Reb Avraham Fried: A Voice That Accompanied a Generation ר' אברהם פריד: א קול וואס האט באגלייט א דור

When you hear "Aderaba", "Tanya" or "Didoh Bei" at a chasunah, everyone knows who made it famous: Reb Avraham Fried. His real name is Avraham Shabsi HaKohen Friedman, and he was born in New York in 1959.

A Chasidish Home

According to Wikipedia, his grandfather, Rabbi Meir Yisroel Isser Friedman, was head of the Bobov Eitz Chaim Yeshiva in Krenitz and a chasid of the Bluzhover Rebbe. His father, Reb Yaakov Moshe Friedman, was originally a Bobover chasid and worked for forty years as an administrator at the Lubavitcher yeshiva in Crown Heights. Reb Avraham is the youngest of eight children, and the family became Lubavitcher chasidim.

Wikipedia writes that the Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged him to pursue a career in music.

The Career

His first album, "No Jew Will Be Left Behind" (1981), included the song "Kel Hahodaos". He went on to work with Sheya Mendlowitz and Yossi Green on eight albums. Yossi Green composed several of his biggest hits, including "Aderaba", "Tanya" and "Didoh Bei".

A few albums from the long list:

• "Goodbye Golus" (1985)
• "Aderaba" (1991)
• "Yiddish Gems" (1992, 1994)
• "Hupp Cossack!" (1996)
• "My Father's Zemiros" (2008) — the zemiros of his late father
• "Yankel Yankel" (2009)
• "Bring the House Down" (2016)

"Ototo" and Beyond

In Av 5780 (August 2020) he released "Ototo", with words by Bentzi Stein and himself and a melody by Bentzi Stein. On his official YouTube channel the clip has over five million views — with its well-known refrain "Ya Tatte Ya".

He sings a great deal in Yiddish, as well as cantorial-style pieces, and appears at charity concerts such as the annual HASC concerts for children with special needs. In 2021 he joined Yaakov Shwekey and the Yeshiva Boys Choir for a large Chol Hamoed concert.

To this day, more than forty years on, when the band strikes up "Aderaba" — the whole crowd dances.