Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Musical Flashback to 1960: Harry Belafonte Sings Hinei Ma Tov


Hinei Ma Tov is one of those songs, like Hava Nagila and Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, that has broken out of the world of Jewish music to achieve popularity in the general culture. 

Its lyrics are the first verse of Psalm 133, which reads, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד

We found versions of the song in some unexpected places including Indonesia, where a college choir gave a performance that we shared here a few months ago.

In the 1977 television film Raid on Entebbe, Yonathan Netanyahu and Sammy Berg lead the Israeli commandos in singing the refrain while the commandos' plane is en route to rescue the hostages. It is also played during the closing credits. 

In 1960 Harry Belafonte performed Hinei Ma Tov on a TV program in England that was captured and uploaded to YouTube. We hope you'll enjoy this version.

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.) 


3 comments:

  1. His father was Sephardic; thus, Belafonte recorded many Jewish songs. We cannot always judge with our eyes.😏

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