This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
The Latest
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The Schmooze Neil Diamond Writes Song for Bombing Victims
Though it doesn’t mention Boston or baseball, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is a staple at Red Sox games. In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, the singer-songwriter went to Fenway Park and sang it live. He subsequently donated royalties from the song to One Fund Boston, the charity started to help…
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The Schmooze Israeli Composer Appointed Cleveland Music Director
Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman has been appointed Music Director of CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, which is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary season. CityMusic Cleveland is a professional chamber orchestra that seeks to develop audiences by presenting free concerts in neighborhood venues. It presents four or five concerts per year and devotes most of its…
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Culture Top 10 Songs About Treyf
Popular music has a long and well-documented tradition of fomenting rebellion and social change, both overtly and covertly. Not as well documented, however, is pop’s embrace and endorsement of that ultimate Jewish dietary taboo: treyf. The consumption of meat, shellfish and other comestibles that do not conform to the laws of kashrut has long been…
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The Schmooze Hundreds Gather for Jewish Choir Festival
Hundreds of singers from across Europe have convened in Vienna for the first European Jewish Choir Festival. The festival will culminate on May 12 in a gala concert titled “Shir LaShalom — A Song for Peace” at the Austria Center Vienna, where 400 vocalists from Jewish choirs from 16 European cities will present their repertoires….
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The Schmooze Philadelphia Honors Grande Dame of Piano
Philadelphia’s classical music-loving community is coming together on May 11 at Centennial Hall in Haverford, Pennsylvania to pay tribute to the achievements of Nelly Berman, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who has touched the lives of hundreds of young music students over the past 30 years. Jonathan Adler, who has been studying piano at the Nelly Berman…
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The Schmooze Avner Dorman’s Unusual ‘Nigunim’
“They told me to go do my thing,” said Avner Dorman about a 2011 commission by pianist Orli Shaham, violinist Gil Shaham and the 92nd Street Y to write a composition for their Hebrew Melodies project. “They wanted something related to their project, but they didn’t want to impose any specific idea on me.” The…
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The Schmooze Leonard Cohen Wins Two Junos
Music legend Leonard Cohen was a double winner at this past weekend’s JUNO Awards held in Regina, Saskatchewan. The JUNOs, presented by The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, are the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys. Cohen was named Artist of the Year, and he also received the JUNO Award for Songwriter of the…
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The Schmooze Blue Öyster Cult Explains the Umlaut
Long Island bands Soft White Underbelly and Travesty didn’t make much of an impact. But when they reformed as Blue Öyster Cult in 1971, the group grew into a global juggernaut, with earworm hits like “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” “Burning for You” and “Godzilla.” The band was also immortalized in an endlessly viral Saturday Night…
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Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
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Opinion I spoke out against Mamdani. Then he won. Here’s how we walk forward together.
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Opinion Why a concert hall should be the last place for a protest — particularly an antisemitic one like this
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Culture Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish בײַ די פֿרומע קרײַזן אין אַמאָליקן טשערנאָוויץThe Orthodox community in pre-war Czernowitz
הרבֿ מאיר מאָסקאָוויץ, וואָס איז די וואָך ניפֿטר געוואָרן, איז געווען דער זון פֿונעם שאָצער רבין אין טשערנאָוויץ
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Film & TV The cheesy way to do teshuvah
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Opinion Trump has degraded American democracy. Now he’s aiming for Israel
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News Mamdani’s victory is a watershed for Jewish progressives. For the mainstream, it’s wait-and-see.
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