8th Day’s Ode to Crown Heights

By COLlive reporter

A new music video starring the popular 8th Day band pays tribute to the warmth, camaraderie and family feeling that the Crown Heights neighborhood is known for.

Directed by Danny Finkelman of Sparks Next and produced by Chaya Greenberg, it was filmed in the Brooklyn neighborhood which is the hub of the Chabad-Lubavitch community and home of the Rebbe.

The video features the local landmarks and figures that make the legendary neighborhood the home-base for hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. It also features a slew of appearances by Jewish music and entertainment stars.

The song “My Shtetl Is Calling,” is a remix of the classic 8th Day song “Babenyu,” with the Marcus brothers giving the beloved favorite a new 2018 modern Klezmer sound.

The music video was produced in conjunction with COLlive.com, as part of the 10th-anniversary celebration of the community news service, and was debuted at the COLlive Day Concert on Kingston Avenue.

“The music video was created as an ode to the Crown Heights Jewish community, which our website brings together every day and makes every fellow Jew ‘just a click away from Crown Heights,'” says Mica Soffer, Publisher of COLlive and a local resident.

“Our vision was to create a heartfelt tribute to the place so many thousands of us, even those living in the farthest corners of the globe, call home, or ‘home away from home.'”

Finkelman said: “I very much appreciate the platform COLlive provided for me when I first started out, ever since my first ‘Unity for Justice’ project for Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin. It was a no-brainer for me to come on board and celebrate their 10th anniversary in the music video tribute to Crown Heights.”

VIDEO: 8th day – My Shtetl Is Calling

LYRICS:
Every morning from the kitchen where she’s cooking
My bubby tells you you’re good looking
The kids they’ll play you “pahchee hentelach”
The bubbeh she’ll make you “frisheh k’neidelach”

But that baker he’s so lonely
My bubby’s kettle whistles for me
My shtetl Crown Heights is calling your name
I hear my shtetl it’s calling

But there ain’t no highway back to Krenitz
And there ain’t no train inside this rhyme
I close my eyes and say it’s just a click away
Welcome to the shtetl of mine
Bubbeh bubbeh babinyu my shtetl’s calling
Shpiel shoin klezmoirimlach
Davaye shoin k’neidelach
Di bubbeh zol zein gezhunt un freilach

Everyone’s your friend in this cobblestone land
Everybody seems to know your bubbeh
They’ll share their wine and their knishes with you
And then they’ll send regards to Shloimeh
But that butcher he’s so lonely
My bubby’s kettle whistles for me
My shtetl Crown Heights is calling your name
I hear my shtetl it’s calling

But there ain’t no highway back to Krenitz
And there ain’t no train inside this rhyme
I close my eyes and say it’s just a click away
Welcome to the shtetl of mine

Bubbeh bubbeh babinyu my shtetl’s calling
Shpiel shoin klezmoirimlach
Davaye shoin k’neidelach
Di bubbeh zol zein gezhunt un freilach

CREDITS:

Song: My Shtetl is Calling (Babinyu Remix)
8th Day Album: Stronger Closer
Artist: 8th Day (Shmuel and Bentzi Marcus)
Arrangements & synths: Yisroel Drihem Studios, Los Angeles CA
Clarinet & accordion: Leo Chelyapov
Vocals recorded at MT Studios Burbank, CA
Production by Sparks Next

Director
Daniel Finkelman

Executive Producer
Mica Soffer

Producer
Chaya Greenberg

Associate Producer
Menachem Weinstein

Coordinators
Mendy Soffer
Toiby Hayes

Special Thanks
Shayna Batya Lipsker
Meir Shemtov
Tzvi Greenberg
Berry cohen
Aharon Orian
Mendy Soffer
Toiby Hayes

Characters (in order of appearance):
Devorah Benjamin
Mrs Marozov & Mivtzoim Ladies
R’ Nachum Markowitz
Gitty Rapoport
R’ Goldstein
R’ Moshe Feiglin
Mitzva Tank-R’ Baumgarten
Darchei Menachem’s class
Rabbi Shmarya Katzen
Avraham Fried
Tzvi Greenberg
Mekka Greenberg
Lulu Soffer
Ice cream truck – Benyomin
Eli Marcus
Baruch Sholom Blesofsky
R’ Berel Kahan
R’ Moshe Pinson
Lieba Kahan, Leibel Kahan, Leah Kahan, Sheva Kahan
Yisroel Clapman
R’ Manis Friedman
Zalman Friedman
R’ Simon Jacobson
Mendy Pellin
Meir Kay
David Chazzan
Vinnie Martinos and NYPD officers
Shmira
Chaveirim
R’ Shimmy Weinbaum
R’ Mendy Kotlarsky
Benny Friedman
Chony Milecki
Mica Soffer
Toiby Hayes
Chef David Kolotkin of Basil Hospitality Group
Devorah Halberstam
Chanina Sperlin
Yoni Z.
Zaki Tamir
Avi Keller
Mendy Sacho
COLlive Photographers – Itzik Roytman and Shmuel Amit
Crown Heights Residents