Mordechai Ben David, debatably the king of Jewish music for the past 3 decades, at least until a few years ago, has announced that he is releasing a new album, called Kissufim, next week. That is not really such a dramatic announcement. Maybe 15 years ago when he was at the top of his game that would have been a major and exciting announcement, but not today.

The exciting part of the announcement is that Kissufim will contain just about all new music and songs, no oldies and best ofs. MBD has basically been surviving the past few years in the music world by rehashing old music - taking old songs and making them into kumzitz-style, or other re-arrangements. The fact that his new album will contain all new music is very exciting.

The other part of the announcement that is drawing attention is that he is planning to, as of right now, retire after this album. This will be his last. Unless, of course, he decides to produce another album.

We all know that the past few years have seen MBD take the role of industry kvetch, using every podium to talk about how illegal downloads are prohibited and have destroyed the industry. He might be right (I have no idea if he is right or not - plenty of artists, both Jewish and non-Jewish, are still producing music despite the illegal downloads), but he has still been a major kvetch. He seemed to have been consumed by it, unable to produce new music and be creative. I am happy to see that he has finally moved past it and has been producing more music.

I am looking forward to MBD's new album. I am sure it will be great, as MBD is really one of the greatest in the Jewish music industry.