The Miami Boys Choir (MBC) is a
boys choir specializing in
Orthodox pop.
History
In the early 1970s while studying in yeshivah in Toronto, Yerachmiel Begun created, directed, and recorded three successful albums with the Toronto (Pirchei) Boys Choir. However, in 1976 formed by Yerachmiel Begun as well, the Miami Boys Choir was part of a larger surge in popularity of
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
choral music
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
.
The use of an all-boy choir is related to a common interpretation of Orthodox Jewish law (''halachah'') of ''
kol isha
''Tzniut'' ( he, צניעות , , ; "modesty" or "privacy"; ) describes both the character trait of modesty and discretion, as well as a group of Jewish laws pertaining to conduct. The concept is most important within Orthodox Judaism.
De ...
'' which they hold prohibits males above the age of majority from listening to non-familial females singing even on audio recordings.
While the group was formed in
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...
, after releasing the first few albums, Begun moved the choir to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. Although he retained the "Miami" in the name of the group, subsequent albums were released with boys primarily from the New York/
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
area.
Yerachmiel Begun was the composer for almost all of the songs featured on his Toronto and Miami albums. In addition, he had composed many songs for a number of other Jewish music singers and groups including Simchatone, Kol Salonika (with Rabbi
Boruch Chait), Kol Hakavod, Camp S'dei Chemed International,
Mordechai Ben David, and Ira Heller. Yerachmiel conducted the boys choir on the NCSY record from 1979. In 1981, creating a fresh new sound in Jewish music, Yerachmiel composed the songs for the group and hit album title "Judaea". At the 6th annual
HASC A Time For Music concert in 1993, paying tribute to Jewish composers, Begun was listed and mentioned as one of the Top Ten Composers of Jewish Music. Yerachmiel has worked side by side with a number of arrangers for his compositions, including Yisroel Lamm (the Neginah Orchestra), Suki Berry, Moshe Laufer, Mona Rosenblum, Hershel Lebovits, Vladimir Grinberg, and others.
Over the years, the choir's imaging has changed with the times. Originally called the "Miami Choir Boys," its name has alternated between "Miami Boys Choir" and "Yerachmiel Begun and the Miami Boys Choir." In addition, the album titles have slowly changed over time from just Hebrew/Aramaic titles (i.e., B'syata D'shamaya) to English and Hebrew together (e.g., Torah Today) and finally to the present format, which places "Miami" before the title (i.e., Miami Moshiach).
Compared to mainstream artists, the choir has not had spectacular results in terms of sales. However, in the Jewish music world, they are recognized as a success story. An example is their album released in 2005, ''Miami Revach,'' which reportedly sold over 15,000 copies in the first few weeks alone.
The Miami Boys Choir experienced a resurgence in popularity in 2022, owing to Begun's establishment of a
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
account that posts clips of the group performing. One clip, a recording of 4 soloists (Yoshi Bender, Akiva Abramowitz, David Herskowitz, and Binyamin Abramowitz) performing an arrangement of
Psalms 125:2 ('Yerushalayim') has accrued over 9.1 million views as of October 8. Users have been known to 'duet' the video offering glowing assessments of the soloists' performances, proclaiming their 'biases' (favorite members) within the group, in the same vein as fans of
Korean idol groups.
DVDs
Since very early on, the choir has released
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
and
VHS versions of their live albums. In 2005, "''Miami Revach"'' was released in
high-definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...
.
Prominent soloists and alumni
*
Yaakov Shwekey
*
Ari Goldwag
Ari Goldwag (born 1979) is an American Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, composer, and producer of contemporary Jewish religious music, as well as an author and teacher living in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. He was a soloist for the Miami Boys Ch ...
* Nochum Stark
* Yitzy Spinner
* Nachman Seltzer
[ 25 January 2016.]
*
Shloime Dachs
Shloime Dachs is an American Orthodox pop vocalist. He is also the founder of the eponymous Shloime Dachs Orchestra, which plays at weddings, concerts, and benefits.
Biography
Dachs was born in New York. He has one brother and one sister. His par ...
* Yitzchok Rosenthal (Shalsheles)
* Ari Saposh
*
Mordechai Shapiro
Mordechai Shapiro (born 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and entertainer in the Orthodox pop industry. He has been described as having the "ability to do things with his voice no one else in this business can" by Jewish music producer Yitz ...
* Avraham Solomon
* Elchonon Majeski
*Ophie Nat
*
*
*
*
*Dovid Pearlman
*Isaac Benishai
*Zalman Pollack
*Moshe Blisko
*Duvie Shapiro
*David Herskowitz
*
Yoshi Bender
*
Akiva Abramowitz
*
Binyamin Ravina Abramowitz
*
Yair Kenig
*
Shaul Elson
*
Yosef Schick
*
Oded Kariti
* Benji Elson
* Sol Ayal
* Chanina Abramowitz
* Chiya Abramowitz
* Jeremy Herskowitz
* Ari Broyn
* Richie Ayal
* Max Herskowitz
* Albert Ayal
* Yehuda Gorkin
* Ari Rosner
Discography
References
External links
Miami Boys Choir – Official Website
{{Authority control
American choirs
Choirs of children
Boys' and men's choirs
Jewish American musicians
Jewish musical groups
Musical groups established in 1977
Men in the United States
1977 establishments in Florida
Jews and Judaism in Miami Beach, Florida
Musical groups from Florida
Orthodox Judaism in Florida
Orthodox pop musicians