Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
The Latest
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The Schmooze Bette Midler to Sing at the Oscars For First Time
Hey wait — is there an awards ceremony pegged to a Bette Midler performance on March 2nd? According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Divine Miss M will be performing at the 86th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Despite having been nominated twice, for her roles in”The Rose” (1979) and “For the Boys” (1991)…
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The Schmooze The Year of Jason Robert Brown
This will definitely be composer Jason Robert Brown’s year. A musical version of Robert James Waller’s “The Bridges of Madison County” (music, lyrics and orchestration by Jason Robert Brown) opens February 20 on Broadway. “Honeymoon in Vegas” (music, lyrics, dance and vocal orchestration by Jason Robert Brown), which received rapturous reviews during its debut at…
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Culture Neshama Carlebach Isn’t Just Shlomo’s Daughter
Our high school, the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto was, as its name indicated, a community school. Kids entered ninth grade from the spectrum of Jewish day schools — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Sephardic. But it was also a community school in a different way; we were a small group (graduating class of 110), and…
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The Schmooze Israeli Singer Proves Surprise Hit In Yemen
(Reuters) — An Israeli singer has become an unlikely star in Yemen, an Arab country where his hit songs blare from cafes and taxis. Zion Golan’s parents were born in Yemen, but like other Israelis, he is banned from traveling to the conservative Muslim nation, which has no diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. Known…
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The Schmooze Welcome To The A Capella Revolution
Listen to Pentatonix, and you’ll be sure that you hear instruments. In fact, it is an a cappella quintet of young singers — four men and one woman — who perform without any accompaniment, and manage to make a remarkable range of sounds in musical styles ranging from pop to electronica to R&B and dubstep….
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The Schmooze Pete Seeger and Me
To state the obvious, Pete was an iconic figure in the folk music movement in the United States. As were many, many of my colleagues, I was profoundly influenced by Pete’s music just as I started to really enjoy music. I first found him through the recording of The Weavers reunion concert at Carnegie Hall….
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The Schmooze Why Jonathan Richman Is the True Bard of Massachusetts
There’s Johnny Rotten laughing that he doesn’t remember the words while the rhythm kicks and drives. The bass is muddled but insistent, louder with every measure, angry that no one’s joined in. Johnny yells to stop so that someone can feed him his lines. The volume drops, but the band never does. Suddenly this song,…
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The Schmooze How to Sing Like a Real Folk Singer
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here Can you say with certainty that someone sings in an authentic Yiddish style? Fortunately, we have materials to help us figure it out — the records and CDs of folksingers, the recorded compilations from Ruth Rubin, Sofia Magid, Ben Stonehill and others; the recordings in the…
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
In Case You Missed It
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News For Israelis still displaced from their homes, reclaiming the kitchen can be an act of hope
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Yiddish בער קאָטלערמאַן געווינט די י. י. סיגאַל פּרעמיע פֿאַר זײַן בוך דערציילונגען „סאַמאָיעד“Ber Kotlerman wins J. I Segal award for his collection of stories, ‘Samoyed’
די העלדן אין דער זאַמלונג זענען אוקראַיִנער ייִדן וואָס לײַדן פֿון אַ שווער לעבן אָבער בלײַבן פֿאָרט לײַטיש.
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Film & TV Hermann Goering’s personal art dealer plundered the world for decades; his victims’ descendants are still seeking justice
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Opinion I’m a Jewish parent and biblical scholar in Houston — I’m enraged that Texas is adopting this biblically illiterate new curriculum
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