הרב נחום קרלינסקי מחסידי ברסלב מצא בארכיון בקייב, דיסק שמע של 75 הקלטות של ניגונים חסידים משנת 1912 ועד 1914 למניינם. מדובר בניגונים שהוקלטו בשטעטל'ך בפודליה, וואהלין וגליציה. בין הניגונים נשמע ר' משה בעלי-צערקובסקי, שר את הניגון "ר' שניאור זלמן'ס ניגון" - המוכר יותר כיום בשם "ניגון הבעל-שם-טוב" ● רק ב'שטורעם': ההקלטה הנדירה
If you know Nigunei Chabad, and specifically these few, take a listen.
I'll start with the positive aspects of his renditions.
Many people who are not שייך to Chasidishe Nigunim because they're too פארגרעבט and they're נשמות too coarse to be affected by the pure form - they need to have the music diluted. Reb Yair fills that need. He also apparently is mekarev many Yidden to Yiddishkeit through this form of neginah - sort of like what others do with their lectures and speeches. No real harm done here, per se'. Then there are those who like the kind of folksy music that Reb Kalev plays. They may be full-fledged frum Jews who may not necessarily be פארגרעבט, but they too cannot appreciate a nigun without it being brought "into the 21st century." I've met some of these people, and I've sent them the original version of the nigun, the one that awakens love and fear of Hashem and a will to return to him - but they like the guitar and the nice beat. גיי לערן מיט א גוי ברטנורא. So despite the fact that they get a distorted - and just plain wrong - idea of a Chabad nigun, I guess this is a good thing? בעסער ווי גארנישט???
The negative aspects - I think - speak for themselves, but maybe I should enumerate them, so that we know for sure where I stand on this very important issue. There's the fact that it was composed to be sung a certain way, don't change that, out of respect to the composer. No less than would be expected from the composer of any old song, Jewish, Chassidish, or, להבדיל, not. But especially when speaking about a chassidishe nigun from generations past. The nigun was composed under the purest of thoughts and the holiest of intentions, once tampered with there go the thoughts and intentions! What's left? not much. And then there's what the nigun seeks to accomplish. געגועים, מעורר זיין א טיפע התעוררות תשובה, and many, many more. For that you'll need to Frierdige Rebbe's explanations, and I don't know them offhand for these particular nigunim. There's no way in the world that those feelings are left intact after the nigun has been rearranged like that! So what's left? some good guitar and a nice beat, but the Chabad nigun is GONE!
Then there's my "favorite."
It's murder. Plain and simple. דער בחור האט געקוילעט דעם ניגון, מ'דארף אים זאפארט איינזעצן!!! What are those weird sounds coming out of his mouth?! How do you take a slow-paced nigun and throw it off the cliff like that? Where did he get this idea, and why has he been allowed to do this for quite some time now?! I only discovered this very recently and have made it one of my life's missions to stop the evil being done here - albeit by a very well-meaning and good man.Why have others not done anything to stop this injustice?! I see where MBD got his inspiration from when he recorded the nigun "תלמידי הצמח צדק" on his most recent CD. So now we have this travesty perpetuated for all eternity, where even unsuspecting Lubavitchers who have no interest in Neginah will suddenly like their nigunim because MBD made it cool and hip. And the source is our friend R' Yair Kolev. I realize it'll be quite difficult to make the point to those of you who are not behavent with Nigunei Chabad to realize what he's done here, without bringing the real version of the nigun, so I'll try and find those for you. But until וועט איר מיר מוזען גלייבן אפ'ן ווארט.
