Hilary Saunders
By Hilary Saunders
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The Schmooze Idan Raichel’s Ninth Album is His Most Personal Yet
Israeli pianist, producer, and peacemaker Idan Raichel gets personal on his new record. Musically, Raichel is most recognized for blending classical and jazz piano influences with gypsy music, Western pop and traditional Latin dance. Previously, through the “Idan Raichel Project,” he’s facilitated multi-cultural exchanges with nearly 100 musicians including Americans like India.Arie and Alicia Keys,…
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The Schmooze Who Were the First Jewish Settlers in the Oregon Frontier?
The Oregon Trail brings a range of images to mind. Depending on your age, the simple phrase could elicit the neon green pixilated images of the popular video game informing you that you have died of dysentery. For others, the Oregon Trail could also evoke the 2,200-mile route from Missouri to the Beaver State, with…
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Culture Can Hip Hop Heal the Holy Land?
The first episode of Vice Media’s new web series, opens with a warning: “Never make a documentary about the Arab-Israeli conflict.” The show’s host, Mike Skinner of British hip hop group The Streets, makes a fair point — however cloying. The ongoing conflict, which technically began with the creation of the State of Israel in…
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Culture 6 Artists You Didn’t Know Used Yiddish, From Elvis to Public Enemy
It’s astounding how much Yiddish has infiltrated today’s popular culture. From classic musicals like “Fiddler on the Roof” to sitcoms like Seinfeld, some words and phrases of Ashkenazi Jews’ native tongue have become Americanized, naturalized, and sometimes clichéd. So, when Public Enemy released its latest album, “Man Plans, God Laughs,” emblazoned with , we decided…
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Film & TV How Do You Talk God Out of The Apocalypse? Ask Eli Shapiro.
Jewish humor is safe, even in these modern times. Writer/director Eli Shapiro, a young New Jerseyite living in the Big City, is upholding the tradition of somewhat cynical, yet utterly thoughtful social commentary in the name of comedy: his recent short film, “Ike Interviews God,” portrays a wholly average insurance clerk in conversation with an…
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The Schmooze 4 Holy Land Bands Building Peace Through Music
A few weeks ago, we introduced you to . However, in our listening escapades, we also found a number of bands from the region with multicultural members that are using music to help aid in communication, share peace-building techniques, and entertain and inspire across geographic and political lines. Members of these groups, many of which…
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The Schmooze Wale’s Seinfeld-Inspired LP Debuts at No. 1
Mazel tov to Wale and co-conspirator comedian Jerry Seinfeld! The rapper’s newest record, “The Album About Nothing,” inspired by the canonical sitcom of the ‘80s and ‘90s featuring Seinfeld himself, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week. Between physical copy purchases and digital sales and streams, The Album About Nothing totaled…
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The Schmooze Lena Dunham Isn’t Anti-Semitic. She’s Just One of Us
Instragram You know the old idea: “You can’t make fun of my little brother…only I can make fun of him?” I mean, I don’t personally because I’m an only child. But that’s not the point. The point is that Lena Dunham can totally make fun of us because she is one of us. She’s Jewish…
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