Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
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The Schmooze 8 Israeli Bands to Listen to Right Now
Vaadat Charigim // Photo by: Goni Riskin Israel has never been known for producing breakthrough musical acts, but if the first few months of 2015 are anything to go by, that may soon change. With Israeli groups traveling to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest and gaining recognition at a number of European festivals, the…
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Culture How Synagogue Music Breaks Down Barriers Between Denominations
We may fret about declining enrollments in rabbinical seminaries and the ever-rising tide of intermarriage, yet one aspect of the contemporary Jewish experience should lift our spirits rather than roil them: music. From monthly concerts and annual festivals that cast a spotlight on the creativity that pulses throughout the community to Shabbat services where, week…
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Fast Forward Suburban Detroit Synagogue Gets $10M for Music Program
A synagogue in suburban Detroit has received a $10 million endowment to fund its music program. Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. received the donation from members Sarah and Harold Gottlieb. The endowment will fund the Reform synagogue’s cantorial chair, which will be named in memory of the couple’s son, Stephen, who died in 2006….
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The Schmooze Major UK Grant Will Unearth Forgotten Music
A major international research arts project, “Performing the Jewish Archive,” has been awarded a grant of just over £1.5 million by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the U.K., under the theme, “Care for the Future: Thinking Forward Through the Past.” The project, headed by Russian music specialist Stephen Muir, a senior lecturer…
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The Schmooze Cantor by Day, Moroccan Pop Star by Night
Samy Elmaghribi was a hugely popular Moroccan-music star. Salomon Amzallag was a beloved Sephardic cantor in Montreal. That the pop star and the liturgical giant were the same person has inspired a new exhibition that opened in Montreal February 25. “Sacre Profane: Samy Elmaghribi” explores the “seemingly opposite” notions of sacred and secular in Elmaghribi’s…
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The Schmooze The Sway Machinery’s Expanding Cantorial Epic
The Sway Machinery promises that its 3rd LP, “Purity and Danger,” is its “most chiseled enunciation of its foundational concept” yet — and it delivers on this promise. In a return to Afro-pop infused cantorial traditionals and modern blues myth-making, The Sway Machinery comfortably resettles into its epic vision, though this time with even more…
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Fast Forward Gaza Music School Shines in ‘Arabs Got Talent’ Spotlight
On the hugely popular “Arabs Got Talent” TV show in Beirut last month, five young musicians in checkered black-and-white scarves brought the house down with a traditional Arabic song that left the judges weeping and earned a ticket straight to the finals. In the Gaza Strip there was much weeping and celebration too, especially at…
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Fast Forward Israeli Conductor Dies During Switzerland Concert
Israeli conductor Israel Yinon collapsed and died as he was conducting a concert in the Swiss city of Lucerne. The 59-year-old was in the middle of leading “An Alpine Symphony” by German composer Richard Strauss Thursday night when he slumped, falling headlong to the ground, the AFP news agency reported. The cause of death was…
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