Ari Boiangiu

I initially read about Ari Boiangiu in a posting from MOChassid. A few days later, I heard Ari perform on the Nachum Segal Show and immediately bought his new CD after he performed his live version of my favorite niggun; Kumi Roni.

I have already listened to this CD a few times and am greatly impressed with the high caliber of musicianship. Besides Kumi Roni, my favorite songs on this CD are Ma Gadlu, and Ana Hashem.

In an e-mail correspondence with Ari this week, I asked him why he chose to cover Kumi Roni; a niggun that dates back to the Maggid of Mezeritch and whose words come from Megillas Eichah. Ari responded, "I feel all 3 parts build flow and build from one to the next, which in my mind was reminiscent of someone beginning the long path of teshuva back to God. In fact, the words taken from Eicha (as explained by the Targum) are really Hashem's call to us to return to him with Torah and Tefila - it's this Targum that moved me to call the album Rosh Ashmurot, when the gates of teshuva are open."

Luckily, I have another 13 days to listen to this new CD before Sefira....

(Click on the image above for more sample tracks on Ari Boiangiu's CD)