Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
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The Schmooze Amy Winehouse, a Jewish Addition to the ‘Forever 27 Club’?
Amy Winehouse, the British, Jewish, hard-living soul singer was found dead today in her North London apartment. She was 27. Given her age, Winehouse is already being compared to other singers and musicians who died at 27, otherwise known as the “Forever 27 Club.” These include Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones (found dead at the…
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The Schmooze Jazz for Thinking People
Crossposted from Haaretz Jonathan Greenstein is a young saxophone player who lives and performs in Tel Aviv. His debut album “Thinking,” on the Spanish label Fresh Sound, takes him elegantly from the category of promising jazz musician to that of jazz musician who is keeping his promise, and it’s a pleasure to be an ear…
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The Schmooze Yehuda Poliker’s Promising Mix of Beat and Sadness
Crossposted from Haaretz Yehuda Poliker sang his new song, “Fuma, fuma,” not once, but twice at his concert in Caesarea last Thursday. The first time, toward the middle of the concert, the attention focused on the image of the small Romanian (“half a raisin”) that Poliker meets in south Tel Aviv, the person who offers…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Swedish Fleshquartet Plays Steve Reich in Jerusalem
Nikita Pavlov Steve Reich’s 1988 composition “Different Trains” is immediately recognizable, even to those with just a passing interest in modern music. The piece has technical virtuosity, a melody intricately constructed using archival speech recordings, and indisputable aesthetic soundness. Beyond these virtues, one senses that deeply personal undertones inform the work. These include Reich’s peripatetic…
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The Schmooze Scandal at ‘Israeli Idol’ Raises Ratings Overnight
Crossposted From Haaretz “A Star Is Born,” Israel’s version of the hit TV show “American Idol,” has found itself at the center of a scandal over voting as its ninth season comes to a close — and its popularity has increased overnight. Tamar Yahalomi, a 17-year-old contestant with a sweet voice and an agreeable disposition,…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Do You Know Where the Party’s At?
Purgar Peter It would not be hard to make a party game of picking out the global influences in the New York-based band Hazmat Modine’s new album, “Cicada.” There’s a Latin groove here; a klezmer-ish flourish there; a hint of Jamaican rocksteady; an intermittent country twang; whole tracks featuring a West African brass band. Music…
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The Schmooze Are Hasidic Singers Exploiting Leiby Kletzky’s Death?
There is a time for mourning and there is a time for PR. The shocking murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, z”l, in Borough Park this week, is an unspeakable horror. And yet, with what seems to be a total lack of sensitivity regarding what kind of public reaction is or isn’t appropriate, Haredi artists are…
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The Schmooze Tel Aviv Brings Out the DJ in Moby
Crossposted from Haaretz Moby began his career as a DJ in the United States 20 years ago. At the end of the ’90s he turned, surprisingly, into a pop star who liked to wield a guitar — even though he doesn’t really know how to play. He was, and remains, a record spinner — although…
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