Yaakov Choueka, better known by his stage name Yaakov Shwekey, is an Orthodox Jewish recording artist and musical entertainer. He is of Egyptian and Syrian Sephardic heritage from his father's side; and Ashkenazi from his mother‘s side.
Family and early life
Yaakov Shwekey was born in Jerusalem to an Ashkenazi Jewish mother raised in the United States, and a Sephardi Jewish father born in Cairo to a family from a Syrian background. His parents had met and married in New York City. In his early years, Shwekey lived in the Bayit VeGan neighborhood of Jerusalem, but he eventually moved to Polanco, Mexico City, and attended Yeshiva Ateret Yosef. He later lived in Lakewood, NJ, and Brooklyn, NY, and attended Yeshiva of Brooklyn before moving to Long Branch, NJ. As a child, he sang in the Ateret Yosef Choir in Mexico City, and he and his brother Yisroel Meir sang with the Miami Boys Choir for a short period of time. In his young adult years, Shwekey learned in Rabbi Menachem Davidowitz's yeshiva (TIUNY) in Rochester, NY. After learning for a few years in the Deal kollel and his consequent marriage, Shwekey launched his professional career as a singer.
Musical style
Shwekey's songs and lyrics are generally composed by others. Until late 2015, his albums were produced by Yochi Briskman, and distributed in the US by Aderet Music, and in Israel by JMI. Going forward, he has produced his own albums with Yitzy Waldner. Many different arrangers have arranged his albums in the past including Moshe Laufer, Mona Rosenblum, Yanky Briskman, Avrumi Berko, Leib Yaakov Rigler, and Yisroel Lamm. Until 2006 Shwekey's primary studio was "Studio X" (run by Yochi Briskman, engineered by AJ Greenwald); today, some of his recording is done in his private home studio.
One of his best-known songs is Racheim (Have Compassion), composed by Pinky Weber. The lyrics are from the grace after meals, asking God to have mercy on the Jewish nation and the city of Jerusalem. As Shwekey describes this song, "It's a prayer. It's not just a song. We connect with God and ask Him to have mercy." In 2008/2009 Vehi She'omdah, composed by Yonatan Razel and debuted on his Live in Caesaria concert DVD, and later rerecorded on Ad Bli Dai, became a major hit. Many of his songs, including Shomati (from the Talmud) composed by Yossi Green, and Im Eshkacheich, from Psalm 137, composed by Yochanan Shapiro, have found considerable popularity as Jewish wedding songs. His latest hits are: Cry No More, Ra'u Banim, Bo'ee Be'shalom, Lo Ya'avod, Am Yisrael, and Et Rekod, among others. From his album We are a Miracle, the songs Maamin Bensim, Smachot, Maran Sheli, and Inshallah were met with critical acclaim and can be heard across the world at Jewish events and celebrations and in Jewish homes, schools, and camps. He sang a new tune, composed by Yitzy Waldner, to Mi Shebeirach a prayer globally recited for soldiers in the IDF, in the Nokia Stadium, Tel Aviv in 2013, in the presence of many Israeli soldiers. In June 2018, Shwekey released Musica, on which he displayed a variety of styles, with lyrics in multiple languages.
Recent projects
Shwekey released his tenth solo studio album in June 2018. Entitled Musica, it was Shwekey's second self-produced solo album (the first being We Are a Miracle), though in the credits, Shwekey credited Yitzy Waldner with being his co-producer. Waldner also composed most of the album's songs, with most of the lyrics for the album written by longtime lyricist Miriam Israeli. Additionally, Waldner made a guest appearance on the album's second song, Tefilat Hashla, as can be seen on music steaming service Spotify's catalogue of the album's songs.
Another album release was in 2019, “Those Were The Days 2”, a medley album featuring past hits and classics from various sources and arranged by different composers.
On 19 April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Shwekey collaborated with popular Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi and speaker Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson, both working from home, to stream a free online live concert on YouTube. The reason for this, Shwekey said, was to "make people happy, because that's what God gave me the ability to do". The concert was viewed 138,000 times within its first three weeks online, and is still available on YouTube, accessible via the original link.
In 2021 Shwekey released A Toast to Life in which he sings songs which takes inspiration from Jewish life and themes in a typically Ashkenazi style of Hebrew pronunciation despite his Mizrahi heritage.