Passover Music: Andy Statman and David Grisman’s ‘Adir Hu’

Andy Statman & David Grisman have recorded a rousing version of Adir Hu (hear it), traditionally sung as part of the Hallel prayer at the conclusion of the seder:

Mighty is He,
May He soon build His House,
Speedily, speedily in our days.

It anticipates the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

This melody–not the traditional one with which I was brought up–was composed by the remarkable Hasidic musician and rebbe, Shlomo Carlebach. He was to Jewish music what Pete Seeger was to folk music: a fertile and fervent purveyor of spiritual Hasidism through music.

Statman and Grisman recorded the song on Songs of Our Fathers. On this album, the traditional klezmer musician, Statman and mandolin great, Grisman unite to perform traditional Jewish music. They focus on songs from the liturgy and other Jewish spiritual traditions. On this particular cut, they play Adir Hu in a medley with another tune, Moshe Emes (“Moses is True”).

Click here to read the other Passover music posts in this series.

For more information about Carlebach, visit the Carlebach Foundation site.