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New Music Alert! with Zaide Chayim on JM in the AM
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Nachum Segal hosted singer-songwriter Chayim Kessler a.k.a. Zaide Chayim for the debut of "Forever We Will Know" a song about unity that was inspired by the sounds of the shofar.
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Transcript
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Tuesday morning broadcast, JM in the AM.
Well, we have an opportunity for some
brand new music this morning because we
have been uh
in touch with a gentleman named Zaidy
Chaim.
Zaidy Chaim
very interesting fellow, by the way.
I'll say that for uh both on the air and
off the air. He recently released a
studio version of a song that he created
that was inspired by the vision of a
single sound of the shofar uniting the
Jewish nation.
He felt, as did we, that it's
appropriate during this month of Elul,
as we blow the shofar and get ready for
the real
shofar blowing on the second day of Rosh
Hashanah.
Uh we felt it was appropriate to bring
him on and talk about this unique song
that is literally linked to this time of
year. Zaidy Chaim, a pleasure to welcome
you to JM in the AM.
>> Hi, good morning, Nachum. Thank you for
having me.
>> How did you get into the arena of song
writing and performing?
>> Well, before I do that, I want to tell
you that it's always good to be able to
talk because I don't know if you know
the joke about the Jewish husband. Um
you know, the little boy comes home from
school and he says uh "Mommy, I got the
part in the play of the Jewish husband."
And she's like so excited, but the
father's really pissed off.
So, the mommy says, "What's the problem?
He has the lead in the show." And he
says, "Well, I want my son to have a
speaking part."
>> But I'm bummed.
>> Yeah, there you go. So, you know, I
appreciate the opportunity to be able to
speak this morning
and uh you know, tell a little bit about
myself. I um
believe it or not, I'm a baal teshuvah.
I was uh in Los Angeles searching for my
stardom, so to speak, you know, down the
yellow brick road.
And uh on the way, I was uh kind of
mccaroved by Aish HaTorah,
some other influences, and my own, you
know,
growth and I uh decided to follow
Hashem's path.
>> What year did that key road uh road
begin?
>> It started um
Let me think. I think it's you know, I'm
was 67 last week. So, we're talking many
years ago. I was about
30 years old. So, you know, if you I'm
the accountant, but whatever, it's a lot
of years.
>> So, we're talking about somewhere
between 1985 and 1990.
>> Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
>> You were saying.
>> Yeah, so, you know, back then I was um
performing. I was, you know, Baruch
Hashem, I I was doing well. I had uh
a connection with Motown Records um and
uh I was actually in a an acting class
and the agent for um
um
Michael Jackson's brother
um was in the class and they kind of
picked me up and I was doing recordings
over there, which was really exciting.
>> And you were not using the name Zaidy
Chaim, I would assume.
>> No, I was going back then by my English
name, which was Robbie.
>> Interesting.
>> Um and uh and I also did appearances. I
still get residuals from a show. It's a
show called the the Night Rider. It was
a show about a guy
>> I remember Night Rider, of course.
>> Yeah, yeah.
Right, you got it. Hasselhoff and we we
did a show and
>> a Friday night show, though. I don't
know if we ever saw it. It may have been
a Friday night show. I don't remember.
>> I don't remember, but they still play
it. So, it's unbelievable. It's called
in in Peru, they call it Carlo
Fantastico.
>> And how many episodes were you in?
>> I was in one episode for that. But, it
was it was a it was a a special. It's
like a 2-hour show.
And uh they, you know, I still get
residuals. This is like 40 years ago.
It's unbelievable.
>> Unbelievable.
So, this journey the journey continued
and you ended up being a full-fledged
Orthodox Jew, correct?
>> Yes, sir.
>> That took you to Florida and at some
point, I'm assuming you actually started
to write your own Jewish selections.
>> You got it. Exactly. And and I think
that
>> What was the first Jewish song you
wrote?
>> Well, believe it or not, you're not
going to believe this, but I think you
know this because I sent you
another version of this song, which is
the song was recorded recently with
this, you know, large orchestration that
you have. But, I also sent you a
recording with the guitar only, with me
singing.
>> Ah.
>> So, believe it or not, it was that song.
I was at a um
a program for Rosh Hashanah. This is
about 15 years ago, I would say.
You know, my kids were still home and uh
you know,
and there was a divrei Torah, you know,
about the ultimate ultimate redemption
of Eliyahu, you know, blowing the
shofar.
And it inspired me and that's where I
got this idea and I and I put it on a
you know, I recorded it just with guitar
at that time. And then, you know, I was
able to go in the studio and do a
production with it, you know.
>> And you think that And And actually, I
think you told me off the air that you
have um
I don't know if it was a story or
sometimes something happened where this
this song in fact did reflect that there
was a
a message of unity that was being
received. Didn't Didn't someone or or
some entity react to it in a very
positive way when it came to the unity
of
>> I think I think I think what you're
referring to is that we had an episode
in this I live in North Miami Beach.
>> Right.
>> And for those of those those of your
listeners that know, there's two main
intersections that go through North
Miami Beach. There's um
175th Street and 10th Avenue.
>> Right.
>> And they meet right in the middle of the
community.
>> Okay.
>> So, if you go to the middle of the
community and you go west on 175th
Street,
I lived at the exact end of that street,
which dead-end
into 6th Avenue. And you couldn't get
through.
>> Okay.
>> And there was a there was a
there was a you know, the
Dade County, which is, you know,
>> Right. They wanted they wanted to build
a highway through there.
>> Right, exactly. So, I wrote a song
called Community Together, which was
about
you know, coming together and, you know,
showing that that we, you know, we
really kind of like need this quiet, you
know, because it basically if the people
have been there, they'll see there's you
can walk down 175th Street and we're
secluded there. There's no cars coming
through.
>> you'd prefer if they wouldn't have gone
ahead with the project. So, this song
you think inspired people to finally
understand your plight, understand where
you were coming from.
>> Right. And and it was and we sang it at
the at the zoning hearing, believe it or
not.
>> Right. And that made an impression.
>> It's funny. I mean, I I'm going to I can
I can I can tell you the the lyric that
it said every day I hear children play.
On Shabbos, I hear them throughout the
day.
But there's times when the community
needs neighbors and families walk out on
the street. If they open our street to
be a thoroughfare with racing cars
everywhere, will will we be safe? Will
we be sure that our lives will be
secure? That was the third verse of that
song, and that's what that's what we
sang at the at the zoning hearing, and
it worked.
>> Unbelievable. Zaidy Haim is with us live
via telephone. New music alert Tuesday.
He's got a song, not the one that
that he just mentioned that was used at
the zoning board meeting, but a song
entitled Forever We Will Know, which is
one that again, this time of year during
Elul uh
the the unity that we're seeking and the
collective feeling of hearing the shofar
together literally all around the world
on the upcoming holiday and of course
through the entire month of Elul. So,
tell me about the genesis of this song.
>> Um basically, it's it's a song that um
was born from the faith in the final
redemption of the shofar blowing
and ultimate unity of the Jewish people.
Um
it talks about, you know, that we're
stretched out um in many nations
and we're not connected, but also the
shofar the there's analogy of the shofar
having different sounds, which
represents the different parts of the
Jewish people.
>> Right. Oh, good one. I like that.
>> Yeah, and then it comes together, you
know,
>> Right.
And by the way, if you want to tell
Zeidy Chaim that um
one of the great unifiers of the Jewish
people is the state of Israel,
he is the first to agree. He's got
family members there, as I discovered
yesterday in conversation with him. All
right, Zeidy Chaim, with your
permission, I'd like to play this song
and we'll get a comment from you
afterwards. Would that be all right?
>> Perfect. Thank you, Nachum.
>> It's called Forever We Will Know,
subtitled a single sound of shofar. It's
Zeidy Chaim with a brand new single on a
new music alert Tuesday at JM in the AM.
>> [music]
>> We're stretched across
many lands
>> [music]
>> in separate nations, not hand in hand,
[music] but our soul still longs to be
in our sacred home.
The shofar [music] blows with different
sounds.
Each part of a nation proud as the
[music] heart of Claudius Thrower
longs [music] to be
>> [singing]
>> in [music] unity
forever.
>> [music]
>> Just one voice together.
A place
where love will grow within [music] us
all.
>> [singing]
>> A single [music]
sound of shofar
will bring us [music] all much closer
and forever
we [music] will know
who is the king.
[singing and music]
We're fighting for our survival,
Abraham [music] Avinu's child.
As we struggle with
the nations [music] of the world,
>> [music]
>> the shofar blows with different sounds.
Each [music] part of a nation proud as
we look with strength
and turn our hearts [music]
above
to bring our voice together [music]
in unity
forever.
A place
where love [music] will grow within us
all.
>> [music]
>> A single sound of shofar
>> [music]
>> will bring us all much closer
and forever [music]
we will know. [music]
We're waiting for
the final note
when Eliyahu [music]
Hanavi's
shofar
will blow to bring salvation to
>> [music]
>> our sacred
With Kohanim
>> [music]
>> and Levi'im
we will stand in unity
and forever
>> [music]
>> we
will know.
>> [music]
>> A single sound [music]
of shofar,
will bring us [music] all much closer.
A single sound of shofar,
>> [music]
>> will bring us all much closer
and [music] forever
we
>> [music]
>> will know
>> [music]
>> who is the king.
>> JM in the AM, brand new Forever We Will
Know, that is Zaydi Chaim here at JM in
the AM. Zaydi Chaim is with us live
via telephone. The single sound of
shofar, so something as simple as that
can actually uh
promote and establish unity worldwide
with the Jewish people. How's Zaydi
Chaim?
>> Thank you. You say it so beautifully.
>> Yeah.
And I hope that the potential that you
talk about and the reality really that
you mentioned in the song
becomes the in fact our reality cuz we
could use all we could use all the
Jewish unity we can get.
>> You're right. Thank you Nachum. It's
it's Thank you. It's really a pleasure
to be on the show today
and I appreciate the opportunity to
share my music. Thank you very much.
>> Uh my our pleasure and I thank you for
joining us.
Um Zayde Chaim By the way, are you
making this single available to people?
Like uh what should folks do? How could
they find it if it's if it's in fact
available?
>> Well, I decided to do this release of
this single exclusively on 24/6.
>> Nice.
>> So, that's where they can find it.
>> All right. Good people over there.
So, you could check it out, folks. We're
actually on 24/6 ourselves as many of
you know.
Um uh today's uh broadcast of the uh
JM in the AM radio program
is uh sponsored by our friends at
miamibeachcpa.com.
miamibeachcpa.com
and
Zayde Chaim uh based on your uh on your
knowledge, it's quite an outfit
miamibeachcpa, correct?
>> Well, if I could say so myself, yes.
Thank you.
>> Very nice. I like that.
All right. [laughter]
I wish you a shat out tovah and a big
mazel tov on the new release.
>> Thanks so much.
>> There he is, Zayde Chaim. Forever we
will know is his.
Inspired by the vision of a single sound
of the shofar uniting the Jewish nation.
Halavai, halavai.
Messages like this I think bring us
closer to that reality. More coming up.
It is in fact a um a Tuesday morning
edition of JM in the AM
>> Mhm.