Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – December 16, 2025: A Hanukkah Concert with Nefesh Mountain and More Songs for the Holiday

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/73256.html

Theme: A Hanukkah Concert with Nefesh Mountain and More Songs for the Holiday.

The airdate for this show falls on the second of the 8-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

During Nefesh Mountain’s Hannukah concert, you will not hear any applause because the concert was recorded during Hannukah on December 12, 2020, without a live audience, at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Nefesh Mountain- Hanukkah’s Flame

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Kitchen Girl

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Hanukkah Dance

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Eretz’s Reel

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- The Narrow Bridge

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- I’ve Endured

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Donna Donna

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Calum Sgaire/You Can Close Your Eyes

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- The Great Circle Trail/Oseh Shalom

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Banjo Medley: Ma’oz Tzur/ Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- Happy Joyous Hanukkah

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

Nefesh Mountain- I Shall Be Released

Live from Levon Helm Studios: A Hanukkah Holiday Concert (Eden Sky)

The Klezmatics & Susan McKeown- The Many and the Few

Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah (Jewish Music Group)

Shelley Posen with Finest Kind- On Chanukah 

Mazel (Well Done Music)

Short Sisters- My Candles 

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

Finjan- Haneros Haluli

Dancing on Water (Rounder)

Shelley Posen- The La-La-Latke Song 

Manna (Well Done Music)

Socalled with The Kaiser Quartett- Drei Dreidl

Di Frosh and other Yiddish Songs (Membran)

Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars featuring Michael “Meyshke” Alpet & Sarah Gordon- Topz (Sevivon)

Chronika (Borscht Beat) 

SONiA disappear fear- Light in You

By My Silence (Disappear)

Next week: A Christmas Concert with Odetta and More Songs for the Holiday.

--Mike Regenstreif

Jack Nissenson 1933-2015

The Mountain City Four in 1964: Kate McGarrigle, Jack Nissenson, Anna McGarrigle and Peter Weldon (Photo: Brian Merrett, Merrett Images)

I was saddened to hear that traditional folksinger and storyteller Jack Nissenson passed away this week in Montreal at age 82.

Jack started performing traditional folksongs in Montreal in the 1950s and was a member of an early-‘60s folk group called the Pharisees.

Circa 1964, Jack and Peter Weldon, also a member of the Pharisees, met teenaged sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle and formed the Mountain City Four, the most legendary of 1960s folk groups in Montreal.

After the Mountain City Four, Jack performed as a soloist and in several other groups – most recently the What Four, which also included Peter Weldon and Jane McGarrigle. He was also active in storytelling circles.

On July 2, 1962, when the still relatively unknown Bob Dylan performed at Shimon Ash’s Finjan coffeehouse on Victoria Avenue in Montreal, Jack recorded the set and, years later, the tape became one of the best Dylan bootleg albums.

Jack was one of my early mentors on the Montreal folk scene. I learned much from him in the late-1960s and ‘70s. Although I didn’t see him often in recent years, I continued to enjoy his friendship whenever our paths crossed.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif