Links

National Sound Archive (NSA), Music Center, National Library of Israel

The National Sound Archive, established by Israel Adler in 1964, contains the world’s largest collection of ethnographic and commercial recordings of Israeli and Jewish music. The collection also contains non-Jewish music. About half of the recordings available are commercial, whereas others were purchased, donated, or received under the Books Law of legal deposit. The collection also includes recordings of interviews and field recordings by researchers, and an archive of historic Kol Israel (Israel Radio) recordings.

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Neimah Singers

The Neimah Singers are a professional synagogue choir. Founded in 1994, the Choir was originally called the New Finchley Choir. It was formed by Marc Temerlies, the Choir's conductor, Chazan Moshe Haschel, and Jonathan Weissbart, one of the choristers. The aim of the Choir is to revitalise synagogue services by introducing music based on traditional melodies, modes and styles (nusach), but giving the music a fresh dynamism by using choral arrangements reflecting a modern musical approach. 

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Orbis Musicae

This is the online version of Orbis Musicae, an international musicological journal published by the Department of Musicology of Tel Aviv University. While the journal publishes articles and book reviews (mostly in English, but with occasional contributions in German and French) dealing with all aspects of musicology, the editors have attempted in the past to emphasize the music of the Middle East and of the Mediterranean basin. The pages of Orbis Musicae contain studies by some of the world’s best-known musicologists and are often illustrated with musical examples and other materials. The site includes the list of contents of Orbis Musicae No. 11 (1993-94) and No. 12 (1997).

Rabbins et Hazanim d'Alsace

This link provides information on the cantors and rabbis of Alsace and Lorraine from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. It is part of a larger site, Judaisme d'Alsace et de Lorraine. In French.

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Renanot - Jewish Music Institute

The Renanot Institute deals with the documentation, research and promotion of Jewish music of the various ethnic Jewish communities, as well as with the promotion of religious Jewish singing and cantorial music in every possible way.

Robert and Molly Freedman Jewish Music Archive Catalogue

This catalogue contains over 28,000 Yiddish and other Jewish songs and albums from the Freedman collection at the University of Pennsylvania Library.

Sephardic Hazzanut Project

The Sephardic Hazzanut Project, a website collecting information and recordings concerning Sephardic Hazzanut, was started by Faraj Samra in 2009, beginning with 20 recordings, and now containing more than 1,500 recordings. In addition to the many recordings available through the website, supplementary information regarding Sephardic pizmonim, maqamat, holidays, and daily tefillah, among an array of other subjects, can be found on this website.

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Shalshelet

The Foundation for New Jewish Liturgical Music seeks to foster new music for Jewish congregational use and expose wider audiences to innovations in Jewish religious music. Shalshelet promotes the creation and spread of new Jewish liturgical music by looking for the answers to these questions: Which congregations are singing different tunes? Who is writing and leading these new compositions? How can these compositions be found, collected, and shared?

Shulmusic, Jewish Liturgical Music

The objective of this site is to provide a means of promoting Jewish Liturgical Music (JLM), music that is part of our Jewish musical heritage, which is in danger of becoming forgotten through disuse. Already today the music of some 1,700 JLM composers lays gathering dust on shelves of institutions and individuals around the world. This site will provide a centralized location for JLM music in electronic formats, and information available that would only normally be obtained from specialized libraries around the globe. And even then you would have to photocopy the book, ask someone to play it all to you, or play it yourself. A major innovation from the use of an electronic library is the ability to download MIDI files, which allows amateur choirs to begin learning pieces in 4 parts with very little effort. An interesting feature of this site is that it offers advice and music tutorials on how to start a shul choir and conduct prayer services. Currently, thousands of sheets of shul music have been scanned and put on the site for download. The growing collection includes: The Blue Book, synagogue music by Sulzer, Lewandowski, Goldfarb, Ephraim Katz, Rev. Marcus Hast, Samuel Alman, and more coming. A mailing list on Shul Music is also open for new members - details in the website.

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Srul Irving Glick

This site includes biographical notes about Glick, his works and repertory, as well as some sound examples.

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Tara Publications

Tara Publications was founded in Cedarhurst, LI in 1971 by musicologist Velvel Pasternak. The goal of the company is “the publication, preservation and dissemination of the heritage of Jewish music.” The earliest publications were collections of Hasidic songs based on recordings arranged and conducted by Pasternak. These were followed by Israeli, Yiddish, Klezmer, Choral, Cantorial and Instrumental music collections. Digital formats can be accessed from around the globe at jewishmusic.com, and print music books can be ordered at tara.com.

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Terezin Chamber Music Foundation

Web site dedicated to the preservation, performance, and research of the music written by composers who perished during the Holocaust, with a special emphasis on those in Theresienstadt. Includes information about the foundation's research activities, archives, and educational programs, as well as a calendar of upcoming musical performances. (Description found on US States Holocaust Memorial Website; Music, Web Resources)

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The Klezmer Shack

An informative site which focuses on Klezmer music and the Klezmer revival. It provides an up-to-date calendar of events all over the world. It also contains links to articles, instrument shops, organizations, bands, sources of sheet music, and recordings.

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Yiddish Book Center

The Yiddish Book Center defines itself as “a nonprofit organization working to tell the whole Jewish story by rescuing, translating, and disseminating Yiddish books and presenting innovative educational programs that broaden understanding of modern Jewish identity.” The majority of the center’s resources are literary in nature, however ample archival recordings and music-related material can be found on their website, including a wealth of interviews (video and audio) with Jewish musicians and educators discussing the topic of Jewish music.

Yiddish Emporium

Commercial website of independent scholar Jane Peppler, who researches rare songs from the golden era of Yiddish theater, along other things. Several interesting books are for sale on Yiddish Emporium containing transcriptions of and notes on Yiddish theater pieces from Europe and the US, based on Peppler's original research. The site also contains links to Peppler's other work involving Yiddish, including reprints of Gimpel Beynish, a Yiddish comic strip from the WWI-era.

Yiddish Music

The site contains a comprehensive collection of recordings, lyrics, and biographies of Yiddish musicians. The site is in Russian, English, and Hebrew. The majority of the website is in Russian, however some biographies are available in English. The sound recordings and information regarding these recordings are readily accessible in English throughout the site.

Yiddish song: an A-Z of Research

This bibliography outlines a range of published works concerning various aspects of Yiddish song, particularly folk song. (This selection has been distilled from a larger bibliography compiled as part of Abbi Wood's PhD research.)

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Zemereshet

Zemereshet (primarily in Hebrew) defines itself as a website run by advocates of the early Hebrew folksong. Their goal is to save from extinction songs written in Hebrew, from the early stages of Zionism up until the establishment of Israel, and to make these songs openly accessible to the public through the website. Zemereshet a provides a wealth of collected recordings, including lyrics, archival materials, and contextual background.

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Zemerl

This is a comprehensive database of information, lyrics, and sounds of Jewish, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Judeo-Spanish songs.

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