that’s pretty important; so we’re happy to make it work—even if that means a 26-hour trip to the other side of the world.”
A very special part of the Maccabeat identity, according to Julian, is that the music is a connection to our relationship with Israel. That’s why so many of their early performances were at Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations at YU. They have performed in Israel three times, and sold out in Yerushalayim. He especially likes that the audiences are a mixed crowd—not just mixed nationalities, but mixed religious affiliations. The Maccabeats strive to reach and inspire everyone, and arouse a positive outlook through their music.
By Ellie Wolf
