Yehuda Green
| Yehuda Green | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959 (age 57–58) Jerusalem, Israel |
| Genres | Jewish music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, composer, hazzan |
| Instruments | Vocals, uitar |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Website | www |
Yehuda Green (born 1959) is a Hasidic Jewish singer and composer, and hazzan at the Carlebach Shul on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Singing in the style of singer-rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1925–1994), he has been called "more Carlebach than Carlebach", and is acclaimed for his heartfelt renditions of Carlebach's songs.
Yehuda Green was born in the Mea Shearim area of Jerusalem to a family of Breslover Hasidim. He heard his first Shlomo Carlebach album when he was five years old, and was encouraged by his father to sing Carlebach's composition, "Mimkomcha" ("From Your Place"), again and again. He enjoyed singing Carlebach's songs at the Lubavitcher yeshiva that he attended. In 1969 he attended his first Carlebach performance, and began frequenting Carlebach's Melaveh Malkah performances on Saturday nights on Mount Zion whenever the singer was in Israel. After his bar mitzvah, Green went to hear Carlebach lead the prayers at the Western Wall on Friday nights.
In 1980 Green attended a kumzits in Golders Green, London, where Carlebach was performing. Carlebach invited him to sing with him at a concert he was giving the following night. Green says he was so embarrassed that he agreed to perform only from behind a curtain.
Green made his first recording of Carlebach songs in the early 1990s, and asked Carlebach for his opinion. The singer wasn’t happy with the arrangements, which put Green in a difficult position with his music arranger. In the end, the material was destroyed in a fire at the recording studio.
Green released his first album, Land of Your Soul, in 2007. This and subsequent albums feature a combination of Green’s own compositions and Carlebach pieces. One of the tracks on Green's first album, "Nishmas Kol Chai", became a favorite at kumzits gatherings in the Orthodox Jewish world, and Green acquired a following in Hasidic communities in Williamsburg and Monroe.
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