Keith Khan Harris uploaded two rather disturbing versions of the track «Hava Nagila». One played by the Jewish Metal band Iron Menorah, the other by Polish Metal band Rootwater. Khan Harris offers a rather critical reading of these two tracks. «There is a long history of Jewish novelty acts that draw on the presumed humorousness of Jews contributing to popular music and popular culture. It’s based on the premise that Jews are so nerdy and uncool that to see them rock or whatever is intrinsically ridiculous. And for a long time this was fair comment and novelty acts provided a valid way of Jews dealing with such anxieties. But the thing is – we’ve moved on. There’s too much interesting and vital Jewish popular music around now to see it as only ever a novelty».
If you want to know more about these two tracks, or about Metal Culture in Israel, Africa and many other parts of the world: Check out his blog Metal Jew!
