Levy Falkowitz replays his journey from showman to soul singer

Photos: Jeff Zorabedian

IT was time for the chuppah at a recent wedding in Boro Park. The singer, Levy Falkowitz, stood on the side singing the sublime “Dalet Bavos” composition of the Baal HaTanya, as the chassan, flanked by the candle-bearing unterfirers, was led down the aisle.

Several hours later, the chassan and his friends danced and waved their hands in the air as Falkowitz’s velvety voice belted out “Adir B’meluchah” and other electronically-generated contemporary dance hits. But it was during the meal that I noticed something unusual about this singer, when Falkowitz totally changed gears and captured the crowd with a rendition of a song composed by Reb Yom Tov Ehrlich a”h.

The compositions of Reb Yom Tov, who passed away over 40 years ago, are complex, inspiring… and long. Most would surely be forgotten if not for Reb Yom Tov’s whopping 36 albums. Products of a different era, they carry timeless messages of emunah and simchah, retain a charming level of disdain for luxury (“lukses”), and retell ancient stories in his inimitable style, all wrapped in a delightful Yiddish.

From the comedic to the whimsical to the thought-provoking, the music of Reb Yom Tov Simcha Ehrlich (of whom the Satmar Rebbe once said, “Wherever he goes is Yom Tov, he brings simchah, and he’s erlich”) lives on and still motivates, encourages, and speaks an underlying truth that’s ever-relevant.

The most significant modern barrier to these songs, though, is technology. The melodies were originally etched into the grooves of vinyl records at a Manhattan studio, and were later transferred to cassette tapes. The kings of Jewish music of the last generation invested in re-presenting Reb Yom Tov Ehrlich’s albums to a more contemporary audience, with Mordechai Ben David producing Ich Hob Gevart and Avraham Fried releasing two albums of Yiddishe Otzros. But with the American Jewish music scene having changed over the past two decades, as the Yiddish genre has shifted focus to sound more “chassidish” — i.e., a greater emphasis on Hungarian-accented lyrics — another voice was needed to take Reb Yom Tov’s creations further.

And who better than Levy Falkowitz? A Williamsburg-born Satmar chassid who lives today near Kiryas Joel, the 35-year-old with the golden voice has just produced an album of Reb Yom Tov’s creations that connects to the modern chassidish worlds of Williamsburg and Boro Park the same way they did when Reb Yom Tov Ehrlich’s accordion expanded and contracted to the music of his time.

“The way I look at it,” Falkowitz says, “is that I’m really living off the work that Avraham Fried and MBD did 20 years ago. My career was built around performing those big songs they rescued from oblivion. I sing the Yom Tov Ehrlich songs that they already popularized, and I add my thing.”

While Falkowitz is in high demand at live events around New York and New Jersey, the post-Pesach season is a time to recharge and work on the projects that fall by the wayside when there’s a performance every night. This was a good time to retell his incredible and quite unplanned story of how a Williamsburg kid became one of the most sought-after singers in the chassidish world.