VALENCIA C.A.(special)--From its foot-tapping beginning to its sway together close, the new compact disk Reggae Chanukah by Alan Eder and Friends is anything but a traditional presentation of the songs of Chanukah -- yet many of them are there.

You'll hear the familiar words and melodies of the traditional Chanukah candlelighting blessing, as well as Chanukah, Oh Chanukah; Maoz Tsur; the Latke Song, and Who Can Retell, but they are incorporated into medleys or are melded with ska and reggae music to produce an upbeat, contemporary sound that brings "hey this is cool" smiles to teenagers and a "well, will you listen to that" sense of wonder to grandparents.

Eder, a faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts, not only internationalizes Chanukah musically, he also globalizes it philosophically right from the very first band of the album. In the opening number, which calls on listeners to "be all that you can be, join, become a Macabee," Eder tells us that to qualify, in the words of legendary reggae musician Bob Marley, we've got to "get up, stand up, stand up for your rights; get up, stand up, don't give up the fight." Among those who have qualified for the Macabee army:

Reverend Martin Luther King
Mahatma Gandhi, Yitzak Rabin
All warriors of peaceful means
Who stood up for their rights, never gave up the fight ...

"Warriors of Peaceful Means' could be the subtitle of this album," Eder told HERITAGE in an interview from his Los Angeles home. "In other words, the warrior spirit -- the attitude that says 'I will not be held down and I will not be oppressed'-- but also says 'I don't have to kill you or anybody else to be who I am.'

"Now King and Gandhi lived their whole lives that way," Eder reflected, "but when I first penned the lyric with Rabin, I questioned did he belong in the same line as these other men who were always peaceful? 

"Even though his hands were covered with the blood of battle ... he became a man of peace," Eder said. " So I consider him 'a warrior of peaceful means' and ironically the many times he eluded death on the battlefield, he was finally taken down by one of his own countrymen."

Ironic, isn't it? The only Jew of the three martyred heroes, and Rabin is the one who requires to be reflected upon before qualifying for inclusion in a Chanukah song! But this is a universalized Chanukah -- not a particularistic Jewish one. 

Throughout the album, lyrics to captivating beats try to drive home the message that "there are things worth fighting for, things worth being adamant about and those things are your integrity about who you are, but this can be done in a peaceful way, and that it takes a warrior's courage, " Eder said.

Using the drum dance style of the Ewe people of West Africa, Eder reinforced the point with a medley that included a quotation from Debbie Friedman's song, Not By Might, Not By Power (which in turn drew from Torah):

Not by might, and not by power
But by spirit alone shall we all live in peace.

To this he added a "get up, stand up" refrain from Marley, as well as some additional Marley lyrics from No More Trouble:

We don't need no more trouble 
We don't need no more trouble
What we need is love to guide and protect us all
What we need is love to guide and protect us,
We don't need no more trouble.

And he also included a portion of Peter Yarrow's Light One Candle:

Don't let the light go out.
It's lasted for so many years
Don't let the light go out
let it shine through our love and our tears.

Having grown up in a Jewish home and having studied West African music on a Fulbright scholarship, Eder is well-equipped to merge both ideas and musical styles

An absolutely memorable example of this talent comes in the meshing of "Lion of Judah", a song born out of Rastafarians' belief that they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, with the Chanukah song "Maoz tsur" (Rock of Ages).

Using a Nyabinghi chanting style -- used in certain Rastafarian prayers --
Ras Michael, a musician who was the first to record Lion of Judah 35 years ago reprises it on this album:

The Lion of Judah shall break every chain
Conquering Lion shall break every chain
The Lion of Judah shall break every chain
Give thanks and praises again and again.
 

The English lyrics of "Maoz tsur" agree both musically and philosophically that a Higher Power can redeem. 

Rock of Ages let our song
praise your saving power
'You, amid the raging foes
were our sheltering tower...

As Eder's music is globe-girdling, so too is the band he assembled to record it.

"We have several people from West Africa who teach and perform West African music here in the United States," he said. "My music director is from Turkey, he happens to be a Turkish Muslim. We have a Brazilian; We have Hispanics; people of just about any religious affiliation you can imagine: different stripes of Judaism, different stripes of Christianity; I mentioned Islam; there is a Baha'i in the group, and the list goes on.

"I didn't set out to make it that way," he added. "It is just a natural function of finding other people who shared this global vision of music and philosophy."

Reggae Chanukah is Eder's second album. The first was Reggae Passover, which Eder said grew out of his own habit of bringing a different kind of African instrument to each of his family seders. 

The Exodus story long has been an emotional meeting point for Jews and oppressed people in other cultures -- the African-American spiritual Go Down Moses being the best known case in point. In Jamaica, Marley's music so drew on the Exodus for inspiration it was called "liberation music."

When Eder meshed Hebrew songs and African rhythms, he figured he simply was following in a tradition. But the album, which included a Dayenu set to modern rap music, generated such interest that his group was asked to appear in concert. 

This was no easy feat because with singers, drummers, other musicians and dancers all part of the ensemble, there were more than 20 people to coordinate.

Eder said the experience of concertizing led to the development and recording of Chanukah Reggae -- which not only is pleasing to listen to at home or in the car, but, according to Eder, increases global-awareness just to see performed.

Eder said many Judaica shops have stocked the album which is in both CD and cassette format. Those who can't find it locally may order it directly from Eder's mr. e. records at 
(661) 297-0374.