Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
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The Schmooze Israel’s Desert Music Festival
Crossposted from Haaretz Mitzpeh Gvulot started off as a pioneering Jewish settlement in the Negev. Set up in 1943 as an experimental station to examine the prospects for agriculture in the desert, today the site is home to a different kind of experiment: indie music. The In-D-Negev festival was created as an attempt to get…
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The Schmooze A (Belated) Little Sukkah
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Forverts associate editor Itzik Gottesman writes about “A Sikele, a Kleyne,” as sung by his mother, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: “A sikele, a kleyne ” is based on a popular poem by Avrom Reisen called “In suke.‟ I know of at least three recordings: Louis Danto’s “Masters of the…
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The Schmooze Israeli Orchestra Canceled at Wagner Festival
Crossposted from Haaretz The Israeli Chamber Orchestra’s participation in the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany has been canceled after news of the would-be historic visit was leaked. The cancellation is unlikely to be overturned. The visit was to be announced by Katrina Wagner, great-granddaughter of composer Richard Wagner, during a visit to Israel next week….
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The Schmooze Jazz Jews and Classical Wunderkinder
This autumn’s Manhattan concert calendar contains celebrations both of Jewish musical youth and age, as if offering alternating songs of innocence and experience. Experience comes first, from October 19 to 24, when Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola presents an 85th birthday party for Newport Jazz Festival impresario George Wein. Among the celebrants will be Jazz Jews such…
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The Schmooze Bringing Slavic Soul to Rikers Island
As their name implies, Slavic Soul Party! updates traditional Eastern European sounds with a festive, contemporary feel. Their instrumental music conjures carnivals and circuses, pep bands and klezmer bands, James Brown and James Bond. Brooklyn music aficionados may know Slavic Soul Party! from their weekly Tuesday gigs at Barbès; uptowners may have caught them at…
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The Schmooze Autumnal and Wingreen Sounds on CD
With the academic year underway, it is timely to pay tribute to CDs from teachers, whose artistry often outweighs that of more publicized career virtuosi. Queens-born Harriet Wingreen, longtime professor at the Manhattan School of Music and orchestral pianist with the New York Philharmonic, comes from a Lithuanian Jewish family whose name was changed from…
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The Schmooze A Piano to the Rescue
Crossposted from Haaretz “I didn’t have a bad childhood, but I was pretty lonely. I spent a lot of time alone in my room, listening to music and dreaming my little dream of making music, and appearing in concerts.” This is how Tzvika Lorber, known as Tzvika Force on stage, describes his start as an…
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The Schmooze For Gypsy Travelers, All Roads Lead to Budapest
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. For musicians traveling through Eastern Europe in search of the authentic Gypsy experience, all roads lead to Bob Cohen in Budapest. A fiddler, scholar and gracious host, Cohen could tell you in which Transylvanian town you can still find an old-time band, or just a lone…
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