This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
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Culture Where Are All The Tu B’Shvat Songs?
Many Jewish holidays have inspired the people of the book to drop tomes and pick up instruments. And, in the age of YouTube, there’s plenty of evidence for the success of that substitution. And, since Tu B’Shvat — a kind of Jewish Arbor Day — celebrates the rebirth of the natural world, it should be…
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Food Meet the Jewish Punk Bands That Throw Gefilte Fish, Bagels and Hummus
Bagels, gefilte fish, Manischewitz, and other Jewish foods were used — and thrown — at Jewish punk concerts. In the early 1990s, Gefilte F*ck singer Howard Hallis would take the stage clutching a bottle of Manischewitz wine. The Los Angeles band threw matzo, chocolate gelt and even its eponym at concertgoers. At one raucous show,…
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Fast Forward Coldplay Denies Report It Will Play Israeli-Palestinian ‘Peace Concerts’
(JTA) — The British rock band Coldplay denied reports that it was planning two “peace concerts” for Israelis and Palestinians in November. A representative for the band said the report was not true, according to Rolling Stone. The Times of Israel had cited a report by Israel’s Channel 2 in an article that said the band was to perform on Nov….
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Fast Forward Dutch Rapper: ‘Jews Like Money’ Song Is a Compliment
(JTA) — A Dutch rapper who sang that he “sits on money like a Jew” and “deports” greedy women defended the text as a “compliment” devoid of any anti-Semitic undertones. Ali Bouali, a best-selling performer of Moroccan descent who is also known in the Netherlands as an activist against discrimination, defended these lines from his…
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Fast Forward George Michael, British Pop Star With Jewish Roots, Dies at 53
British singer George Michael, who became one of the pop idols of the 1980s with Wham! and then forged a career as a successful solo artist with sometimes sexually provocative lyrics, died at his home in England on Sunday. He was 53. In the mid-1980s, “Wham! was one of the most successful pop duos ever,…
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Opinion My Name Is Loolwa Khazzoom and I Won’t Change That To Come Off Less Middle Eastern
I just received a text from my guitarist, urging me to change our band name from “Iraqis in Pajamas” to something else — anything else, as long as it has no Middle Eastern connotation. A young Muslim woman at the local university was just attacked and hit in the head, he informed me, and the…
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News Ben Zion Shenker, a Master of Melodies, Made from Music a Life of Meaning
There are very few people who may honestly be referred to as “national treasures” — someone whose contributions are not to one or another group within our community, but to all of us together: old and young, wise and simple, religiously observant and less so. Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker, who died November 20 at the…
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Fast Forward Family of ‘The Pianist’ Wins Suit Against Book Alleging Jewish Musician Had Nazi Ties
The family of the late Polish-Jewish man whose story inspired the Academy Award-winning 2002 film “The Pianist” has won on appeal a defamation suit over claims that he was a Nazi collaborator. According to Agence France Press, the widow and son of Wladyslaw Szpilman said Monday they have won their suit against the author and…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Fast Forward First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
In Case You Missed It
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Culture We tried to fix Hallmark’s Hanukkah problem. Here’s the movie we made instead
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Fast Forward Holocaust survivor event features a Rob Reiner video address — recorded just weeks before his death
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Fast Forward In Reykjavik, Hanukkah offers a chance for Iceland’s tiny, isolated Jewish community to come together
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Opinion When my children decorate for Hanukkah, I don’t just see pride. I see pluralism in action.
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