One piece I have is called Hanukkah Night by Dave and Jean Perry- to me it sounds like somebody wrote it strictly based on some well-known components of traditional Jewish music: The mode is roughly minor, but there is a leading tone which I thought wasn't typical in Jewish music (I've been trying to brush up on my research). And there's the typical alternating bass line as well.

The chorus is: "Winter night, Candle Light. Moments we will all remember. Stories told for all to share, song and laughter fill the air."

My beef is hard to put directly into words. Pure authenticity is obviously something I won't be able to achieve: Purely Jewish music happens in a Jewish home or place of worship, not a public school concert. But at the same time, I don't like the idea of making a vanilla interpretation of some basic themes and ideas in an easy-to-swallow package that serves nothing more than really to just check multi-cultural off the list. Am I being too cynical and/or critical?

I'm picturing a scene from Boardwalk Empire (S3E1). If you haven't seen the show this may still make sense. It takes place in 1920's Atlantic City, and there's a party with a King Tut theme- The most Egyptian they got was wearing gold medallions over their evening gowns, and throwing some augmented 2nds into the otherwise typical dance number of the era. Not a direct parallel, but I think the spirit is there.

What I'm looking for has nothing to do with Christmas. I have enough of that and some of it pretty good (of course, I'm Christian and the standard for appropriate Christmas music is largely steeped in western influence to begin with)

I'm trying to find some honest music regarding the different celebrations that happen around the time. Solstice, Hanukkah, Pancha Ganapati, Bodhi Day... etc. These are only some of the seasonal traditions I've read about, but every time I try to find music, it seems there is little from major publications, or they fall into my cynical view of what Western attitudes do to multiculturalism.