This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
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The Schmooze Chana Mlotek, Grande Dame of Yiddish Song
Tonight, renowned Yiddish music anthologist Chana Gordon Mlotek will be honored at The National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene’s annual gala for her life’s work preserving Yiddish folklore. Mlotek, the author of nine books on Yiddish music, has an encyclopedic knowledge of her subject. Now 90, she grew up in the Bronx immersed in Yiddish culture. In 1944,…
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The Schmooze Yiddish Opera Singer Anthony Russell
The first time Anthony Russell heard Sidor Belarsky (1898-1975), on the soundtrack for the Coen brothers film “A Serious Man,” he thought it was Paul Robeson singing in Yiddish. Russell, an African-American classically trained operatic bass, wasn’t yet familiar with work of the Ukrainian-American opera singer and conservator of Jewish music, but he was drawn…
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The Schmooze Q&A: Neil Sedaka on Adele and Carole King
Neil Sedaka’s life is like a Disney movie — specifically, “The Lion King.” There was a long period in the 1950s and ‘60s when he was, if not the king, certainly the crown prince of pop music. Songs he wrote and sang topped the hit parade. This was followed by a low period around the…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Starting From Flamenco
“Ride,” the debut album from New York City-based band Caramelo, has global ambitions worthy of its name. The opening track, “The Girl is Gone,” sets the tone for the rest of the album when Jewish singer Sara Erde trades smooth fly-girl R&B vocals with flamenco artist Alfonso Cid. While Erde’s voice is immediate, alternating rapidly…
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The Schmooze A Concerto and Chance Meeting for the Ages
It’s always surprising how often Jews cross borders. But this coincidence was just too good not to be documented. In January I was raving to my friend Beate Sirota Gordon about a performance of the famously gigantic, wild and strange Ferruccio Busoni Piano Concerto I’d just heard for the first time, performed by Leon Botstein…
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The Schmooze At 32, Regina Spektor Is Better Than Ever
“Today we’re younger than we ever gonna be,” Regina Spektor sings in the balladic “Small Town Moon,” the first track on “What We Saw From The Cheap Seats,” her sixth solo album. It’s the kind of sappy phrase you might find written on one of those motivational posters that are taped to the walls of…
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The Schmooze Q&A: Taylor Mac on Fabulous Tenement Songs
Since moving to Manhattan to launch his performing career 17 years ago, composer, playwright and actor Taylor Mac has graced stages from Sydney to Spoleto to San Francisco. But the Obie Award-winning artist has never been invited to perform uptown — until now. On May 24, at The JCC in Manhattan, Mac will premiere “Sleep…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: The Face of Ladino Dream-Pop
Any artist working in “World Music” (likely the vaguest genre for which Billboard tracks sales) has to determine the role traditional sounds play in their compositions. They hang suspended between the present and the past; too much fealty to the canon and the recordings become academic exercises in evoking a world long gone. Update your…
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