Darshan does Chad Gadya
Darshan (Shir Yaakov & Eprhyme) perform “Chad Gadya” at the Downtown Seder, which went down last night at the City Winery with performances by Pharaoh’s Daughter, DeLeon, Gary Lucas, Jackie Hoffman (who is freakin hilarious) and Storah Telling’s Amichai Lau-Lavie. Darshan called up Frank London, Chana Rothman & Basya Schechter to join them for their rendition of “Chad Gadya”, ch-ch-check it out.
* Look out for the upcoming Darshan EP and Full Length on Modular Moods/Shemspeed in the fall.
CHAD GADYA by DARSHAN
(Eden “Eprhyme” Pearlstein and Shir Yaakov)
yo i knew this one kid from back in the day
he stayed around the way — never came out to play
baby face, buried in a book all day
he made me promise that i wouldn’t say his secret was to pray
everything was great, until he went on a date
with an infamous feline — fatal mistake
he fell for the bait, wound up face down on her plate
but she won’t escape her fate- my dog Jake
came into the picture, not a moment too late
with a chip on his shoulder, broken heart full of hate
he had nothing to offer, all he ever did was take
she told him to wait, and then he smacked her face
but don’t worry, the dog don’t get away untouched
’cause the story took wings and made peoples blood rush
he caught a beat-down by the arm of the law
a baton to his jaw was the last thing he saw
a neighbor with a cellphone recorded the brawl
and all the people rioted and burned down the mall
before he stepped off the chair, at the end of his rope
that first kid left a quote in a suicide note
it said “do the right thing. be yourself. don’t ever give up hope.”
this water flows from the words that he wrote
the silence that followed was filled with such sorrow
as we all wondered why we trade today for tomorrow
but there’s something beautiful in that moment of reflection
face to face — in the place — infinite introspection
the serenity was shattered by the scream of the sacrifice
pain is the price that we pay for the afterlife
suddenly I grabbed the knife and sang a song I’d never heard
it wasn’t in my language, but i understood every word
וְאָתָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְשָׁחַט לְמַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת
דְּשָׁחַט לְשׁוֹחֵט דְּשָׁחַט לְתוֹרָא, דְּשָׁתָה לְמַיָּא
דְּכָבָה לְנוּרָא, דְּשָׂרַף לְחוּטְרָא דְּהִכָּה לְכַלְבָּא
דְּנָשַׁךְ לְשׁוּנְרָא, דְּאָכְלָה לְגַּדְיָא
וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶךָ
כִּי יי הוּא הָאֱלֹקים
SAMPLE SOURCES
Chad Gadya Passover Chant
Smithsonian Folkways Field Recording
Alla fiera dell’est
Angelo Branduardi
Khad Gadya, Khad Gadya
Ensemble Lucidarium
Besht’s Niggun
Ariel Elisha
Had Gadia
Chava Alberstein
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Shir Yaakov - April 7th, 2009 at 11:31 amBurl Ives
[...] about macaroons. To see the Darshan performance of “Chad Gad Ya” that they rave about, click here. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own [...]
The Modular Update » Blog Archive » Downtown Seder in Review - April 21st, 2009 at 3:02 pm