The holiday album deluge has already borne strange gifts. One indeterminate stocking-stuffer is Erran Baron Cohen’s Songs in the Key of Hanukkah, which upgrades Jewish standards for the 21st century. We think.
Taking a look at the video for "Dreidel," it’s hard to draw a bead. The bling-rap spoof starring Orthodox Jews sounds and screens hilarious, but the song goes on so long that the jam becomes the thing. I guess you can have your irony and eat it too, when it comes to the Baron Cohen family. Erran and his brave brother Sacha have goofed squares from London to Kazakhstan on Da Ali G Show and in the film Borat. So a straight holiday album with a side of satire makes perfect but weird sense.
So far, it’s being done with a straight face.
"Hanukkah has always been a kid-focused holiday," Erran Baron Cohen said in a press release. "So the challenge was to transform the music so that it was cool and interesting for adults and yet something that the whole family could enjoy."
Really? Then why do we feel so uncomfortable?
