A Child's Hanukkah

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Holiday albums can be tedious, sappy affairs--drenched in good intentions but sappy nonetheless. Not so, this release from the consistent Music for Little People label. It may be short on old standards, but that's only because there's a lack of English-language Hanukkah standards to begin with. A Child's Hanukkah makes the case for a number of original tunes, and while not all will make the canon, they're consistently entertaining enough for a quality listen. Klezmer is the musical bed here, coupled with joyous clarinet and tambourine fills, supplemented with songs like "The Hanukkah Hop" (a variation on the bunny hop), "We've Got a Lot of Latkes" (followed by "Dance of the Leftover Latkes"), and "God Rest Ye, Jerry Mandlebaum." Held together by dialogue--a family celebrating the holiday together, with plenty of lessons delivered along the way--this is a great addition to any child's Hanukkah. --Randy Silver

Tracks:

Hey! It's Hanukkah!
Untitled
Blessing
Untitled
I Have A Little Draydl
Variations On A Hanukkah Tune
Hanukkah At Home
Hanukkah Fraylach
Untitled
The Hanukkah Hop
Untitled
The Hanukkah Waltz
Untitled
Hanukkah O Hanukkah
In The Darkest Days
Untitled
Ochos Kandelikas
God Rest Ye, Jerry Mandelbaum
Untitled
We've Got A Lotta Latkes
Dance Of The Leftover Latkes
Sh'monat Y'may
Untitled
In The Window
Untitled
Low She Lies
Untitled
Hanukkah Remembered

Amazon.com

Holiday albums can be tedious, sappy affairs--drenched in good intentions but sappy nonetheless. Not so, this release from the consistent Music for Little People label. It may be short on old standards, but that's only because there's a lack of English-language Hanukkah standards to begin with. A Child's Hanukkah makes the case for a number of original tunes, and while not all will make the canon, they're consistently entertaining enough for a quality listen. Klezmer is the musical bed here, coupled with joyous clarinet and tambourine fills, supplemented with songs like "The Hanukkah Hop" (a variation on the bunny hop), "We've Got a Lot of Latkes" (followed by "Dance of the Leftover Latkes"), and "God Rest Ye, Jerry Mandlebaum." Held together by dialogue--a family celebrating the holiday together, with plenty of lessons delivered along the way--this is a great addition to any child's Hanukkah. --Randy Silver

Customer Reviews:

A nice mix of new and old songs.......2005-01-05

What a mechayah! This CD is a great mix of old and new Hanukkah songs, in the form of a family home celebration that is not some tedious preachy trip. The kids joke around with each other, explain a lot of things to the adults, and vice versa, in normal conversation.

As for the songs, there's a nice rendition of the Dreydel song with FIVE VERSES (in English) that explain the meaning of each letter in the game. Plus you can learn to count to 8 in Ladio with "Ocho Candelitas." Other songs are in Hebrew and Yiddish, while their original new song, "Hanukkah at Home" is in English with an Israeli-sounding tune.

Among the other new songs are "In the Darkest Days," which tells how we light the candles in that long nights of the winter solstice, at the dark of the moon. Think about it -- Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev, so Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) of the month of Tevet always falls in the middle of the holiday. Even if you live in the Southern Hemisphere (where it is summer at Hanukkah time) you still light the menorah at the dark of the moon. I'd never even thought about that until I heard this song. What a great insight!

Another winter song on this CD is "In The Window," which tells how Jews in the villages of Europe (and also today) lit thier menorahs on the windowsill. The song goes through lighting the eight candles of Hanukkah and how they reflect onto the newly-fallen snow in a mellow, reflective tune that is very catchy. It's another counting-to-8 song, too.

Not all the songs are so serious. There's plenty of fun and some silliness here, too. The "Hanukkah Waltz" is "lighter than latkes and smoother than schmaltz," and you can "kiss the maydl with the ladle" (Mom in the kitchen?) before you do "The Hanukkah Hop." If you are a gullible little kid who falls for the tale of the "Dance of the Leftover Latkes" your older siblings tell you, then at least "We've Gotta Lotta Latkes."

The last number on this CD, "Hanukkah Remembered," is an instrumental medley of all the old favorites -- enjoyed by the parents after the kids have fallen asleep at last. All in all, it's a wonderful CD -- highly recommended!

wonderful Chanukah music.......2002-10-13

A friend sent us this CD and all of us (children were 3 and 6 years old last year) love it. Musically beautiful, and fun for the children, too.

best kids' holiday CD I've found . . . ........2002-08-12

We bought this on the recommendation of a friend and my daughter loves it. We got it when she was 3, but her interest in it has definitely grown over the past couple of years. She listens to it year round, and I like it too!!

Has the basic music with some patter explaining the holiday.......1999-01-12

Nice sounding renditions of the traditional holiday favorites. Some songs are in english and some in hebrew or yiddish. There is a bit of patter with brief hoiday explainations which would make this a good CD for non-jews but I found the patter annoying after a bit. My kids (4 and 9) enjoyed trying to mimic the accents. I liked Just In Time For Chanukah (Margie Rosenthal and Ilene Safyan) better.

Music:

Music

Music