New Chareidi "Hechsher" For Music

Updated to add images.
The noose is tightening. What has been tried before is being tried again.

The new hechsher, called "The Va'ad Harabanim For Jewish Music", will have its seal placed on all 'kosher' albums. The first such album is due out soon.

According to the creators,the stamp on the discs will indicate that Rabbi Yosef Meir Altman, Rabbi Eliezer Halevi Dinar, Rabbi Yosef Binyamin Wozner, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Fuchs recommend and approve that such an album should be in every Jewish home who is interested in having music in his home that brings our hearts closer to our Father in Heaven.

The first such album is due out soon, and had thousands of dollars invested in order to push its success. It will have the music done by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. I wonder if they allowed woman to play on this album. :)

Additionally, the album will have its recoding done on a single track, in order to preserve its original "Jewish" flavor. I wonder why it costs so much then.

Below is the guidelines in full:

GUIDELINES FOR PLAYING KOSHER MUSIC

1. When dealing with words from holy sources, it is necessary to sing them in a respectful manner fitting to the meaning of the words and not in a frivolous or disrespectful way. Care should be taken in the pronunciation of the words not to express them in a loose or disrespectful manner as is done by most singers of popular music.
2. Instrumentation should be made in a respectable way to suit the meaning of the words. Sounds that give a disrespectful or indecent feeling must not be played. This includes electronic effects, distortion and "bending" the notes1.
3. A misbalance between rhythm and melody creates negative feelings in the music. Therefore care should he taken to ensure that the melody is dominant over the rhythm and not to over-emphasize the bass accompaniments2. The use of "swing" both in the singing and instrumental accompaniment should be avoided3.
4. Percussion should be used with taste in the appropriate places, and sparingly. The percussion accompaniment should be secondary to the melody. The use of percussion accompaniment in slow, quiet music is generally ridiculous4. "2-4" beats and other rock and disco beats in the percussion must not be used. The modern drum set was created to be used in wild, coarse music and other percussion instruments should preferably be used.

1. Rock musicians have adopted a trend to distort the natural tones especially with the electric guitar and bass guitar. Also the saxophone has replaced the clarinet in chareidi rock music because it produces similar indecent sounds.
2. These are also standard features of rock music.
3. "Swing" is the loose, bouncing jazz beat which can "jazz-up" any tune.
4. The Malbim [in Yeshayahu Ch. 24, 8] comments that the place of the drum is only in dance music.
5. Similarly, great care should be taken to avoid the use of prerecorded rock and disco beats in the electronic keyboard.

While these guidelines are slightly less restrictive then the previous version, I still don't see the need for it. I think these people also need a lesson in music theory and history.

Source in Hebrew