Chavah Messianic Radio v3 is here!

Big news, friends. I am glad and overjoyed to announce: The brand new version of Chavah Messianic Radio is here!

This new version works better on mobile, has more awesome features, is more secure, faster, smoother, and no longer requires the now-defunct Persona service to sign in. Woo-freakin'-hoo!

Chavah Messianic Radio – https://messianicradio.com

Even though some features are still baking – hearts, chat, a revamped profile, and sharing, to name a few – I felt it was important to release Chavah v3 now. Chavah v2, built back in 2012, was showing its age, utilizing some now-obsolete technology. This new version is a complete rewrite with brand-spankin’ new tech for the modern web – oh yes!

How far we’ve come

Chavah has come a very long way, fine Kineti readers. And it all started right here on the Kineti blog. Back in February 2010, I built Chavah v1 and announced it right here on the blog:

The first version of Chavah, introduced back in 2010. Humble beginnings!

That first version was pretty basic. It required a browser plugin (Silverlight) to run. It didn’t work on phones or tablets; mobile phones weren’t as big as they are today back in 2010. There was no sign-in, and while you could “like” songs, your likes wouldn’t travel with you to different devices.

Then in 2012 as mobile phones and tablets became ubiquitous, I rebuilt Chavah from the ground up with modern HTML5 web tech that enabled it to run on PCs, Macs, mobile phones and tablets.

Chavah v2, released in 2012. A revamped, more beautiful UI, new features, plus new web tech enabled it to run on mobile phones and tablets.

It’s been 4 years since I released Chavah v2. In those years, I’ve added more features, boatloads of new music – a over 1000 additional songs – and grew the Chavah music community, which now hosts over 3500 listeners.

And now, with Chavah v3, mobile is better, sign-in is better, HTTPS security, and new features and new music as icing on this sweet, sweet cake.

Chavah v3 – oh yes!

I really hope you guys enjoy the new version of Chavah Messianic Radio, the very best place for Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots music on the web.

Chavah Messianic Radio: now with machine intelligence and Moshav Band

Chavah Messianic Radio has been churning out some awesomeness this past week, enough that it’s worth amplifying beyond the Chavah blog.

• Chavah remembers you
• Chavah demonstrates her intelligence surrounding your music tastes
• Chavah brings on the Moshav Band!

 

Chavah Remembers You Across Devices

Many Messianic folks listen to Chavah on more than one device. For example, they might listen on a PC and a tablet. Or maybe you want to listen on your Mac and your iPhone. (Messianic hipsters?) That’s cool with Chavah, but all your song thumb-ups and thumb-downs don’t stick across devices.

That’s where the new feature comes in: Chavah lets you sign-in on any device, thus carrying your Messianic music tastes across all your devices.

To sign-in with Chavah, just click the sign-in link in the top left:

We’re doing some cutting edge stuff with this sign-in. We’re using a technology called Mozilla Persona which lets you sign-in without having to register and without having to create a new password. Super cool!

After you click sign-in, Persona will verify you as the owner of the account, then you’ll be shot back to Chavah, now fully signed in:

Notice my account is now shown in the top left, indicating Chavah is playing music specifically tailored to my tastes.

Then, I might head into my car and drive to work. What about the songs of Zion I thumbed-up on my PC? Will they be thumbed-up on my phone?

Youbetcha.

I can go to my phone and all my song likes/dislikes are kept, and Chavah plays more of the stuff I like and less of the stuff I don’t.

Chavah knows your tastes

Chavah has always known what Messiah music you like, based on your thumb-ups, thumb-downs, and song requests. She then tailors the music she plays especially for you.

But, how can you be sure Chavah knows you? Is she really so intelligent? (Please indulge my anthropomorphizing for a moment. )

Yes, as it turns out, Chavah knows a lot about you, and now you can peer into her digital brains and see what she thinks about you.

To do that, sign-in, then click your email:

Clicking your email will take you to your user profile, where Chavah tells you everything she knows about you:

Check out that treasure trove of intelligence. Indeed, she knows me! I love me some Lamb, Micha’el Ben David, Marty Goetz, Barry & Batya Segal. And she sees I have a special love for Micha’el Ben David’s Mizmor L’Ben David and Troy Mitchell’s Light of the World.

She knows my favorite artists, my favorite albums, right down to the kind of songs I like. Then she uses all that information to tailor what she plays to my tastes.

Chavah also treats you with more respect and privileges the higher in rank you are. As you can see, Chavah deems me a level 3 sojourner גר, so my likes, dislikes, song preferences, song requests weigh more and have more influence than, say, a level 1 yelid ילד. There are several ranking levels, and by my count, just one listener among the hundreds of thousands of Chavah listeners has attained the highest level through several years of devotion to Messiah’s music.

Kind of a fun little thing to encourage you to absorb more of Messiah’s music.

Chavah brings Moshav Band to the Messianic masses

Moshav Band is coming to Chavah! Yes, the widely popular Orthodox Jewish music group has given us the thumbs up to play their music on Chavah. Hallelu!

Moshav is one of the most well-known Jewish music groups in the world. They learned music under the late Shlomo Carlebach, made a name for themselves, produced 9 albums in 3 decades. Their latest album, New Sun Rising, features Matisyahu and may be one of their finest albums yet.

Moshav has a modern sound rich in righteousness and love for goodness, for Israel, for Torah.

My interest in them was piqued when  I came across a few Chavah fans who loved Moshav. I knew Moshav was not Messianic (they’ve even been featured on those crazy Chabad telethons, LOL), but I’ve come to appreciate their music which draws from the Hebrew Scriptures that Christians and Jews share.

Still, I have long been hesitant to host non-Messianic music on Chavah, even Tenakh-focused music from the Jewish people. Why? Well, my thinking has been, “Can we or even should we learn from people who ultimately reject Israel’s Messiah?”

While Judaism is the One and Only Non Non-Christian Religion (no, that’s not a typo), I am nonetheless cautious about promoting a spiritual message from people who reject Israel’s Messiah. At least, that’s been my religion mind speaking.

Well, my thinking has changed over time. (Matured, I hope!) My thinking is this: Messiah’s disciples have much to learn from the Jewish people. Followers of Jesus can and should learn from God’s chosen people, the Jewish people.

Yes, even for the Jews that reject Yeshua as Messiah, we still have things to learn from them. Things of Torah, things of devotion, things of corporate worship. Things of inheritance, things of promise.

This view takes humility: admitting that we are not so wise after all, spiritually imperfect and prone to error, and that we can discern good and righteousness from Judaism, even the kind that rejects Jesus.

Perhaps it’s a form of repairing the great breach between Christianity and Judaism, between the believers and God’s chosen, the great divide we initiated with the persecution of the Jewish people by so-called Christians in ages past.

I believe that repair is necessary first steps towards reconciliation. It has to start somewhere. My conviction is it will culminate in the revelation of Messiah to the Jewish people.

(Please, Lord, reveal the beauty of Messiah to all Yisrael soon and even in our days!)

So, that’s my thinking to date, friends.

But aside from the spiritual aspect, I’ve also figured, “Gosh, most Jewish artists surely want nothing to do with us crazy Jesus-believers!”

Well, that’s what I thought.

I reached out to Moshav this past week. I explained who we at Chavah Messianic Radio are, and I asked if they would be willing to let Christians and Messianics learn from their music, if they would allow me to play their music on Chavah.

The response was surprising and generous.

Yehuda Solomon, the founder of Moshav, responded,

We are happy when anyone hears our music and is inspired for the good. Our music is not only for Jews. We feel and aim for our music to have a universal message and hopefully bring more unity to the world. So we'd be honored for Christians to hear our music.

And with that, I was stoked! So kind of them to be opened to the seemingly-strange proposition of the music of Orthodox Jews streaming to Messianic believers.

As I was doing research on Moshav for this post, I came across something quite beautiful. I found that Moshav actually played at Messianic Jewish congregation Ruach Israel about 5 years ago.

At the time, they received a some backlash from certain hardliners – to be expected – and so Yehuda cancelled the concert, and the Messianic congregation was understanding. But then, after discussing the issue with his rabbi, Yehuda reversed his decision, and went ahead with the concert anyways.

The end result? Well, the folks at Ruach Israel write,

“What a concert it was! Barriers were shattered. All who attended were able to feel God’s love through the amazing music of the Moshav Band that filled the room on that historic Sunday evening. The ensuing dialogue with members of the Jewish community that has been occurring since the concert has been productive beyond description.”

I am glad that Moshav reached across the aisle, even if in some small way. I am glad a Messianic Jewish congregation did the same to host them.

And now, in some small way, I am also reaching across the aisle, renegotiating an old boundary in bringing Moshav’s music to Messianics and Christians through messianicradio.com. Thank you, Yehuda and Moshav, for your willingness to reach across to us in the Messianic world and minister to us with your music.

I hope you fine Kineti readers enjoy the tunes for the Lord, including Moshav’s righteous music for God on MessianicRadio.com.

My interview with Messianic Family Magazine

I recently did an interview with Messianic Family Magazine regarding  Chavah Messianic Radio, my internet radio project that seeks to be the best place on the web for Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots music.

I think you’ll find the interview interesting, fine Kineti readers! It gives a little glimpse into how Chavah came to be, and in a broader sense, it articulates the purpose and vision of Messianic music.

Enjoy!

 

Q. Messianic Family Magazine is thankful for the opportunity to speak with Judah Gabriel Himango, founder of Chavah Messianic Radio! Our family loves to listen to your Messianic Radio Site! We love how the songs found on your site praise Yeshua HaMashiach! Can you tell us a little about how your site came to be?

Glad you guys are loving Chavah!

I've long been a fan of Messianic music, particularly classic Lamb, the group that pioneered Messianic music in the 1970s. I grew up listening to Lamb cassette tapes, and even learned to play guitar using Lamb hits like "Baruch HaShem"!

Fast forward to 2010, I had amassed a nice collection of Messianic music on my PC. When I told folks at my local congregation about the rich legacy of Messianic music available to us, they asked where they could listen to some. I searched around the web for Messianic radio stations and while I found several, such as Inspired Faith or Shalom 365, these stations required proprietary software installation, some didn't work on Macs, most didn't work on mobile phones or tablets, the quality was poor. And it wasn't really internet radio, where each user gets his own stream, but more legacy FM radio where there's a single broadcast. I was hoping for something better.

Being a software developer by trade, I decided I'd just build my ideal Messianic radio station. I wanted something like Pandora, where users can thumb-up and -down songs. I wanted each user to get his own stream of music tailored to his preferences. I wanted to fill it with the very best Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots music out there. So, in February 2010, I sat down and built the very first version of Chavah Messianic Radio, which is now hosted at messianicradio.com

I chose the name Chavah (Pronounced "KHA-vah", the Hebrew name for Eve) as a play on "Pandora": whereas Pandora is a goddess figure from Greek mythology, Chavah is named after the first woman in Scripture.

Over the last 4 years, I'm happy to say the site has grown to be the most popular Messianic music site on the web, with millions of songs streamed each month. It really has exceeded anything I could have imagined. (Eph 3:20)

 

Q. Would you share with us what you feel is the purpose and vision of Chavah Messianic Radio?

First and foremost, it's done as a service to Messiah.

God has had mercy on me and allowed me to serve him through music -- I play music at our local congregation -- and he has prospered me in technology which I've used to build MessianicRadio.com and MessianicChords.com. I figure if I can use my talents for God's glory, it will be a small return on investment.

After amplifying Messiah, a second purpose of Chavah is to help out the artists. Chavah lets users thumb-up and -down songs, influencing what gets played for each user. Artists use this information as feedback about their music. Additionally, each time a song plays on Chavah, we show a link where users can purchase that song directly from the artist. All this increases the artist's visibility and helps them recoup some of the cost of producing their music for the Lord.

I've always believed in Chavah being totally free, non-profit, and with zero ads. People have approached me to advertise their products on Chavah in exchange for money. I've always declined such requests. Chavah is entirely a labor of love for the Messianic community, amplifying Messiah over my wallet. :-) I think God is pleased with such things, I hope Messianic artists are helped through it, and the Messianic genre amplified in it.

 

Q. I was wondering if you can explain to our audience how you would define Messianic Music? Is it music sung only in Hebrew? 

First, I think there is an identifiable "something" in Messianic music that sets it apart. Those who listen to Messianic music know what I'm talking about -- it's a certain focus on God over entertainment. While there is much good in contemporary Christian music, some of it has become entertainment and secular-sound-alikes.

How is Messianic music different? Some people think Messianic music is just Christian music that sprinkles in a little Hebrew, maybe throwing in a "Yeshua" instead of "Jesus".

But that's not it at all.

Like the Psalms, Messianic music restores the importance of Israel, the centrality of Jerusalem in God's plans, the ongoing relevance of God's Law, the Torah.

For example, what do you read in Psalm 1? "How blessed are those who delight in the Law of the Lord!" This pro-Torah statement by Israel's psalmist is gladly echoed in Messianic music, but is often hesitantly omitted in much Christian contemporary because of theological differences between the psalmist and modern Christianity.

Or how about Psalm 2? "I have installed my king in Zion, my holy mountain." Why is Christian music afraid to call Jesus the King of Jerusalem, the King of Zion whom God has installed? Messianic music is not afraid to proclaim Yeshua as Zion's eternal king.

And again, Psalm 3? "Zion's holy hill". Psalm 4? Offering sacrifices at the Temple. It’s all over the psalms, but you don’t really hear about these things in Christian pop.

Heck, the longest chapter in the Scriptures is Psalm 119, entirely devoted to the goodness of God's Torah. Psalm 122 commands us to pray for Jerusalem. Psalm 137 is a warning not to forget Jerusalem, the psalmist saying he couldn’t even sing songs of God because his heart ached over Jerusalem. But in Christianity, we have largely forgotten Jerusalem, God’s Law, the Temple, Israel – the Hebrew Roots of our faith. And this is reflected in contemporary Christian music which often omits these foundational things.

Going through the psalms, you'll notice this recurring theme of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple, the Torah, God's hand on Israel, his unfailing love for Israel.

The bread and butter of the psalms is accurately reflected in Messianic music.

I believe this is something God is restoring through the Messianic and Hebrew Roots movements: the goodness of God's law, the centrality of Israel, Yeshua as the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua as King of the Jewish people. These Scriptural concepts are the defining characteristics of Messianic music and what sets it apart from the Christian music you hear on FM radio.

 

Would you share with us a little of the history of Messianic Music? Can you tell us of just a few of the Messianic artists found on your site? 

In the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, there was a great move of God among Jews and gentiles in the United States, especially among the youth. It saw a restoring of the Jewish people to the Jewish Messiah, the birth of organizations like Jews for Jesus and early Messianic music groups like Liberated Wailing Wall, artists like Stuart Dauermann (Let Us Exalt His Name Together, Trees of the Field, Great and Wonderful), Messianic music groups like Lamb (The Sacrifice Lamb, Baruch HaShem, Break Forth In Joy), Israel's Hope (He Shall Reign, O Give Thanks), the Star of David Singers (Weep Wail), Kol Simcha (Awake O Jerusalem), and more.

Chavah seeks to preserve and make known these pioneers and their classic tunes for Messiah, as well as amplify upcoming artists like Roman & Alaina, Sharon Wilbur, Teshuva, many of whom stand on the shoulders of and draw inspiration from Messianic staples like Paul Wilbur, Jonathan Settel, Barry & Batya Segal, Ted Pearce, Marty Goetz, Avner & Rachel Boskey, and so many others.

 

Q. Have you noticed any particular exciting trends in the Messianic Jewish music world?

It's becoming a broader genre, fewer borders. We have songs drawn from traditional Scripture-based liturgy, story-telling songs of under-celebrated believers and their work for the Lord, poems by Yeshua-faithful rabbis put to song, the pure and unfiltered psalms, and more. From certain artists, I'm seeing more boldness and zeal for Yeshua and the coming kingdom of Messiah. I think it all exalts God!

 

Q. How do you find the wonderful music you share on Chavah Messianic Radio? If any of our readers happen to be Messianic musicians, is there a way they can submit your work for your consideration?

Most of the music on Chavah is contributed by the artists themselves. Others we've purchased and received permission from the artists or copyright holders for play on Chavah.

Some of the music I've gone to great lengths to acquire! For example, much of the early Messianic pioneer music from the 1970s is no longer available or only available on vinyl records. (Yes, really!) For such music, I've had to dig up contact info for the artists have them send me unreleased copies of the music, or convert old vinyl records to digital. I can say with confidence you will hear music on Chavah that you cannot hear anywhere else on the web!

We're always looking for new Messianic artists to promote their music. Musicians can contact me via judahgabriel@gmail.com to get their music on the station.

 

Q. I noticed that on your site, there is a unique feature that allows listeners to request to hear more of their favorite songs. Can you tell us more about that unique feature?

Yeah! Glad you like it. Chavah is different from other Messianic radio stations in that it lets users thumb-up and -down songs, as well as request songs to play instantly.

When a user thumbs-up a song, it tells Chavah that you like that song, that you wish it to be played more often, and that songs similar to it, songs by the same artist, songs on the same album, should be played more. This also affects each song's community rank, letting the Messianic community vote with their ears what music is good. This allows more of the good stuff to float to the top and play more often.

Each listener, then, gets his own stream of music tailored to his or her likes, weighted by the international Messianic community and your own thumb-ups and -downs.

But I didn't totally want to throw away the "live" element of traditional radio, and that's where song requests come in. On Chavah, listeners can request a song be played. When the listener requests a song, it will play instantly for the person who requested it, and it will play for everyone listening as soon as their current song finishes. This helps build a community around Messianic music and draws attention to new artists or just music that the community really likes.

Chavah is smart about song requests, too. If you dislike a song that someone requested, you can thumb it down. Chavah will play something else for you, and the next time that song is requested, she'll skip sending it to you.

More fun still, song requests are announced by my 5 year old daughter, my 13 year old son, and some of the youth from our local Messianic congregation. I think you'll enjoy their voices announcing your requested song. :-)

 

Q. can you tell our readers where to find your site so they can begin listening today?!

Of course! MessianicRadio.com is the place. It works on PC, Mac, Droid, iPhone, tablets -- basically, anywhere you can access the web, you can listen to Chavah Messianic Radio. Enjoy the tunes for Messiah, and thanks for spreading the word!

Psalm 91 – My Refuge

Just a beautiful, peaceful psalm on this shabbat.

Shabbat shalom, fine Kineti readers.

Awesome new Chavah feature: embed song

Just rolled out a great new feature of Chavah Messianic Radio: embed songs in your own pages and blog posts. It works similar to embedding a YouTube video, but for Messianic music.

Here’s what the end result looks like, below I’ve embedded one of my favorite Messianic Jewish tunes, an old piano favorite from Marty Goetz - Blessings On the Mountain.

(Click the picture below!)

It’s a fully functional song tile, you can even up/down vote right there.

Embedding a song in your own page is super easy:

1. Head over to MessianicRadio.com
2. Find a song you like and click the “embed” icon:
   
3. Copy the embed code:
   
4. Paste in your blog or other HTML page.

Super cool!

Details over at the Chavah blog.

Enjoy!

Chavah makes the newspaper! (Sort of!) And naming my tech startup

Summary: Chavah Radio is booming, I’m forming a company around it, one of my clients made the newspaper, and I need a name for the new company.

Fine Messianic readers, Chavah Messianic Radio has opened up so many avenues for me. I created it for the benefit of my local Hebrew Roots community just two years ago, but since then, it’s exploded. It’s the most popular Messianic radio on the web, an international audience, tens of thousands of songs streamed per day; it’s become the place to go for Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots music, hodu l’adonai, it’s been awesome.

From Chavah to tech startup

Odd thing happened: as Chavah grew in popularity, folks started contacting me asking, “Can you build me a radio station like that, but playing music X?”

End result: Chavah has allowed me to start a business: as it turns out, lots of people want their own internet radio stations: local tunes, ethnic music, independent artists, and other niches. We’re now powering 6 radio stations on the web, and working on a 7th.

Chavah in the papers

One of my clients, PrairieAsunder, got a writeup in a local Taylorville, Illinois newspaper. They were kind enough to mention myself and Chavah:

Internet radio allows local artists to shine
Prairie Asunder is the future: www.prairieasunder.com
Derek Parris
Breeze-Courier Writer

PALMER — Are you tired of hearing the same six songs on the radio station? Does the music you listen to on the radio seem to become more and more mainstream every day?

Joshua Bailey, of Palmer, has a solution to these problems. He recently re-launched a version of Internet radio called Prairie Asunder.

Prairie Asunder is an online operation with the intent of spreading the sounds of local artists around the globe.

“My hope is that this radio station could draw more people to live performances for original artists. There are amazing tunes being crafted in our own back yard,” said Bailey passionately, “I promise that you will never love a song the way you will love it when you catch a glimpse of the real personalities behind it...before they are purchased, made over and coached on how to be successful in the mainstream radio market.”

Bailey said he got the idea streaming local music online in the ‘on demand’ format like it is now from an application he found on Judah Himango’s “Chavah Radio” which he crafted to suit the Messianic Jewish Community due to the lack of Messianic Jewish music on Pandora.

When Bailey contacted Himango, he helped get Prairie Asunder up and running, along with the help of Pete Banning.

The website is actually about two and half years old, with the first version of the site using a traditional stream running off of an old computer server in Bailey’s garage.

“I started Prairie Asunder in responded to a rather disheartening appreciation for local art in our community. As a behind-closed-doors guitar player for about a decade, I have a lot of respect for musicians that spend the effort to perfect their craft,” stated Bailey.

Most participation on the first version was musicians and it was difficult for the site to garner consistent fans. Bailey remained optimistic and stated that even through this journey, he, his wife and family met some amazing people and made some great friends.

Eventually, Bailey was forced to put Prairie Asunder on hold for activism. As he surrounded himself with local art, he was drawn to the awareness of the global situation that music is in. This took him a journey to find a way to deliver streaming local music with an “on demand” style application to draw more attention to local musicians.

“I believe that there is a sincere purpose behind art. If athletics strengthen the body and scholastic advancement strengthens the mind, then surely art must be a way to strengthen our souls and emotions,” said Bailey.

Prairie Asunder’s goal is to allow local musicians a way to get their music out to the area and even the world through the Internet.
In a mainstream dominated by artists that have discovered little more than a formula for profit, Bailey believes a lot of ‘soul food’ is lost in 98 percent of what gets packaged and sold to the public.
Even when local artists or bands do perform for a public crowd, many times they are forced to play covers because that is the music that people hear on the radio. Prairie Asunder is meant to expand listeners’ spectrum and get people interested in original music and local artists.

Prairie Asunder is currently funded solely by Joshua Bailey and his family. “I’m pretty bad at this whole capitalism thing. I think money, sponsors and advertisers can quickly ruin the sincerity of what we seek to accomplish in drawing attention to local music. So I’ll happily eat the cost to avoid any temptation at putting profit over our musicians.

For any artists who are interested in adding their music and getting it out to the world, Bailey has made it very simple. Artists can submit their songs (mp3’s) and the album’s cover art in any email to bailey@prairieasunder.com. Artists can also add their shows and events to the Prairie Asunder events calendar by inviting Prairie Asunder’s Facebook account to their Facebook event’s page.
Currently there are 55 local bands/artists on the playlist.

When Bailey started keeping track in the last week of June, there were 29 visitors a day; in July there was an average of 37 and in August there was in average of 57 per day, bringing the total to 2,698 visitors and nearly 8 GB in bandwidth transferred.

Prairie Asunder’s local music and art event calendar can be found at www.prairieasunder.com/events. Prairie Asunder will also feature, on occasion, live broadcasts (via Ustream) focusing on local talent, while also featuring broadcasts in a radio broadcast format. More information can also be found at www.facebook.com/ilradio.

Well, it’s not the venerable Chicago Tribune, but hey, having the stuff you built mentioned in even a local newspaper really tickles the ego.

I’ve brought in several hundred dollars through this internet radio stuff – purely as a side job, without even trying to sell or advertise. The clients have come to me, paid me, used my consulting services. And just this morning, I got my first recurring revenue via another client: I host a radio station, provide backup and patches and all that, and they pay me a recurring fee.

Now we’re cooking with gas. I think this thing might actually get off the ground.

Naming a new company

It’s time to get serious and start a company. Build the website. Offer services. Advertise. Grow this thing.

Now, friends, I need a name for this new startup.

I want something that’s playfully related to tech, short, memorable, and bonus points if it’s got a hidden meaning.

I’ve had 2 names thrown around recently:

• Digital Synapse
• BitShuva
• Got a better name?

Give me your vote in the comments.

Chavah: Passing Messiah’s music on to the next generation

Something memorable happened tonight, fine Kineti readers.

You see, over the last few months, I’ve been improving Chavah Messianic Radio version 2: it now runs on your phone, tablet, PC, Mac, Linux box. All of it. No install required. Just go to beta.messianicradio.com and you’re rolling.

Last week I added a nifty feature to the new Chavah v2:

See that “shout” icon next to the pause button? It’s the song request button. Click that, and you can type the name of an artist, album, or song name:

Here, I’ve typed “mashiach”, and it found several matches. From there, I click one of the songs, click the “Request this song” button, and Chavah will play the song for everyone listening to her tunes.

Cool, eh?

Here’s the story:

I went down to pray with my 12 year old son, Connor, before bed tonight. He had Chavah Messianic Radio loaded onto his phone, and was listening to Mashiach Ben David by Lenny & Varda Harris. He told me, “I’m surprised it’s only ranked 19. It should be ranked 130.”

We talked about that song a bit, told him what the Hebrew meant. Told him maybe I’d play it for our congregation next shabbat.

We paused the music. We finished praying.

Then, I darted up to my computer, launched Chavah, requested Mashiach Ben David, and thumbed it up.

Connor heard the song request and laughed, knowing it was me.

Chavah played it for everyone, and just now I noticed from Chavah’s automated Twitter account that a few others thumbed it up as well.

Heheh.

There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing all these pieces come together, folks. Messiah’s music streaming to the masses. Software making the good tunes float to the top. Users’ thumb-ups amplifying the good stuff. Digitally joking around with my son over Messianic music. Passing Messiah’s tunes on to the next generation.

I’m reflecting on all that, and I’m smiling.

Thought I’d share my joyful, proud moment with you all.

(Happy Father’s Day!)

The Top 70 Messianic tunes

I run Chavah Messianic Radio, the best Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots radio on the web. It’s music for God by Messiah’s disciples. It’s distinct from contemporary Christian music by echoing Scripture’s focus on Israel and its people. Most of the music is from Messianic Jewish artists, much of it produced in the land. There’s some beautiful stuff here, folks.

Chavah is unique in that it lets listeners rate music by thumbing up or down tunes. This makes good music float to the top, and the junk sink to the bottom, benefitting all.

This past week, a dear friend and brother in Messiah (hi Jim) asked me if I could assemble together the top 70 Messianic songs. I did exactly that, but it’s buried in a private email system. I’d like to open it up to you, fine Kineti readers, and the opened internet.

Cue resounding trumpet blasts, fine Kineti readers, and behold the top 70 (heavenly seventy?) Messianic tunes, as rated by the international Messianic community.

UPDATE: the following list is live, pulled from Chavah as you read this post. Meaning, the list is up-to-date whether you read it 5 years ago or today.


Enjoy, fine Kineti readers, the very best music from our Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots brothers and sister in Messiah Yeshua.

Chavah Messianic Radio v2 unleashed!

Fine Kineti readers, I am truly overjoyed to announce Chavah Messianic Radio v2 is available today – oh yes! Try Chavah v2 now: messianicradio.com

What’s so great about this new Chavah?

• Chavah runs on mobile phones! Droid, iPhone, Windows Phone 7.
• Chavah runs on tablets! iPad, Xoom, Galaxy.
• Chavah runs on PC, Mac, and Linux.
• No install required! It’s pure native web technology. No Silverlight, no Flash, no QuickTime, no Windows Media.
• Chavah now sports a clean, sharp HTML5 design that focuses on content over chrome.

It’s something I’ve been working on for over a year, and I’m pleased, relieved, and frankly overjoyed that I can finally share it with you guys. You fine folks are gonna love it!

What does it do?

It plays the best Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Roots music on the web.

And, unlike other radio stations, Chavah actually learns what you like, and plays more of that stuff. You see, each song can be thumbed-up (or down). When you thumb-up a song, Chavah knows to play more music like that song for you. If you thumb-down a song, Chavah will play fewer songs like that for you. It learns your musical tastes, and gets smarter about what tunes for the Lord to stream to your ears.

Chavah then goes a layer deeper: she looks at the general community ranking of each song, looks at the musical features of those songs, and plays more of the good stuff, less of the bad. It makes the good tunes float to the top, and the junk sink to the bottom.

On top of all that is a social, breathing Messianic music community. As listeners thumbed-up songs, trending songs will instantly appear in your stream:

Chavah also lists the top-rated tunes, your recently-played songs, and your thumbed-up songs. Clicking any of these song tiles will queue it up for play.

The motivation for v2

Technology is changing the way people interact with computers. The mobile computing explosion of the last 5 years caused people to use PCs and Macs less, opting instead for mobile phones and tablets. And for some, mobile phones are their only portal to the world and the internet; if you don’t exist on mobile, you don’t exist at all.

This presented a problem for Chavah v1. It was built with a web-plugin called Silverlight, and Silverlight ran only on PCs and Macs. Chavah v1 didn’t work on mobile phones and tablets.

In the last 2 years, I started getting feedback like this one over at the Chavah Facebook fan page:

I decided to take the plunge: I rewrote Chavah from the ground up to work with emerging technology standards that work across mobile devices and desktops.

Chavah v2 is the fruit of that labor.

And believe-you-me, getting audio to play on mobile platforms, PCs, Macs, Linux, and all web browsers was no easy feat! There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth to bring about the refined gold that is Chavah v2.

As far as I can tell, Chavah is the only Messianic radio on the web that runs on mobile phones and is the only Messianic radio that doesn’t require plugins or installs. Shalom365 is Flash, Inspired Faith is Windows Media Player, Yeshua Radio is Windows Media Player and Real Player. All that stuff is dying technology that doesn’t work on mobile, and will disappear in the coming years. Chavah v2 works on all those platforms, by contrast. We’re breaking some new ground here, folks.

FAQ

Q. Is Chavah available in the App Store?
A. No. Just open up your web browser on your phone, go to messianicradio.com

Q. I see the website on my phone, but I don’t hear any music. What’s wrong?
A. Make sure you’re running the latest version of your phone software.

• Droid? You need to be running at least v2.3 (Gingerbread, released in 2010).
• iPhone? You’ll need to click the “play” button before the music starts.
• These steps didn’t help? Install Opera Mobile Browser from the app store, and open Chavah through that.

Q. I have an old computer. Will Chavah still work?
A. Yes. If you’re on Windows XP or later, Chavah will work. However, you need to be running on Internet Explorer 8 or later (upgrade here). If you’re running Internet Explorer 7, you may run into problems. If you’re running Internet Explorer 6, you need divine deliverance. Alternately, just install Google Chrome and use that, and you’ll be smooth sailing.

Q. What web browser do you recommend to run Chavah on PCs and Macs?
A. I recommend Google Chrome. Chavah works on all browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer. However, Firefox deliberately does not support native MP3 playback due to licensing issues, and thus, Chavah will fallback to Flash on that browser. And Internet Explorer does not support some of the visuals we are pushing; you’ll get a scaled-back UI on IE 9. Google Chrome supports all of it, so use that (get it here).

Q. I don’t see the song request feature in the new Chavah. Where is it?
A. Coming soon.

Q. Can I install Chavah onto my PC/Mac/phone/tablet?
A. Yes. Details forthcoming, check back in a few days.

How far we’ve come

As a frame of reference, I released Chavah Messianic Radio v1 two years ago. Announced it on this very blog, in fact, on February 16, 2010. Here’s what that first, early version looks like:

<—Old Chavah. She was young and barren.

Ha! A little primitive and bare, perhaps, but it was our first stab at this idea of streaming Messianic music to the world, our first attempt at raising the visibility of Messianic music.

But in just two years, Chavah has evolved into something beautiful and sophisticated.

And in just those 2 years, Chavah has streamed nearly 900,000 Messianic tunes to her thousands of listeners. She’s received the attention of Messianic Jewish artists, many of whom have contributed their own tunes to the station. She’s built up a loyal fan base. And she’s become the very best place to go for music for Yeshua’s disciples.

Yes, my friends, Chavah v2 has arrived, and she’d love to have you as a listener to her 2,500 songs, some 20GB worth of tunes for the Lord. Join Chavah community and be enriched by her sweet tunes! Oh yes!

So why not give Chavah version 2 a try? Put it on your phone while driving to work. Play it on your iPad while lounging in bed. Oh yeah! Stream off your laptop while working around the house.

Enjoy, fine Kineti readers!

Moar. Chavah.

I’m having way too much fun building this thing.

Stayed up until 2:30am last night cleaning up the design for Chavah Messianic Radio version 2. Here’s today’s snapshot:

I pulled the over-sized thumb up and thumb down buttons – they didn’t feel right – and moved them as up and down arrows next to the song’s community ranking.

I also changed the red info box for the currently playing song so that it’s no longer obstructing the album art.

Ahhh. It’s feeling close to done. Woohooo!

Now I just need to get some sleep, heheh.

But shabbos first. Good shabbos!

Chavah Messianic Radio v2 sneak peek :-)

Been super busy this week. I stayed up until 3am last night churning out this beauty:

Chavah Messianic Radio version 2 is coming soon, and I’m totally stoked about it!

Chavah v2:

• Is all HTML5, no plugins needed, nothing to install
• Runs on Droids and iPhones
• Runs on iPads and Droid tablets
• Runs on PC, Mac, Linux
• Has a fresh, modern design inspired by the Metro style.
• Focuses on content over UI; fewer buttons, less clutter, more content.
• Is fast, fluent. Fast: UI is responsive. Fluent: no jarring transitions, just smooth, quick transitions and fades.

Yes!

Last piece to work on is the play, thumb up, and thumb down button. I’m not satisfied with them yet from an aesthetic perspective.

I’ll be announcing a public beta very soon; can’t wait to get it into your hands, you guys are totally going to love it!

Peace!

Chavah v2 coming soon, plus a port for the Coptic Christian community

Hey fine Kineti readers.

More and more, I am finding joy and fulfillment not in arguing theology, but in doing actual good work for the Messianic community.

Two, nay three, updates on that front:

Chavah v2 beta is almost done.

Chavah Messianic Radio, the open source, Pandora-like music service; the best Messianic Jewish radio on the web, is getting a big makeover. Version 2 of the software, which ports Chavah from Silverlight to HTML5, is almost done!

In fact, it’s already on the web, just on some super secret URL that only a privileged few know about, heheh.

Chavah v2 rocks because it runs on most every computing device, including Droid, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Contrast with Chavah v1 which runs only on Mac and PC.

This is *huge* because I’ve had many users ask for Chavah on their mobile phones: play Messiah’s tunes in their cars, at work, or just while they’re relaxing with their tablets.

Chavah v2 lets that happen.

This is a long time in the making, primarily because the server required a major update to support a straight HTML5 and JSON client, and the client software, Chavah itself, required a complete rewrite: no more Silverlight or Flash, just straight HTML5 goodness. </nerdgasm>

Chavah now supports RSS, tweets links to thumbed-up songs

Chavah is very much a living piece of software: thousands of songs are being streamed per day, users regularly thumb-up music, which teaches Chavah which songs to play to which users. Users regularly request songs which then play to everyone listening. It’s very much a social piece of software.

To this end, I wanted to give some visibility into this living platform. I updated Chavah to publish an RSS feed of song requests, song likes, and other social things that happen on the site:

Chavah’s RSS Feed

Furthermore, knowing the less techy folks don’t know what to do with RSS feeds, I used the IfThisThenThat service to automatically tweet when the Chavah RSS feed updates. End result?

We’re not done yet. Notice the link at the end of the tweet? I updated Chavah’s client software to support hot linking to songs. End result is, clicking that link will play that song on Chavah.

Oh yeah! That’s awesome. I freakin’ love technology.

Chavah for the Coptic Christian Community

Chavah as a software platform for niche music genres is an interesting idea. I’ve thrown around in my head this idea of making a business out of it. For example, I pitch it to FM radio stations and say, “Want people to go to your web site? Here’s software that plays the music your listeners like. It learns based off their musical preferences.”

But this past week, I was contacted by a member of the Coptic Christian community, asking if I could build a version of Chavah for the Coptic Christian Community, one that plays hymns, chants, and sermons from that community.

For the uninitiated, Coptic Christians are an Egyptian group of followers of Jesus. They are an ancient group, the oldest church in Africa, claiming to have been founded by Saint Mark in 42AD. Coptic Christianity was the majority religion in Egypt in the 5th and 6th centuries, ultimately up until the time of the Islamic conquest.

Today, they are a significant minority, often oppressed by the Islamic leadership in Egypt.

So when I was approached to build a version of Chavah for the Coptic Christian community, I considered it a service to the Lord. I told them I’d do it for free.

We wasted no time – we registered a domain name, CopticBox.com, and just last night I got the backend services up and running. I hope to have up and running in the next few weeks a Coptic version of Chavah playing hymns, chants, and sermons from that community. I’ll let you fine Kineti readers know when CopticBox goes live.

Chavah Awesomesauce, plus stats on which Messianic artists the community likes most

I was listening to Chavah Messianic Radio the other day and, one after another, I heard songs I just thought were junk.

Usually, I thumb-down songs I don't like; doing so tells Chavah not to play that song for me. But other times, I'm just lazy, and suffer through the bad stuff. It occurred to me that if I play Chavah to an audience of people, I'd be embarrassed about some of the tunes that play on there. Some songs sound too much an imitation of secular music. Some songs are amateur hour. Some songs are more Christian than Messianic. Personal tastes. Some music just isn't uplifting to me.

And that goes for everyone. One person told me recently, "I have to thumb-down half the songs on Chavah before I hear anything I like!"

I sympathize. When I first started Chavah last year, I was very discriminating in the quality of music I allowed on the station. Over time, however, I became more lenient; even though I don't like some of the modern/secular-sounding music, for instance, some Messianics certainly do. My tastes aren't everyone else's. So, I opened the gates. And with the addition of the Upload Your Music To Chavah feature, a wide variety of music flooded the gates, and with my new lenient outlook, most of those made it onto Chavah.

This flood of music making it onto Chavah has had two effects: one positive, one adverse.

1. The good: There's a LOT of music on Chavah, and a lot of variety: thousands of songs, live performances, chants, and prayers; everything from well-known artists like Joel Chernoff and Paul Wilbur, to little-known, independent, and rare tunes from Alexander Roytman, Cari Eyres, Star of David Singers, and other artists you've never heard of.
   
2. The bad: There's a lot of junk music on Chavah.

By junk, I mean music you probably won't like. It's inevitable: with the vast variety on Chavah, you're going to run into stuff you don't like.

I hold a software philosophy that says, "Build the software you want to use, and others will want to use it, too." Applying this to Chavah, I want Chavah to play less junk, less of the stuff I don't like, and more of the stuff I do.

Towards this goal, last night I rolled out a new version of Chavah that includes a major algorithms overhaul.

Previously, Chavah worked like this:

• Look at your song likes and dislikes, and favor playing your liked songs, throw in some unranked songs, and rarely play your dislikes.
• Factor in a small percentage if the song has a net positive rating.
• Favor shabbat songs during shabbat.

This worked OK, except for the aforementioned problem: it played too much junk.

Songs that were negatively rated by the Messianic community would still play regularly, especially if you didn't thumb it down yourself. And Chavah didn't distinguish between songs with, say, a 5 ranking, and songs with a high (20+ or 30+) rank.

With the new overhaul, Chavah's algorithms for choosing songs to play is more intelligent, more discriminating. It now looks like this:

• Apply explicit weights to each song based on popularity: negative songs have tiny weight, little-rated and unrated songs have normal weight, songs with 10-20 rank have heavier weight, and so on.
• Apply feast-specific weights: shabbat songs have higher weight during shabbat, chanukkah songs have more weight during chanukkah, etc.
• Then all this is governed by a personal preference multiplier: if you dislike the song, it will be unlikely to play even if it was weighty from the previous steps. Likewise, songs you haven't ranked use their given weightiness, and songs you've thumbed-up take on a weightiness multiplier.

The weights are then used in a random selector, with the weighty songs more likely to play.

The end result of this algorithm overhaul is that Chavah plays more of the stuff you like, less of the stuff you don't.

Also since many people are listening to Chavah for the first time, or have never rated songs, Chavah will favor playing songs that are highly-ranked by the Messianic community. The idea is, if lots of people thumb-up a particular song, it's likely you will, too. Chavah will occasionally throw in new music that hasn't had many ratings so as to give new albums and songs a chance to gain popularity. Songs that quickly have negative rankings will be rarely played, unless you explicitly thumbed-up them.

Bottom line: Chavah will play more of the good stuff: things you like, and things the Messianic community likes.

What does the Messianic community like?

Last year, I was flipping through TV channels when I came across a Christian version of American Idol. You know, that television program where hopeful singers audition before expert judges, who then tell the singers whether they have any shot at making it in the Big Time.

The Christian version of the show was laughable: the judges gave everyone the thumb-up. Because none of them wanted to say anything bad about the singers, because of western politeness, and because no one wanted to come off all mean and un-Christ-like, the judges just said nice things about each singer that auditioned.

Laughable.

How does that relate to Chavah and the Messianic community?

Well, as it turns out, the anonymity granted by the internet favors honesty over politeness. No one's afraid to thumb-down a song when you don't have to explain to the artist why you think his music is junk. Chavah tricks polite, Christ-following westerners into being brutally honest.

And yes, unlike the Christian American Idol, the Messianic community has been brutally honest! You, the Messianic community, regularly thumb-down the songs you don't like, and that shapes Chavah's own digital brain, inducing her to play more of the good stuff and less of the bad.

Now that Chavah's been in use for over a year, I thought I'd reflect on the things the Messianic community really does like. I've queried my sweet Chavah for these statistics, and she's graciously responded with the following:

Top 25 songs
Song	Artist	Community Rank
We Delight in Your Shabbat	Barry & Batya Segal	62
Baruch Adonai	Joel Chernoff	59
Enter Into Shabbat	Roman and Alaina	52
Kadosh	Barry & Batya Segal	43
Walk in the Light	Ted Pearce	40
Hodu L'Adonai	Barry & Batya Segal	36
Yom Shekulo Shabbat	Steve McConnell	36
We Delight in Your Shabbat	Aviad Cohen	35
Shalom Jerusalem	Israel's Hope	34
Your Name	Zemer Levav	34
Y'hi Shem Adonai M'Vorach	Steve McConnell	33
They Will Bow	Sharon Wilbur	32
Dance With Me	Paul Wilbur	32
Kineti	Ted Pearce	32
Sha'alu Shalom	Ted Pearce	32
Sukkot Song	Steve McConnell	31
The God of Peace	Marty Goetz	31
Gili Meod	Ted Pearce	30
Babylon	Ted Pearce	29
Congregation of the Righteous	Ted Pearce	29
Gadlu l'Adonai Iti	Steve McConnell	29
The Time To Favor Zion	Ted Pearce	29
Zealous Over Zion	Ted Pearce	29
Shalom	Ted Pearce	29
Shabbat Shleva (Sabbath of Peace)	Meha Shamayim	29

 

Top 25 Artists
Artist	Community Rank	Total Songs
Ted Pearce	23.7027027027027	37
Steve McConnell	19.4444444444444	45
Sharon Wilbur	18.4736842105263	19
Barry & Batya Segal	18.3571428571429	42
Israel's Hope	18.28	25
Natasha Kraus-Reynolds	17.9	10
Roman and Alaina	17.2941176470588	17
Meha Shamayim	16.3888888888889	18
Marty Goetz	15.0210526315789	95
Joel Chernoff	13.4838709677419	31
Avner & Rachel Boskey	13.3333333333333	54
Paul Wilbur	13.2396694214876	121
Jimmie Black	12.6	25
Sons of Korah	12.2	25
Zemer Levav	12.0540540540541	37
Micha'el Eliyahu BenDavid	11.265306122449	49
Aviad Cohen	11.26	50
Lev Shelo	10.75	16
Maurice Sklar	9.5	12
Benjamin Malgo	9.45454545454546	11
Lamb	9.38650306748466	163
Rivka Whitten	8.91666666666667	12
Yerubilee	8.4	10
Deborah Kline-Iantorno	8	12
Bruce Cohen	7.84210526315789	19

 

Top 25 albums
Album	Community Rank
Ted Pearce - Zealous Over Zion	25.6923076923077
Ted Pearce - Hallelu Et Adonai	25.0909090909091
Sharon Wilbur - You're My Heart	24
Steve McConnell - Hamoedim	23.7
Steve McConnell - We Delight	23.2727272727273
Barry & Batya Segal - Sh'ma Yisrael	22.7058823529412
Zemer Levav - As Long As I Breathe	22.0909090909091
Barry & Batya Segal - Go Through The Gates	21.5833333333333
Marty Goetz - Hope Of Glory	21.0714285714286
Ted Pearce - Battle For Zion	20.1818181818182
Roman and Alaina - Sounds of Prayer	20.1666666666667
Paul Wilbur - The Watchman	20.1666666666667
Israel's Hope - Arise O Lord	19.2307692307692
Paul Wilbur - Lion of Judah	19.0833333333333
Avner & Rachel Boskey - Ancient Gates	18.5384615384615
Paul Wilbur - Desert Rain	18.3636363636364
Marty Goetz - Songs of Our Heritage	18.3636363636364
Paul Wilbur - Jerusalem Arise	18
Natasha Kraus-Reynolds - Children of the Light	17.9
Israel's Hope - Introducing Israel's Hope	17.25
Joel Chernoff - Come Dance With Me	16.9230769230769
Marty Goetz - I Call You Friend	16.9
Marty Goetz - Sanctuary	16.9
Karen Davis - For Zion's Sake	16.6875
Troy Mitchell - Yoke of the King	16.6363636363636

 

Top Song Per Artist
Artist	Song	CommunityRank
A B Singers	Hatikva (The Hope)	8
Alexander Roytman	Sim Shalom	5
Ami Shavit	She`Yibane Beit Ha`Mikdash (May The Temple Be Rebuilt)	7
Ann Hilsden	Hal'li Nafshi	8
Aviad Cohen	We Delight in Your Shabbat	35
Avner & Rachel Boskey	Give Us Peace	25
Barak	Eli, Eli (instrumental)	13
Barry & Batya Segal	We Delight in Your Shabbat	62
Barry and Batya Segal	UN Vote	7
Baruch Baoz	Birkat Hachenim (Aaronic Benediction)	3
Baruch HaShem Worship Team	Joel 3:16-18	19
Beit Immanuel Congregation	Come My Love	4
Ben & Lydia Zaslow	Shabbat Shalom	10
Ben & Vera Karlsson	Shalu Shalom Yerushalaim, Hine Mah Tov, Od Yishana	8
Benjamin Malgo	Hatikvah	25
Brian Doerksen	Psalm 13	12
Bruce & Lynne Patterson	Kadosh (Holy)	18
Bruce Cohen	I Will Call	14
CC Jones	My Savior, My God (Psalm 21)	7
Cari Eyres	My Soul's Sunrise	13
Carol Cantrell	Shabchi Yerushalayim (Praise, O Jerusalem)	1
Carolyn Hyde	Od Ve' Od	23
Celeste Mills and Chaim Warshawsky	Comfort My People	5
Celia Whitler	My Heart Is Quieted (Psalm 131)	7
Chaim Warchawsky	Shema (Hear O Israel)	9
Chuck King	Sh'ma Yisrael	13
Daniel Carmel	Jerusalem	10
Daniel Kopp & Sarah Liberman	Hal'lu Et Adonai (Praise The Lord)	6
David Edwards	Strength of the River (Psalm 46)	13
David Loden	Rachem Adonai (Have Mercy, O Lord)	1
Deanne Glenn	Homeward Bound	11
Deborah Kline-Iantorno	Forever Praise Your Name	13
Double Portion Worship Team	Mi Kamoka	15
Dov Zeira	Hevenu Shalom Aleichem	7
Effi Netzer Band	Hava Netze BeMachol (Let Us Dance)	2
Eitan Masuri	Shabechi Yerushalayim (Praise The Lord- O Jerusalem)	5
Elana Watson	Ani Mamina	24
Elisheva Shomron	Ahava Ko Adira (Love So Great)	6
Ephraim Ben Yoseph	Voice of the Innocent	10
Esther 'Eti' Horesh	Hatikvah (The Hope, Israel's National Anthem)	7
Evan Levine	May The God of Israel Reign	22
Grupo Jerusalem	Sim Shalom	14
Hagevatron	Tzion Tamati (Zion My Innocent)	5
Heartsville	Kadosh	16
Hector David	Shema	7
Helen Shapiro	Ha Shiveinu, Seh Ha Elohim	7
Inna Pikman	Baruch Adonai	18
Israel's Hope	Shalom Jerusalem	34
Jarmula Band	Kol Naolam	4
Jeanne Gere	I Am Not Afraid (Psalm 23)	12
Jeanne Gere, Kevin Stokes, Katie Giguere	Sing To The Lord, You Saints of His (Psalm 30)	5
Jerry Marcellino	Arise O Lord	18
Jimmie Black	Holy Unto The Lord	21
Joel Chernoff	Baruch Adonai	59
Jonathan & Cindy Bernd	Va'ani Ashir	10
Jonathan Kegans	Face to Face	10
Jonathan Lane	Come My Beloved	15
Jonathan Settel	Shabbat Medley	23
Jonathan and Cindy Bernd	Hoi Kol Tsameh	6
Jordan Marcellino	Psalm 91	9
Joy Griffiths	Holy is the Lord	13
Jubilare Singers	I Will Serve No Foreign God (Psalm 81-9)	9
Judah & Jennifer Morrison	Ezo Min Ahavah Zot	10
Karen Davis	Ata Tzuri	21
Karen-Or Karni Hirsch	Ki Shem Adonai Ekra (I Will Call On Adonai)	4
Kathy Shooster	Seek The Lord	7
Katie Giguere	Just By Your Mercy (Psalm 5)	5
Katy Giguere	He Who Dwells In The Shelter of the Lord (Psalm 91)	3
Kehilat Ha Ma'ayan Congregation	Ata Adonai (Reprise)	5
Kelly Willard	The Wings of the Morning (Psalm 139-7-14)	7
Ken Lane	Avvon D'bish'Maiya	6
Keren & David Seguin	Kadosh Atah (You are Holy)	24
Kevin Knott	Mayim Mi Shamayim	11
Kibbutz Ha`Ma`apil Trio	Mizmor Le`David (A Psalm Of David)	2
Kirk Dearman	Hear, O Shepherd of Israel (Psalm 80)	11
Kol Simcha	They Who Trust In The Lord	10
LaDonna Taylor	Hava Nagila	20
Lamb	Sh'ma Yisrael	22
Lee Rothman	Aaronic Blessing	9
Lenny & Varda Harris	The Word of Adonai	19
Lenny and Varda Harris	Mashiach Ben-David	17
Lev Shelo	Osse Shalom Bimromav	22
Liberated Wailing Wall	Avinu Malkenu	15
Luanne Sayag	Seh HaElohim (Lamb of God)	9
Lynne McDowell	One Thing I Ask	9
Maranatha Singers	Shaalu Shalom Yerushalayim	18
Marc Chopinsky	Blessed Is The Man	4
Margaret Becker	Create In Me (Psalm 51)	14
Martin Sarvis	Lament	7
Marty Goetz	The God of Peace	31
Mason Clover	Your Prayer	16
Maurice Sklar	Schindler's List, Via Delorosa Medley	20
Maurice Sklar & Hugh Sung	Hebrew Dance and Chant	6
Meha Shamayim	Shebbat Shleva (Sabbath of Peace)	29
Micha'el Eliyahu BenDavid	Shiru L'Adonai (Sing to the Lord)	28
Mijael Hayom	Tob Lehodot	10
Naftsali Imber	Hatikva	12
Natasha Kraus-Reynolds	Hear the Voice	26
New Wine	Kuma Adonai	11
Nomi Pritz & Roy Kendall	Be'Libi Tzafanti	9
Oxana Eliahu	In the Depth of My Heart	7
Paul Wilbur	Dance With Me	32
Philip Stanley Klein	Yisrael My Glory	5
Rachael Washington	Wherever You Go (The Vow)	23
Rachel Boskey	Save Your People	7
Rebecca Weiler	Halo Yadata (Have You Not Known)	14
Regina Zaki	Nigun Atik (Ancient Melody)	4
Renewal	Kyrie	8
Ric Blair	Psalm 95	5
Rivka Whitten	Peace Be With You	14
Robin Mark	Ancient Words	16
Roeh Israel Worship Team	Catch Me In Your Gaze	17
Roman and Alaina	Enter Into Shabbat	52
Roy Kendall	As the Deer Pants	10
Sara Herndon and Jonathan Sacks	Brethren, My Heart's Desire	4
Sasha Roytman	Yeshua Is My Lord	8
Savae	Sounding of the Shofar and Sh'ma Israel (Hear, O Israel)	10
Sha'rei HaShamayim	I Believe	7
Sharon Wilbur	They Will Bow	32
Sheli Myers	Adonai Ahuvi	10
Shmulik Nissim	The Love You Never Had	7
Sons of Korah	Hand To The Plough	18
Sons of Korah	Lift Up Your Heads (Psalm 24)	20
Steve Bell	Remember Me (Psalm 25)	19
Steve McConnell	Yom Shekulo Shabbat	36
Ted Pearce	Walk in the Light	40
Tents of Mercy	Ahavata Oti Rishon	9
The Effi Netzer Singers	Havenu Shalom Aleichem (We Bring You Peace)	4
The Star of David Singers	Weep, Wail	7
Tina Bolinger	Psalm 96	9
Troy Mitchell	Peace	29
Unknown Artist	Ose Shalom	12
Various Artists	Hinei Ma Tov (Behold How Good)	8
Vesna Beuhler	Ana Adonai (O Lord, Please Save Us!)	15
Voices Of Israel	Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)	5
Yerubilee	Wait on the Lord	24
Yosef Karduner	Hiney Lo Yanum	7
Zamru Lo Singers	Hallelu Hu (Praise Him)	2
Zemer Levav	Your Name	34

Note that these statistics reflect a disadvantage for songs that haven't been on Chavah for very long. Fewer folks have heard the newer songs, artists, and albums, therefore fewer folks have rated them, with the end result of a lower average community rating. This disadvantage will smooth out over time as the 100 people that upvoted a song will eventually hear the lesser-heard song, and more votes will be cast for those.

What can we glean from these results? Here’s a few quick observations:

• The Messianic community really likes Ted Pearce and Steve McConnell. The average community rank for their songs puts them as the top 2 artists, and each have 2 albums in the top 5 albums. 
  
  
• Sharon Wilbur sneaks her 5-song LP, You’re My Heart, into the #3 album, however, with just 5 songs on that LP, she’s at an unfair advantage. Even so, her full 14-song album, Mercy Calling, is ranked well by the community at a 16.4 average, coming in at 26th on the albums chart, just beneath Troy Mitchell’s Yoke of the King.
  
  
• I’m a bit saddened to see Messianic music pioneer group LAMB only made it to spot #21 in the artist ranking – they are #1 in my book. Much of their music isn’t modern-sounding, so it has less appeal to many Messianics. At 163 total songs, they far surpass any other artist in terms of quantity, and for much of their music, quality as well.
  
  
• A statistical oddity is Troy Mitchell: his first album, a chanting-only, traditional prayers album, Seudat Mashiach, is rated poorly by the community; an average of –2 for the whole album; ouch. But his second album, released last year, rates marvelously, even making the top 25 album list. It may be explained by Chavah listeners preferring music to chanting.
  
  
• Modern Messianic group Roman and Alaina, and Roman’s former group, Meha Shamayim, are doing quite well. I reviewed their Sounds of Prayer album a few years ago here on the Kineti blog, where I related this album would be one of the best around. Turns out my prediction was accurate: Sounds of Prayer is currently in #11 on the top Messianic albums of all time, as rated by the Messianic community.
  
  
• Paul Wilbur’s old Messianic group from the 1980s, Israel’s Hope, fares better than Paul’s modern albums. Ditto for Israel’s Hope co-founder Marc Chopinsky. This aligns with my own thoughts that Paul and Marc worked much better together as Israel’s Hope, than they have as independent artists. I suggest Paul and Marc and Rene hook up for an Israel’s Hope reunion album and put together some smash hit tunes for the Lord. (I can dream, can’t I? )
  
  
• Marty Goetz is some fine wine and cheese - he gets better with age. He’s got several albums in the top 25 albums list, but his latest album, Hope of Glory, is highest ranked at #9. His highest ranked song, God of Peace, is also from his latest album. Go Marty!

There you have it, folks. A new and improved Chavah with more awesomesauce. If you haven't tried Chavah yet, or were discouraged by too much junk when you did, I encourage you to give Chavah a spin. With her new musically-selective brain in place, she's sure to please.