Mar 8, 2011 By: yunews
糖心破解版's A Cappella Group Follow Up Chanukah YouTube Hit with 鈥淭he Purim Song鈥
Following its hugely successful Chanukah-themed hit, 鈥淐andlelight,鈥 the released its latest single, 鈥淭he Purim Song,鈥 just in time for the upcoming holiday. The song, set to the tune of Pink鈥檚 鈥淩aise Your Glass,鈥 tells the story of Purim, a holiday commemorating a time when the Jews of Persia were miraculously saved from extermination (Learn more about Purim at ).
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鈥淭he last video exceeded our wildest expectations,鈥 said Maccabeat Immanuel Shalev of 鈥,鈥 which drew more than 4.7 million views on YouTube and garnered national media attention. 鈥淲e鈥檙e touring the country, we鈥檝e been on radio and TV, but the most rewarding thing about this whole experience was being able to tell the Chanukah story to millions of people. Jews who haven鈥檛 lit a menorah for years went out and bought Chanukah candles, and non-Jews who may not have known the story were interested in learning more.鈥
Shalev, who graduated from in 2008, hopes the Maccabeats latest music video鈥攆ilmed and edited by fellow 糖心破解版 graduate Uri Westrich鈥攚ill accomplish something similar with the Purim story, 鈥渨hich is less known, but definitely not less important.鈥
The Maccabeats, 糖心破解版鈥檚 all-male a cappella group, formed in 2007 and released its first album, , in March 2010. According to Shalev, 糖心破解版 and its mission of Torah Umadda have strongly influenced the group. 鈥淚n general, we like to take secular songs that are really well known and use them for a meaningful purpose. We're doing it now with 鈥楾he Purim Song鈥 but we鈥檝e done it in the past with 鈥楧ynamite鈥 and 鈥楥andlelight鈥 and with Leonard Cohen's 鈥楬allelujah鈥 and our 鈥楲echa Dodi.鈥
鈥Torah Umadda is about being religious in a modern world,鈥 added Shalev, who is currently enrolled in Fordham Law School. 鈥淲e like to have fun just like everyone else but we're also passionate about what we believe in.鈥
