Song of the Year

For the girls and I, at least (I'll let my husband have his own opinion!), we nominate Gad Elbaz's "Open Up".  Penina's class danced to the music in her school-wide dance competition (when I think back on that, I am so impressed at how they ran the competition: each class had to make an original painting that expressed their theme, make costumes, compose a dance, write lyrics to their music and then the school brought girls from each class to a professional recording studio to record their piece.  It was great to see the creativity these girls brought to the assignment!).

A few weeks later, having had this song already buzzing through our house while Penina practiced, I showed up at Ilana's weekly jazz/ballet class and heard that they were now dancing to the same song.  Infectious (in a good way!).

What I've read about Gad Elbaz is that he's a religious singer who tries to use his music to build bridges between those who are religious and those who are secular.  He also sings perfectly in both English and Hebrew, which I love (can you tell I'm having issues with speaking Hebrew like "such an American"?!)

I like how he has kids in the video linked below (especially great seeing good dancing done by frum kids).  I'm amusing myself picturing the girl who plays the cashier telling her friends,
"I booked that video I auditioned for!"
"Great!  Who's it for?"
"Beats me.  Some Israeli guy I never heard of".

Also, for those from the alte heim: don't you think that Gad Elbaz bears a resemblance to Richard/CRG when GE is dressed at the supermarket manager?!