There's been a slow-rolling trend toward glamorizing Hanukkah over the past couple of decades, mostly as a way of setting it up as the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. My Jewish friends have reminded me on numerous occasions that Hanukkah is actually a minor holiday on their religious calendar. This may explain why collections such as this 2019 compilation are comparatively rare. Some familiar names are on board, some less familiar, but it's an eclectic grouping. I was initially bumfuzzled by opening track "Oh Hanukkah" by Jack Black, as his solo vocal initially felt a bit Tenacious D-like performance-wise. Once the backing vocalists kicked in, I was a lot more comfortable with it. He comes back at the end of the collection with "Chad Gadya (Passover Bonus)" in a similar performance. It's left to Adam Green to inject a little humor with his original story song "Dreidels of Fire." Yo La Tengo, the band that's known for holding Hanukkah residencies with lots of special guests, offers a new original called "Eight Candles" in a sort of French chanson whisper-song arrangement, HAIM covers Leonard Cohen with "If It Be Your Will," and Flaming Lips offer up a typical-for-them original, "Sing It Now, Sing It Somehow." Alex Frankel brings us the synth-pop "Hanukkah in '96," Buzzy Lee continue in that vein with "Give You Everything," Tommy Guerrero performs the original ballad "Dedication," Watkins Family Hour goes bluegrass on "Hanukkah Dance," Craig Wedren sings his original "Sanctuary," and Loudon Wainwright III brings his typical levity to "Eight Nights a Week." All told, it's a kind of public radio-friendly approach to Hanukkah, and you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this.
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This came out in 2012, and it's an interesting bit of historical analysis cast as a double-disc set in which one disc is Hanukkah and the other is Christmas. The Idelsohn Society is a volunteer historical group that studies Jewish history via music, and they've done a very nice job of presenting it, although the heavy lifting was done in the extensive annotation, which includes an essay by Greil Marcus among others. There aren't any big surprises in the song selections, which cut across all pop genres on the Christmas disc, and of course every Christmas song was performed and written by Jewish artists. The Hanukkah disc has very little pop sensibility, although Woody Guthrie's "Hanukkah Dance" is here as well as Don McLean's "Dreidel," the latter reprised by Luther Dickinson, Jeremiah Lockwood and Ethan Miller in an almost soundalike arrangement for some reason. Most of the rest is more traditional Hanukkah music. The Christmas disc has very little rock, but they did manage to get the Ramones and Bob Dylan in, and Lou Reed delivers a spoken holiday greeting. Theo Bikel performs the folky "Sweetest Dreams Be Thine" and a comedy piece "The Problem" directly addresses the competition between the two holidays. The rest is old-school pop music by Mel Torme, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, Danny Kaye, Eddie Cantor, Eddie Fisher, The Ames Brothers, Mitch Miller and that noted klezmer band Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I bring this to your attention not because it provides a source for your mix discs, but because it's an interesting look at the two holidays together. (Although in 2013 Hanukkah actually starts on Thanksgiving....) The art links to an Amazon download, but you may wish to check the society's site if you're interested in all the annotation or the hardcopy version.
Hearing from Mojochronic reminded me it was time to go hunting for another Santastic compilation, but apparently there's not going to be one for 2009. Bad news, or it would be if not for the fact that djBC, the compiler of the Santastic compilations, has instead compiled Menorah Mashups for 2009. And what's not to like, I ask you? Well, the liberal use of vinyl record surface noise on "Dreidl Bells" is a bit of a turnoff to my ears, but that's mostly because it's been a cliche ever since the CD era began -- Matthew Sweet used needle-drop noises on his Girlfriend album in 1990, for crying out loud. "O Chanukah Dubstep Bassline Remix" puts tons of bass on the traditional holiday song, "House of Klezmer" puts rap and hip-hop moves on the Yiddish folk music style, while "Dreidel All the Way" simply mashes up everything it can get its hands on, from The Simpsons and South Park to Adam Sandler to the actual "Dreidel Song" itself. The forehead-slapper from this collection is "Challahback Girl," in which Gwen Stefani meets "Hava Nagilah." Good stuff, and a free download besides.
Following on from this musical charity's Volume I a few years back is this second American music tribute to Hanukkah (yeah, I know how they spelled it, but I'm trying to be consistent here) from 2006. Deanna Bogert kicks things off with a solo boogie piano version of "Dreidel Dreidel," the Bobwhites turn "Blue Christmas" into "Blue Hanukkah," Klezcentricity do a nearly bluegrass version of "Ballad of Chanukah," The Alexandria Kleztet do "Eight Days of Peace" as a rock ballad, and Mark Rubin and His Ridgetop Syncopaters revisit "The Dreydl Song" in "Texas style," Bob Wills that is. David Grover and the Big Bear Band offer an original, "Latkes," about the potato pancake, and Dr. Louie presents his own "Hanukkah in Boston," a boogie-woogie tune. The rest of the performances are traditional songs for the Jewish holidays rendered in more traditional musical styles.
We've told the Hungry For Music story elsewhere, and it all applies here to their 2004 collection of Hanukkah-related tunes. Traditional Yiddish folk songs line up here among a fair number of originals, covering a wide range of styles from actual klezmer to jazz, blues and rock. The Alexander Kleztet keep it real with three traditional selections, Lox and Vodka repurpose the old gospel tune "This Little Light of Mine" into "These Chanukah Lights are a Sign," the Jew-Bop All Stars jazz up "I Have a Little Dreydl," and the Hip Hop Hoodios syncopate "Ocho Kandelikas" with a bit of rock crunch in the middle. Honky Tonk Confidential give us "Honky Tonk Hanukkah," but it's more of a waltz, followed by Evan Johns and Dr. Louie's bluesy "Feel the Holiday Cheer." Chuck Brodsky's "On Christmas I Got Nothing" features a Dylan impression, and then Mark Novak aka MC Macabee gives us the hip-hop "If You're a Macabee (Then You're a Hammer)," and Mikhail Horowitz and Gilles Malkine bring it all back home with the comedic "Hebrew Blues." George Winston throws in a harmonica solo, "Variations on Rebbe Elimelech." This collection treads a fine line between observant and irreverent, so it may be too serious for some of you folks out there, but it's pretty good listening no matter what religion you are.
This 1999 compilation was the second of two albums composed to put a contemporary spin on Hanukkah music. Some of the songs are traditional, others are originals written in the spirit of the holiday. Contemporary and stately is definitely the order of the day; the only break in the mood comes from They Might Be Giants' "Feast of Lights," with its toy piano, rock beat and gentle satire of Jewishness: "You never write, you never call..." Check it out below. Serious stuff from such artists as David Koz, Robin Holcomb, Peter Himmelman, The Klezmatics with Chana Alberstein, Wayne Horvitz, Continuo, Neshama Carlebach and others. The first volume in this series is similar and featured Jane Siberry, Marc Cohn, The Covenant, David Torn, Frank London and John Leventhal. On that one, the only pop-rock move comes from "Lighting Up the World" by Peter Himmelman and David Broza. Overall, a little serious for Mistletunes' purposes, but good for folks who want a more modern sound to their Hanukkah celebrations. 
I'm embarrassed to have not caught up with this 1999 album until recently. The backstory to this Hanukkah Alert is that a then-16-year-old Shirley Braha compiled this grouping of 20 original performances of indie-pop-rock odes to the Jewish holiday. There's kind of an amateur touch to a lot of performances, but a lot of folks will consider that a feature rather than a bug, as they say in the software biz, as the garage pop ethos rules here. It starts out promisingly with "Verhanukkah," a parody of Elvis Costello's "Veronica" by Kisswhistle, and "Menorah Mall" by Winterbrief, a slap at the commericialization of the holiday that repurposes the "12 Days" into eight. And who wouldn't want to spend "Hanukkah in Brazil" with Jumprope, complete with the mellow syncopation of this tune? Josh Bloom gives us a kind of Jonathan Richman/Rubinoos take on "Hanukkah Night," while the Casino Ashtrays' "The Relatives Song" takes on a universal situation from the Hanukkah standpoint. Chariots of Tuna give "I Found Me" a cool Nuggets treatment, while Metronome tries to bridge the religious gap for his "Hanukkah Girl." And even though it barely fits the theme, Bruce fans will want The Teacups' "Max Weinberg," about the E Street drummer and Conan O'Brien bandleader, not to mention The Rosenbergs' "Puff Daddy Isn't Kosher." Great fun for everyone, but unfortunately, Shirley warns us there are but a few fresh copies left of this. UPDATE: Long out of print by now, and meanwhile Shirley has gone on to bigger and better things.
