Written as a memoire of the musical encounters of the author, composer and conductor Lazare Saminsky (1882-1959), with Jewish communities in his homeland, the Russian Empire and elsewhere, the book is a document of the late Romantic Orientalistic views of Western intellectuals regarding the authenticity of Jewish music in the East.
A survey first published in 1949 covering Jewish music from patriarch Abraham to contemporary Israeli composers. Its main aim is to reassert the Jewish presence in the narrative of Western music history. As others of its kind, this book presents a compilation of data devoid of theoretical or critical concerns.
A programmatic article including a very valuable critique of most of definitions of Jewish music. It stresses the ambiguity of the concept of Jewish music as well as the racialized discourses related to it that developed after Richard Wagner.
Emphasizes the vastness of Jewish music in terms of time and place and therefore the impossibility of addressing it as a unified field.
Explores the history of Jewish music research in relation to parallel developments in ethnomusicology and Jewish studies in the American academic world during the twentieth century.
One of the first attempts to trace the archaeology of the concept of Jewish music in relation to the challenges posed by modernity to traditional Judaism and the emergence of the concept of nation among Jews in Europe.
Directed by Kathleen Regan
Documentary about Judy Frankel (1942-2008) an important figure in the preservation and the performance of the Sephardic folksong.
In honor of May Day, this month's song of the month is a Yiddish song about the political struggles of Jewish socialists, communists, and even anarchists, in Russia and Poland since the ending of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century. The song is actually a combination of two songs, arranged by Zalman Mlotek, musician, conductor, arranger and an authority in Yiddish folk and theater music.
Contains Niggunim of various genres, and from various Hassidic dynasties, performed either in solo or group singing (choir or congregation), occasionally with instrumental accompaniment. The Niggunim are taken from a variety of calendar and life-cycle events: Shabbat, Festivals, Zemirot, Tish, Wedding, Dance, Devequt, Marches, Waltzes, etc.
Most of the tracks were recorded in Jerusalem and Benei Berak, others in Kefar Habbad, Rehovot, and one in the US.
