Lipa plays Britney

Some of you might be familiar with Lipa Shmeltzer, Diwon remixed one of his tracks and posted it in an earlier blog. He is one of the top singers in the Hasidic community, but also one of the most controversial. I had always found the controversy a bit absurd……until now. A couple of hasidic girls just told me that Lipa takes Britney Spears, The Black Eyed Peas and Rihanna songs and passes them as his own, but in yiddish. The craziest thing is the Britney song he chose to Yiddishize is a song about a Ménage. (click play below)
To give you a bit of background, I’ll quote his wikipedia page
“Schmeltzer’s albums have gained tremendous popularity within the American Hasidic community due in part to his masterful Yiddish lyrics, original compositions, and, most of all, his innovations in fusing traditional Hasidic music with contemporary music styles.
Schmeltzer’s albums have been controversial from the very beginning. Conservative elements within the Hasidic community are unhappy with the spread of Jewish music that is so heavily influenced by contemporary pop music. They further claim that Schmeltzer’s identity as a bona-fide Hasid makes it more appealing to a wider Hasidic audience and therefore more likely to introduce contemporary music to their community, which tends to be insular and more reserved. The effect that Schmeltzer’s music can have on members, especially younger ones, of the community is deemed dangerous by many Hasidic leaders. A number of communities have banned Schmeltzer’s albums.
Proponents argue that Schmeltzer is a maverick in the world of Hasidic music. He pushes the envelope and is innovative in ways that no other Hasidic performer has been. But this is precisely to what the opposing view is objecting.
Schmeltzer is himself a Hasid of Rabbi David Twersky, the Skverer Rebbe and he resides in Airmont, New York with his family. Under the guidance of his Rebbe, he is said to have declined to perform at events with mixed seating for men and women, despite offers of lucrative compensation. Some Hasidic members of the Skvere Community conjecture that Schmeltzer does not follow the directives of the Grand Rabbi, who rejects Schmeltzer’s style and performances, while others deny that there has even been any backlash against Lipa from within their community.”

Links:
Lipa doing Britney’s 1,2,3
Lipa doing the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Got a Feeling”

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