The Interview: Nachum Segal interviews Yerachmiel Begun

Hello everyone and welcome to the Nachum Segal Network presentation of Kosher Halftime Show 2023. Believe it or not, our 10th Kosher Halftime Show, brought to you by the Rothenberg Law Firm at injurylawyer.com. Today, our Kosher Halftime Show is a much-anticipated, long-awaited interview with Yitzchak Meir Begun, the founder, conductor, choreographer, arranger of the Miami Boys Choir. As many of you know, a few months ago, Miami, which has been so popular in our community for decades, they just celebrated their 45th anniversary, all of a sudden went viral on TikTok and other social media platforms. Yitzchak Meir has not spoken at length with any media source since that viral explosion. He reserved that for us here at the Nachum Segal Network. So, with great pleasure, I say hello and welcome to Yitzchak Meir Begun. Nachum, that is an unbelievable intro. Thank you. But you left that one thing. And that is? Composer. Yeah, sorry about that. And to you, that's probably the most important of all the things. Definitely the most important part. Definitely the most important part. I started as a composer, and then I didn't know what to do with the songs. I figured once you have songs, you know, what are you going to do? So, I wound up through certain people that directed me, "Hey, why don't you make a choir?" The whole choir was only an avenue for someone to sing your songs. Right. I never thought of singing myself. I was in Yeshiva. I was like 17, 18-year-old boy in Yeshiva. I'm not going to not going to become a singer. So, I figured, you know, what am I going to do? So, somebody said, "Well, make a choir." And at that time was the Toronto Pirchei, you know, I was in Toronto. So, you know, the composer was a starting, but then I had to learn how to conduct the choir. And then I had to learn how to make choreography, and then learn how to produce the shows. So, but started first and foremost, that was the driving thing. And it's it's funny that that's the one thing I left out, when to me, as an observer of everything you've done for four decades, that's probably the thing I understand the least. I get choreography. I get the leadership when you're on stage with the choir, but trying to fathom how one composes a song, I've never been able to figure it out. I tell you, sometimes I feel the same way. That's called writer's block, right? That's anti-writer's block. Writers Writers Writers block is when it's not coming out, and you say to yourself, "Well, it makes sense. Why How am I able to make a song?" Right. But when you don't have the writer's block, and especially when the song just comes, you know, like people say the songs are in the air and all those type of talk. Sure. And but it just came, so how did that happen? That I also don't understand. Obviously, it's a min hashamayim type of a thing. It gives certain people the ability to describe their emotions through music. Other people describe their emotions by making a $40 million business deal. I guess that's where they they channel their emotions. Other guys an artist, makes a painting. You know, this is it's just a matana to if you feel a certain way that they can make it come out in a song. And if it be an original song, even better. Why did you wait till now? And believe you me, you know, cuz I've said it to you privately, and now I'm saying it publicly, I'm honored to have this distinction. But why did you wait till now to make any public comments regarding what happened a few months ago? Well, in September, when this thing happened, and the calls were coming in from all over, not from the Jewish media, from the secular media, so my my feeling was is that whatever I would say to these people, in first of all, a lot of these interviews were either by phone or whether they're going to come back or going to be like a Okay, what do you think about that? What do you think about that? And I just felt whatever would be said would just not come across right. Would be like, you know, they're all looking for maybe perhaps, you know, to answer one or two questions and wouldn't have the the the the depth. Meaning to say like this, when I'm working with you, we've done stuff together for 30 years. I mean, maybe it's more, but we started 40 years. When we're sitting here now, those 40 years are with us. The understanding, we've spoken about music, we've spoke about these things, and we have the the friendship that we developed. So, I felt the comfortability from a friendship point, from a historic point, from a depth point. And the and I knew that the type of questions that you would ask would be appropriate. So, all those things together made me feel like, "Let me not do any interviews, and if and when you're interested, um I'll be more than happy to do." Well, I appreciate that. And the general media, you know, if you and I'm and I'm sure this is part of what you mean, they don't give you an opportunity to really explain things well. They they they will take sound bites that have no background and context, and that makes it very difficult for the viewer and listener to even understand what's going on. So, Right. I appreciate that you appreciate this forum. Yeah, now that was the That was the only way the first time I would do an interview to talk about this had to be, if, you know, with you. You know, there'll be follow-ups. I don't know what it will be, but this I felt and this was I must have turned down, you know, between both medias in the area of the 30 to 50 interviews. So, I'm I'm happy that you asked me to do this and and during this um Super Bowl time as a alternative than watching what they're doing, which is really your concept, which to me is a big mitzvah that you're doing in that um And this year, I really hope people are taking advantage because the the NFL makes some some improper choices, let's put it that way, and I won't say anything further. So, I I I I think it's an unbelievable thing that you do this, and that the world should know more about what they It's not just a sup- It's not a Super Bowl intermission show. It's an a proper alternative Super Bowl intermission show. So, I think that has to serve as a great value. Appreciate that. Um so, many people are familiar with the story that your son suggested to you that there is this social medium platform called TikTok, and he had a feeling, and I can only imagine if he has the same type of chutzpah, the same type of feeling when it comes to these things like his father does, I can imagine that there was some toichen to it, there was some you know, he brought a good case to the table, let's put it that way. Yeah. And he said if we go ahead and explore this option of, you know, promoting Miami and featuring some of their videos on this platform, it could go somewhere. And your reaction was? Well, my my my son, Chanan Yisrael, he had a line that he used when he mentioned it to me. I think we were sitting on these exact couches, by the way. And um and we were um this after I had moved uh to Jackson, you know, I'm a Brooklyn boy my whole life, moved to Jackson, made a little more relaxed. Still making the adjustment. the adjustments. And he says, "Tati," he says, "What do you think about um this idea of putting it on the TikTok?" I at all. The whole world is still learning. Right, exactly. The only social media that I had knew about was Instagram. Right. And I don't really didn't understand it. I just we put some pictures and some It's not exactly how this is working, how it's getting to people, but it's getting to people. Fine, it's getting to people, you know. But he's used a line of my legacy. He wanted to the Miami the his father's legacy to be more I've got which word to use to me. More robust? To be a grander or put out there. The legacy should be That's something from the point of a legacy. I don't remember the end of the Did he mean it generationally, that you you should be promoted to a group that may not be as familiar with your work? I didn't think he meant that. I'm not sure he meant it, but I said, "What's going to be the tachlis? What's going to be the purpose? You're going to go put on on to whatever this TikTok thing. Who's going to watch it?" I said. "The frum people The frum people already saw it. I don't understand where is this going to go?" Right. So, a bunch of frum people, instead of watching it over here, watching it over there, they're going to watch it over there. So, what are you doing? "No, you don't understand. It could go viral." I understand what you mean viral. What does that mean exactly? It's going to Funny that he sensed that. Oh, cuz my my son, Chanan Yisrael, is more knows more that world, you know, young generation people. So, I said, "You know what? You want to put a couple of these Explain to me that they're short, they're shorter attention span in today's world, you know, all that those stuff. Okay, fine. You want to put it up, let's see what happens." So, I think that I I took the idea that he presented. I said, "You know what? You want to try it? You want to see? Fine." You know, that's basically what it was. You know, we're doing Miami for like I said, 45 years. And um you know, okay, so let's go for it. Let's see what happens. You know, I I I believe that it would just be like, you know, a couple of Only later did I find out that there were other Jewish music singers on TikTok already. And didn't get that many views. There was not that much views. Some of them have 8,000, and a few 5,000, and 2,000. There was Nothing in the millions, right? Right, there was nothing there. There was some other some other rabbonim I'm talking. There are a lot of people For whatever reason, use the platform. Right. So, I That's what I thought would happen. Therefore, what's the tachlis? Okay, so that was my I said, "But you know what? And the it came out of this word, the legacy. That that word legacy wound up really is very interesting idea, and we'll talk about it cuz I think if we get to it, I think it really had um a big, not only an outgrowth thing to the rest of the world, but it really had an effect even on the frum community. Interesting. Uh and and therefore, I think he wound up in the sort of a back door approach, yes, affecting the Miami legacy, which we'll we can go into. Very interesting. Um when he went ahead and uh uploaded, I assume more than one video to TikTok, uh did he give some thought? Was there a process? Which videos and why these videos? Or was it basically, "Let's throw it out there and see what happens?" know. He he he had his machshava of the ones that he felt were right, and he put his comments on. He knew how to put these comments, you know. Um And uh I gave him all the Miami videos. There's like 20 full-length Miami videos, concert videos. I said That's hours and hours of video. Right. Here it is. Do what you want. You know, you know. And he went he started to pick certain things originally. And it it it was interesting what he picked. I I watched it. I didn't know how to get to it, so he explained to me You know, get to it and get the app and the thing and the I didn't know what the hell was going on. And then And then the first one got like 3,000 and 4,000 and 5,000. And I I I couldn't even understand those numbers. By the way, what's 5,000? How did 5,000 people find out about it so fast? Right. Yeah, I couldn't understand this so fast. You were starting to understand what viral meant. Yeah, what do you mean? What What do you mean 5,000? I mean, our market got to put it in the Jewish press. Got to go on the Nachum Segal show. And then we could talk about maybe 5,000. that maybe you'll reach 5,000 people. I understand. What do you mean 5,000? So But I figured, okay, there's some frum people there. I don't know. They spoke to each other. And they found out, you know. So I couldn't understand without And then the number they put another one and it increased a little bit got to 30,000, 40,000. So that's how it started. Why do you think the Yerushalayim one, which I have to assume as a casual observer is the most popular one, why do you think that one was the one that went viral? I I mean, that's the the the the like they say the $6 million question. Why that song? I know that the ones he did before that I thought were pretty good videos. You know, it was pretty good. And then there was this video and another one and another one. I think it was like this must have been like the 15th one. Wow. I think so. And then the numbers were going up on the other ones. They weren't going into the millions. They were like 100,000, 200,000. Right. made a rosha. So I think I think why it had a rosha. And again, this is only my theory of the immediate rosha. In other words, it's not We're not going into the idea of why uh this Jewish music video would have affected people worldwide. That's a big You asked a question about the specific months. Yeah, why was it this one that So I think this video he picked something which had four soloists. Start with four soloists. And I think that the that the world as a whole could identify with individuals more than a choir. Ah. Two Abramowitzes, a Herskowitz, and a Bender. Right. And they were close-ups. Right. So all the other ones were a little bit from a distance, a choir and this type of thing. Very nice. Sounds good. And he suddenly did something with real uptight close thing. And people are into the individuals. Sure. Even in the Jewish music world, you have so many singers. People identify with the singers. Identifying with a choir is not as not as easy. Because who you're really following? Am I following the choir? You know, the younger, the kids, they're not following me. They're following the choir. So there is a social media thing and the viral and the following, you know, this guy's eating lunch and these He's eating lunch on his Instagram and he's walking to shul and he's coming back and This is all following the person. But you can't follow a choir. And I've never over the years really featured the kids. Right. Something that we've discussed Right. many, many times. Right. What would happen if someone approached a member of the Miami Boys Choir and asked for an autograph? Right. And my policy throughout the years is is no autographs. Right. There's no I in team. We are a team. Well, also from from our shkof and what's proper and I don't think that All right. Kids have to see themselves as part of that, not as individuals, and start to get to their head and too much. autographs is yesterday's selfie for those watching who may not know. Right. What an autograph is. Right. Exactly. So that type of thing was always general policy and and fine. And that led self to a certain divider from what's improper and all that. So I I think that the the the idea of, you know, that that they if were individual four kids, I think that when it came out to the velt and it came out to the non-frummer people and into the into the non-Jewish non-Jewish, that's was the impact of that video. And he wrote some very smart lines on top of the four soloists. And the way that was videoed and the song started with that that I think had a high impact. And then of course they sang great. But I think that was I think might have been it. How ironic, and maybe that's the wrong word, that Yerushalayim ends up being the theme of what goes viral. Because you have to admit, if there's something that we want the world to recognize and pay attention to and celebrate, one of the concepts or, you know, one of those things is going to be Jerusalem. Yeah, well, there's a possuk in Tehillim called Yoshev Bashamayim Yiskhak. In the beginning of Tehillim it says Hashem sits in Shamayim and Yiskhak he smiles or he laughs. This I think falls into the a kick out of it. something of that sort. I think the approach could go a little bit different from shatnez. But Yoshev Bashamayim Yiskhak. I think this is definitely Yoshev Bashamayim Yiskhak. who never heard the word Yerushalayim singing Yerushalayim. Right. The fact is the first million people or start to go viral and it went viral very close to Rosh Hashanah. It was a million a day at that time. I don't even think anybody knew what it was Right. from out in the world. Correct. And then some people started to say, "What does this mean? What does this mean?" People started to translate and all that. Then eventually I I saw what the Ben Shapiro put out a video and he said, "Uh this is how ironic this is, you know." But I I think that it was something that uh when a coach decided to like I said at the Hask show, press the button and decided to make this happen cuz it wasn't any of my effort. I did nothing as the story is clear. Um I think that by this song became the thing that was like obviously it's it's a message for the world if they want to know what it means. Right. Right. And uh he said it very smartly, Ben Shapiro. He said not only is it a a message that about Yerushalayim and the and that Hashem surrounds the world, but it it sounds it surrounds Yerushalayim, but all that there is a Hashem in the world and all these multiple messages are in this sentence. But yet it didn't really offend. Pretty much 99% of the comments were were positive. All right. And more than that, pro-Jewish and pro this and very heavy statements. So I think that the fact that it was Yerushalayim. If the song would have been about something else it sort of caused this multi-dimensional thing and that became an unbelievable factor that the song was about Yerushalayim. Now you and I have had only one conversation on this topic since Rosh Hashanah. Um in fact, if I knew this was going to happen back then, I wouldn't have had any conversations. Well, I can't remember anything. We had one conversation on the phone where I called you and basically as a friend said, you know, this Tell me what you're going through with this whole thing, you know. Right. Right. Right. And in that conversation you and I, from different avenues, we sit in different places in the Jewish music world, basically came to the same conclusion. And that conclusion was, you know, the question is what Yirachmiel Nachum, why is this going viral? What's going on? And the answer we came up with was that there are people out there thirsting for meaning and thirsting for appropriate, funny we say this during the kosher halftime show, thirsting for appropriate entertainment and appropriate atmosphere. And there's no doubt in my mind, and I'm sure you feel the same way, that even a simple heimish, well-produced Jewish music video can bring people into that type of atmosphere and feel like, "Hey, there's something good about this. There's something really nice and pleasant about it." Yeah, we talked about it. Uh I think that we touched upon I'll say it if you don't feel comfortable saying it, is that Listen, the world, the way it's developed over the last, you know, 30, 40 years, and more godless and less spirituality and more focus on secularism and all this type of thing and anything goes in life and all these type of things, that all this song came along and reached these millions of people that are not part of the frum world. And these people are are touched by this and they're being They don't even know why they're touched by it. That was the question. The question is what is it in this music that's touching them and that's filling something spiritually? And they decided to make videos of it and to comment on the the imitators imitate. But But the bottom line is the general comments through were "This is doing something for me. This is doing something for me." By By everybody. And I want to be Jewish because of this. And the thousands and thousands such comments. And people who are not Jewish, people who are Jewish said now they want to go to minyan. And people didn't put on film and say they want Right. Right. How What is What is the pshat? What is Why did this happen? What was this music touching them? And to me, it was sort of like this is what we spoke about, but it was that there is a a spirituality in the music based on my Torah upbringing. My my Torah upbringing, but my music is a contemporary blend of that. But it still has a um you know, I'm I'm from the yeshiva world, so it has a Torahdika um Nishamadika feel where it comes into. And that is what they're feeling. That's what they're hearing. But they never heard anything like that. Think about it that before this, these millions of people, which now that one video is 12 million, and the amount of videos that are now have been seen through the TikTok uh universe Mhm. that are have a hashtag of Miami Boys Choir is now up to 261 million. Unbelievable. It look under you can see it when you go search under Miami Boys Choir and it it gives you a choice and one is called hashtag. You hit the hashtag and it says now it's up to 260 When it first started it was 100 million. Now it's 261 million. Now views. 261 views of Miami Boys Choir videos. Not only this video, other videos. What is it? Why are they watching this? If If anything, they should say "Oh, this is not for me." This is not for me. They've got all this other The answer has to be that it's touched a nerve. Touched a spiritual nerves and empty Something in them and that's had that effect. There's a wholesomeness there that they are gravitating to even if they don't realize that they're gravitating to. Right. Right. It's good melody, well performed, professional, and impressing people about the Jewish people, which is wild. And the comments over there which are have shocked me about you know, uh well, if this would have come out under Nazi Germany, this must be hundreds thousands then that never would have happened. Right. I mean, what is Why What is this about? someone say that, right? It's so it's touching them in a way and impressing them, which we took for granted because we have this for 45 years in our field. So, that alone should be a lot to thought. More with Yossi Begun coming up after this commercial break. Keep it here at the Kosher Halftime Show. We're here in Piedmont day. This is the area where all the truffles come. The black truffle, the white truffle. We need the dogs and we go inside. Let's go. Oh, wow. Look at this. Wow. Is it a good song? Is Y'sholom a good song? Where does it rank in your Yossi Begun's hundreds and hundreds of songs, maybe thousands at this point? honest, it's a lot better than it was. Because honestly, and you know that I'm very honest with you. Right. It's not your best song. No, it's not. It's not. In fact, I would put it as, you know, got a nice intro. Yeah. Has a great hook, as the as the kids would say. Right. Right. And and you know Right. Right. I I I It It is um a a shocking thing that a song that was a secondary song at that time. Right. Uh you had Yovo and you had the Galey and you had the Just about that time, 2008. And Mashiach just a da I'm not talking about songs It's actually on the Mashiach album, right? Right. Uh well, the Mashiach album then you have the Yovo album and and the Yovo video. I mean, you know, we we when we talk about Miami songs, people talk about the great Miami songs, Sunshine and Mashiach and the Shmaya and the Haira and, you know, whatever other songs. So, it is surprising if you're talking about a ranking of, let's say, 400 songs that I made on albums going to be in there at the top. It's going to be I mean, now it's going to be there. It would have been somewhere around maybe 150, 200. So, so it is it is unbelievable that that song and then other songs which have now gone on to and spread out there have not gotten the 12 million. They've gotten Some have gotten 2 million, 1 million, 600,000, which is also viral, but nothing has gotten that amount. So, that alone you know, needs needs to be understood. But it's funny that Y'sholom is from the Mashiach album because the Mashiach album is not your conventional Miami album. I did a little bit of research. Right. You're 100% right. And there's some guest stars on a studio album, which is really unusual for for what Miami was doing all those years. Yes. And there were medleys of songs that were not Yossi Begun songs, which is also very unusual. So, isn't it funny that that So song is representing Miami to the world and it's really from a source that's so different from your usual work. that's a very interesting point. In fact, I will also will tell you something that when did I compose this song? When was Y'sholom composed? And I'll be able to answer that now. What happened was is that in 2005 we put out the Revach album. Right. And every once in a while we put out interim albums. We do greatest hits, we do other type of things Hanukkah Well, the Hanukkah around the being, you know, really unbelievable album. But then the next album was Yovo in 2008. Now Now in 2006 or 2007 I was invited to come with the choir before Purim to Eretz Yisrael to do a show there in the Yad Eliyahu. And it was a Chabad Chabad show. So, I figured, okay, we're doing a Chabad show, I I need a Mashiach song. Right. And they wanted to fly out and we're going to do like, I don't know, 40 minutes on the show. It was in the Yad Eliyahu. And it was like flying in and out in 2 days cuz kids had school and Purim before Purim. So, we took the show and I went out there with only with soloists. Like with um I think seven or eight kids. It was the first time I had gone out with seven or eight kids to do a concert. As opposed to a full choir. Right. We had at that time uh you know, much many more kids. So, I said, "You know what? Let me try. I'll go with seven or eight kids, which means each kid will have his own microphone." The whole idea of every kid having his own microphone really visually only started on the Yovo album. All the previous videos they were they're standing by I remember the first night you did it in Brooklyn. Right. The Yovo was the first one that everybody had their own microphone. Where did that come from? Um the idea of everybody having their own microphone was an idea I had for years before, but I practically uh there was a problem with the technology of everybody having their own microphone, but eventually they got better. So, we went to do the Eretz Yisrael show at the at the Chabad show in Yad Eliyahu. I made this Mashiach song. Got it arranged, had it, taught it to And that's how the Mashiach song was made. Went to Y'sholom Went to Eretz Went to Tel Aviv and I was there for a couple days. I was in Y'sholom for a day or two. That's when I made the Y'sholom song. That Y'sholom song was made at that time when I went to Eretz Yisrael either on the when I went to Y'sholom or on the plane, whatever they Y'sholom song. So, I had it I didn't sing it at the concert. So, when it came back and I and and the and the Mashiach song went they went crazy over the song. It was like a wild wild thing. And we did it at that show at at that show. We did it twice. Once when there was 12:00 they were closing the lights, we did it a second time one earlier. And then I came back. I said, "You know what? I got to put out this song." And then I had a Pesach concert with other singers, other things, and I figured, "You know what? I have this thing. I have some other singers, some other stuff. I have the Mashiach song. I have the this Y'sholom song. And I'll put this album out." And that came out the Mashiach album that came out. I had a different version of Y'sholom. Had Yossi Bender sing a chazzan part in the beginning. And that's how the Mashiach album came out 2007. A year later we put out the Yovo album, which had the all those other songs. And Y'sholom was not on that album. Right. And we did the video of that concert and then we did Y'sholom during that event. And we did Mashiach on that Yovo thing. That's how That answers the How does that answer the it's sort of it's sort of that that Y'sholom song was created by accident when you think about it. Yeah, pretty much. It wasn't planned at least. No. Um so I'm sure plenty of people are curious. Um obviously for the last 45 years uh you've always had a plan going forward with Miami. Uh you and I have always discussed how in both of our industries we've adjusted really well, thank God, every time we get into a new era, so to speak. And there've been a lot of eras in our in our careers at this point. Um does this change your plan now that this viral sensation has occurred? Is Is your uh I don't know, your your calendar of of future projects, or in general your attitude towards future projects, any different than when you started 2023? Well, that's a great great point. Um I think it's to be split into two parts. One is you know, promoting the Miami music to the world. That's through obviously through social media. Continue to do that. Old videos, new videos of the choir and new song or whatever. So, that's like part one part. The second part is to our regular frum world, to our world that we've been working for 45 years. Now, this whole thing had an effect on the frum world. Because the frum world now said "Oh, wow. What happened Miami? We mean, of course we've been following Miami." They said, "But so a lot of people in the frum world took a second look at Miami." Mhm. Which they had not maybe looked at for a while. Right. Some people had, right? Well, these you know and they start to hear these songs. A lot of people that didn't even know a lot of the songs from Yovo, who didn't even know those things, the stuff that was being viral. And suddenly they would say, "Wow, these songs." You know, and then people started to listen on the Spotify and all these things. So, the frum world started to give a a stronger re-listen. Got tons of emails and letters from people. From people as well as non, but saying you know, I really didn't appreciate till now and now I appreciate what these songs are and and and this and then the kochos and the spiritual and the shalom and all. And where was this person the last 20 15 years? Where was this person? They went elsewhere. They went elsewhere. All of a sudden, you know, NBC News is appreciating you. They've They've turned more attention to you. And this lent itself to re-evaluating I had all my new songs all set at the end of the summer. All recorded. For an album that would likely be released when? Which was going to be released the latest before Pesach. Now, in the next few weeks. That was the original plan. Maybe even earlier. Might have been in Hanukkah. But when this happened in September in this whole fallout, my feeling was, one second, you know, is now the time to be releasing a new album in the middle of this? To me, it's just like I have a new album. I have a new album. All these songs are now all old albums are new albums. This became new. So, it seemed to be almost like would be the wrong time. So, what is your timetable now? So, now Cuz when I was last visiting with you, Right. you were alluding to the possibility of it being out before Purim. Is that now not going to happen? I think that I became very busy with this. And um you know, I didn't compose any more songs because I'm very happy with the songs that were there. I'm really, really happy with these 10 12 songs that I have. It wasn't like, oh, I have all this extra time now. I'm going to compose new songs. No, I I really I really like the songs. And we did them in concert. We did four five songs in concert. And well received. And but I didn't give to the audience the real Kanacka Deka songs. I didn't even give that out. And the songs were well received. And um you know, right now you know, I can't say that it's something that I would I would be able to put out now. Earliest log bomer, it sounds like. Earliest. Um I think that right now I have to let this new album ride. You know, we have a new album right now. This is feeling of this I might put out a single. Right. I might put out a single in the middle now. Maybe before Purim. Maybe before A new custom that's developed that we never had years ago. singles world. Right. Which I don't totally understand that either. But that's the world we're in. Sure. Um and the uh so so we have to have to see exactly. Um in the meantime, while all this happened, new boys entered the choir. Right. And the popularity of the choir, I have to assume, among those kids who want to be in it is is much greater. the choir before the summer on their on the songs. Right. So, now it becomes the question of a lot of new in the choir. There's a lot of new kids now. Do I want to include them in the recording of that? So, it's a little bit of a a modification. You spoke about this new popularity, which I certainly appreciate. Um Were were you on stage between September and now at events that you probably would not have been on stage for if not for this viral sensation? Well, there's no question that the calls coming in high volume. They want Miami. Right. And uh um less from world or the whatever the modern Orthodox to the non to to the Federation and to the on and on and on. And calls that I don't think anybody ever got to to perform. Unfortunately, a lot of those shows we're talking about, let's say 40 to 50 calls for shows. But a lot of these shows I can't go with the kids. They're in school. So, I can't just run off in the middle of the week or go here. I can't do it. So, it's very, very few times and slots that we can go run around out of town. I can't just run off to Portugal and do a show. I mean, how am I going to do that? Yeah, it was during the summer, but it's not really possible to do a lot of these shows. So, there were a lot a lot of calls. And a lot of these calls I told them it just was not possible. Maybe another time. Maybe another thing. Right. So, there were a lot, but there are a lot of shows. And even the shows that we did do have been quite busy uh since then with shows. But picked out the ones that make sense. While I was in LA, they were talking about your performance. I was on stage with you at HASC. They got a tremendous reception. And uh Right. It's been uh and the the receptions are have been pretty strong. Right. Sometimes pretty wild. than usual. Because you have to admit, the reception's always been strong for Miami. But even stronger when you had a reception like, you know, uh you know, when I first put out Adon Olam and Hinni Matov and Revach and the crowds were wild, you know, it was a different type of wild. A different type of wild. Almost the difference here it's I'm going to How many shows did we do songs where these big hits and ended with the big hits ended with the Revach ended with the Adon Olam. Ha! That the crowd was wild, right? Right. But here there was an element mixed into this. Few elements. But one of the elements was the life of the crowd was almost like with a pride. A certain pride. Right. That this music has become worldwide, but it's really our music, you know, from the from world. So, it's like a pride that the crowd has a pride in it. And almost like a like a almost like a um a spiritual There's a word for it. I forgot the word. It's almost like, you know, where everybody's like An epiphany. Uh right. And that together with that, wow. But I could see it in the eyes of the people. I could see in the thing There's like like a happiness of this thing that they know it's out there. We're doing it here. So, it's different than, you know, okay, a big hit song from the past. Right. And again, you know, we do a show now. We save Yerushalayim for the end. Right. But right. It's become the encore. Right. Right. But that's part of the new album. There you go. A few moments ago, we mentioned that you were at the HASC concert with with the Miami Boys Choir just a couple of weeks ago. We actually have footage from that event. Take a look at this. So, uh there's some curiosities that people have. I know as an insider that you are and we discussed this earlier with some of the policies of the choir. I know that you're very careful about the image of the choir, to say the least, and rightfully so. Um how did you think the four soloists from yesteryear handled the entire situation? Some of them decided to to do low key. To be low key. Um And it depends on what they are, where they are in life. You know, are they in Yeshiva? Are they not in Yeshiva? Are they are they being a businessman already? You know, these soloists since 2008, so now it's 14 years later. So, if at that time they were at 12 or 13, you talk about 26. Well, if somebody's already out there in the world and what his background was also, you know, what kind of background he had. So, but as a whole, I would I would say they've been respectful. They've They've spoken They've got called by newspapers and by this and that. They spoke respectfully about about it. And I think they've handled it pretty good. Um I you know, I'm I I do like that the music should speak for itself. I'm a big believer in that. You know, you got to you know, like, okay. And that's part of the reason why I didn't do an interview. Let the music speak. Let the music speak. Let it be. Let it be, you know. Give it a chance to breathe. Yeah, you want to go right away. Well, I was this and I was that and I was Let it be. Now, we're sitting here in January with a perspective from September, October, November, December for 5 months. A different field, different perspective. Not like so I I I I I am a big believer in let it be. Let the music happen. So, um So, I think they did okay. sounds like generally you felt they they acted like Miami people. I I think so to a degree. They have that training Right. to know what to say and what not to say and not just being trained in music or in harmonies or in how to grab a microphone to be a soloist. Right. There there other components to it as well and part of it is the the image that they project and that you made that obvious over the years. mean, it's part of what we've spoken about many times is the is the um I'm to be to be mature, to know what to say, how to be, take take ownership of your responsibilities, what to do, and be more self-aware, and all those things come to besides the vocal training and the musical training. That's part of it. You ask any producer and they'll tell you the key to success is great songs. Right? That's what it comes down to. Uh all the other stuff is, you know, nice add-ons. Um is that the success of Miami? Is the majority of the success of Miami because, hey, the bottom line is that from the beginning they've just been great songs? Well, my father, olav hashalom, would definitely say yes. My father was a very big believer in it's all about the songs. Now, there are stories of great songs that have been sung by certain artists that were not so good that didn't make it until it was re-sung by the different artist. Right. So, um I think that the Miami's foundation are the great songs. That and then that I was that I was mazel to write. But, then making a great singer on top of it. I look at Miami as a singer. Right. It's an entity of a singer. The singer is the choir, the harmonies, this. Forget about the choreography, forget about the stage. Training them for real, singing live in concert. How to sing, how to breathe, how to this, how to sound like a mature I think that the combination is really where it came across that takes it over level. If you have the great song, it's not going to it's just not going to make unless it sounds, you know, an A1 thing. So, I I think that the foundation is definitely the songs. There's no question about that. With that in mind, before the Besiyata Dishmaya album came out, there were a lot of great songs that you were responsible for both Miami and, you know, through other venues. But, it seems to me that that album, all the way back in 1984, is now viewed as a landmark revolutionary album. The number of great songs on it, the variety, the incredible potpourri, if you will, of both fast and slow songs. So many of them that mean so much to the to the Jewish world. All these years later, discovered by youngsters who, you know, who were not even a thought when this album came out. It is is it Looking back historically, was that album as vital as I'm portraying it or Miami would be where they are right now even without a landmark musical event of that era? I believe that that album was a change in music. Meaning, it was a Yeshivish sound with a contemporary sound, with great songs, simple arrangements, and very nice singing. That contemporary Yeshivisha sound with my sound was something that the believe it or not had not been there before 1984. If you look back before 1984, Carlebach sounds and Carlebach was doing more of a European sound. I mean, you He's not a contemporary up sound. It was not Carlebach. Great songs, fantastic songs. Very heartfelt. And easy to sing. And easy to sing, but it's a completely different world. Yigal Salik from London School of Jewish Song had a European feel also. A little more sadder some of the songs. Some were up, Kol HaOmer. But, as a whole, it was more of a the strain wasn't this up contemporary Yeshivisha thing that people could And Mordechai Ben David was doing a Chassidic band or whatever he was doing. So, when this came along and the early Miami albums wasn't that. The early Miami was something else. This came across with this blend. I think that blend and those songs was the tremendous chiddush. Now, what I'm trying to say is like this. There are some people that say those were the best songs and that's it. Whatever I've done for the last 30, 40 years, oh, it was very nice now, but I don't believe that way. I believe that that was such a chiddush and such a breakthrough and so different that it took its place. But, when you go back and look at those songs, some great songs there. Yep. But, there's some great songs later, too. Sure. But, it was such a um important album and such a breakthrough album that it had such a high impact. Again, some people might disagree. They'll say, "Wow, there's nothing like Ki Yato Hu and there's nothing like Right. But, I would turn around and say, "One second. How about How about When? How about Sunshine? How about this? How about How about The list is endless. How about How about Tov U'Marbeh U'Mizakeh? They keep going. So, what what So, what does that mean? But, the impact of that album was from the chiddush of from the freshness of it, from the breakthrough of it to the degree that I was told by somebody, maybe you, that when that album came out, you were in YU Right. as a disc jockey and you played the whole album straight. Or was that on your regular radio station? I'm not sure probably a little bit But, and you played the whole album straight. Now, nothing to take away from every song on that album. There's some songs in that album which are okay. Not every song is fantastic. But, it was an unusual practice. Right right right. That's what I believe what that album did. And then, I continued that tradition and just, you know, composed differently or whatever. But, the shorish was the same shorish moving forward. My conversation with Yitzchak Meir Begun continues after these messages. Keep it here at the Kosher Halftime Show. Is your composing any different now after this whole viral video sensation? Do you feel a responsibility, you know what? And by the way, we discussed this at drop when Chanukah came out, when your Chanukah album came out, cuz you viewed that as, you know what, there are people who may not be strictly in the frum world who may pick up this album or may be attracted to it because of its theme. After all, it's Chanukah. Do you feel a responsibility when you sit at the piano now and start composing, you know what, I really should compose something that will have a mass appeal, not not for commercial purposes, but a mass appeal just to get more and more people into this genre? Get Let them appreciate our tradition even more. To be straight about that question, that's a great question. Is that Like I was telling you, Mashiach Hashem, the new album will come out and those songs are finished. Right. But, it was hit it was there was a certain call that came in. I don't want to mention yet that to do with to perform at a certain event. And this event is like a tremendous Jewish event. Um big. Whether I'm going to wind up singing there or not, I do not know. And the person was calling me, trying to convince me to take this job. They bring the kids and was talking about what they do and it's like a big charity event, but very And when I got off the phone, my feeling was, you know what, if I wind up doing this, then I want to make a song for this event specifically that has this sort of you know, has something that these people A message. event with 20,000 people. I mean, we'll see whether we wind up doing it. Will be like something that they'll be able to identify with with an English will be in English and certain type of thing. So, I am thinking a little bit about making something that could sort of But, it would be something that the frum world could also Yeah, of course. has greater mass appeal. has a greater mass appeal. Hey, I'm thinking about that. I do have a certain idea in mind. I think an important idea. I didn't make the song yet. But, in my mind, I hear it. I didn't have time to sit down and make it. I did sing it once a little bit to myself, but I didn't record it. But, I I think I know. But, I think yes, there's makom for that. But, I got to be careful with that that it still has to have the authenticity. Right. to have the authenticity and the spirituality. You got to be careful if you start to compose for that world. Right. But I I I can't some of its flavor. Right. Got to be careful and get that that that balance. Right. Uh there are some amazing Jewish music stars on the scene today who are Miami alumni. And I you must take great pride in that. I can only imagine they they learned a lot of their stage presence from you. In fact, I think you and I once had a conversation um I think this was a on-the-air conversation where you said to me when I was comparing one performer to another, you said "Yeah, obviously he's better on stage. He did 200 weddings before he was ever on stage. The other guy never did weddings." And you of course that was a big lesson to me about what experience is all about, 10,000 hours, etc. etc. Do you get the same type of nachas from composers who are Miami alumni? Um I tell you be honest, I don't know that many composers. are a couple that are pretty well known. A lot of singers. Right, but I'm saying in the composing realm there are a couple out there. Right. Um I think when I think the answer to that question, if if you don't mind, I will sort of make a hosafa add on to regard to the singers or the composers who are Miami. If they are going in a proper way and their type of singing or the type of songs is a spiritual way, a torahdical way, a proper way and not any suggestive way, but in a proper way, then I'm proud of it. If it's not going to be that, then I feel like, you know, they went off. They They have the skills. If it fits the Miami rubric, you're happy about it. I'm happy about it. There are composers out there that I think you'd agree have followed that. there are there are a few that compose and a few that write. So, I'm I'm I'm I love that and I love to keep a connection with them and they keep connection with me. So, but when they're going off and they're like I call uh selling their souls a little bit for what they think the world wants and going away from the iker of what Miami is but but I've meant to do and to bring it these 45 years to the to the firm world and now more if they stay within that then I'm very proud of it. Nice. Um people are curious about family members. Uh there are people in the world of Jewish music, entertainment, etc. Um who have children that you know, can do can do and often do similar things. Um it's it's well known to this point that, you know, you have some children that are certainly dabbling if not completely in this arena. What do you think? Well, they got all the talent from their mother. By the way, those who know your wife would agree with you. And I you know, I don't know where the talent comes from, you know. I I probably my genetic thing is in there a little a little bit. But I like to say that that, you know, from my side it's all from my father. I like to give my father the credit. Who was very familiar with the world of entertainment and presentation, right? father had a tremendous feeling of my And a history. He was a Right. My father was before before COVID, baruch hashem, before COVID. Which everything is a blessing, right? It It was going to happen. But the bottom line is that um I give him tremendous uh credit. But but and uh his understanding of music and what makes a hit song and understanding of performance. I mean, he gave over to me tremendous understanding of life. And um so I I feel that the kids were yoresh sort of both sides. You know, even my wife's father of Baruch Hashem he was a yeshiva in Montreal. But he was a very worldly person, talented person. He can he sang, he loved music like I just felt that they got this normal, yeshivish, contemporary combination. It came from both sides. And my kids today have Okay, they're they're doing their own blend, they're doing their own way. It's Hananya and Eliezer and my daughter Ruchami. And now she got married recently, so now her husband calls her Ruchama. Uh but I'm still Ruchami. But the the point is they all are doing recordings and stuff. They put out songs and my daughter now has a choir of her own. High school choir called Regesh and Eliezer puts out songs. They just recently put out a very very nice song. Which we've been playing on J and the A. Yeah, really? Okay, that's good. And then and then Hananya has his YTI that he does. So, they're all doing their thing. Um and I I believe that uh you know, it's in there. Our kochos are in there and they just bring it out in their way. Finally, we mentioned earlier uh that as much as you're a Brooklyn boy, you now find yourself in the Lakewood area. Jackson. Which Jackson? Yeah, I know there's a difference, right? Everyone's very sensitive, right? It's Jackson. So, with that in mind, is it possible that there'll be a lot more choir members from this area of New Jersey? That's a great point, but the question is where's the choir rehearsal going to take place? If the choir rehearsal takes place in Brooklyn like it's been and the boys come from the arba kanfos, New York, New Jersey, they come from Long Island, New Jersey. So, that's the same Which still goes on? It still goes on. Or they the choir rehearsal is going to be somewhere in New Jersey here and then the Brooklyn boys all got and that whole world's got to come out to Jersey. Right. So, that you have an hour and 20 minutes to hour and a half issue here. So, um I don't think that the Lakewood world when I say Lakewood, I mean Lakewood Township, River Avenue, Jackson is yet developed like the Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey other side of the world is. When I say developed, I mean you know people are living here a lot of years. But the rush of people that have come here now is really in the last 5 to 10 years. Right. You know, now it's unbelievable with the housing and everything. So, I I'm not sure I've I've auditioned kids here and I found yechidim. But it just seems to me like it's might be a little early for me to find myself over here 30 boys that you know, when a boy comes to try out to audition, I always say that the that where did he get this kochos from? It all comes from whatever his parents or whatever. Parents have a certain their experiences of life and their depth and that's in their genetic kids' genetics and it's not just the kid. It's It's the whole thing. Grandparents and a lot of times the other kids will say, you know, "Oh, my grandfather was a chazzan. This was a chazzan." And over here it just feels early. Just feels a little early. I don't yet sense that um I don't sense that development yet. Interesting. And um my feeling is that it will be, b'ezras Hashem, in time. It might be very very soon. I did start doing some auditions here. And I did find some great kids and some kids are are traveling into Brooklyn. Which is quite and they've asked me to drive them in. How is that funny? They they drive them back, you know. So, I became like a ride. But but which is okay, you know, to some degree even though, you know You're Yisrael when you moved here to Jackson, New Jersey and you started to uh gather up some of the old material. Did you find any videos that you want to share with the public? I certainly did. In fact, getting that all together and getting all that stuff together, I have an example of something back from 1998 from the Simcha song. That album never came out in video. We did something called the Simcha Tour. And there's a song on that album album called Tfilas Hashem and we never been seen before and it's amazing to see. It was done with really only one or two cameras. We call it from the vault. I love it. Let's take a look at that one. Let's go. Come on. Yirmi begun. I can't thank you enough for doing this. Uh I hope you're satisfied that you had an opportunity to really in an in-depth manner explain to everybody what's uh the last few months have been like. It was one of the only times in my life that I could say that it was what I expected, but exceeded expectations. You said that very well. it was uh my gut was to do this interview with you. And uh it was not only was it correct, but by a lot more was it correct because uh you know, it's just as all the reasons I said in the beginning, those were all there. And I'm I'm happy that you asked uh to come together over here and that I could share with the with the world um my feelings on this on the on the whole situation. And uh I want to thank you a lot for that. And thank you and continued hotzlacha. And we have We have no reason not to expect even bigger and better things from Yirmi Begun and the Miami Boys Choir. Mitzlacha. Thank you very much. Okay, thanks. Uh a big thank you to all of you for tuning in. Kosher Halftime Show 2023 brought to you by the Rothenberg Law Firm at injurylawyer.com. A big thank you to the Rothenbergs, a big thank you to all of our sponsors, and a big thank you to all of you for tuning in. Thanks for listening to the Nachum Segal Network.