Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
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The Schmooze Israel Song Festival To Be Revived
Crossposted from Haaretz After a more than 30-year hiatus, the Israel Song Festival will be revived this year, according to a senior Israel Broadcasting Authority source. The festival, held almost every year from 1960 to 1980, initially offered winners a cash reward. But in 1978, the top finisher was designated as Israel’s representative in the…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Chana Rothman’s Pop and Politics
Photo by Elise Warshavsky Not every singer-songwriter can sing lyrics like, “You got a big heart, sweet like a Pop-Tart, bigger than Walmart” and hope to be taken seriously. But Chana Rothman can, and she does so on the bouncy first track of her new album, “Beautiful Land.” That track, somewhat reminiscent of Kimya Dawson…
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Culture How Authentic Is ‘Porgy and Bess’?
George Gershwin was insecure. He never showed it at high-society parties, where he could always be found perched at the nearest piano like a king on his throne. (He played incessantly. Once, when Gershwin wondered aloud if his music would be performed in 100 years, his friend Oscar Levant quipped, “It will be if you’re…
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The Schmooze Sephardic Music Festival Diary
This was the first time I went to the Sephardic Music Festival. Now in its seventh year, the festival held shows in New York from December 20 to 27, everywhere from 700-person capacity clubs to synagogue basements. I went to five concerts — mostly in the Village — and took notes. December 20: The Mast,…
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The Schmooze Singer Yaffa Yarkoni Dies at 86
Crossposted from Haaretz Yaffa Yarkoni, one of Israel’s greatest and best-loved singers, passed away January 1 in Tel Aviv at the age of 86, following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Lyricist Avi Koren, a close friend of the singer’s for 45 years, recalled yesterday that Yarkoni, an Israel Prize laureate, once said to him: “Look…
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The Schmooze Best Classical Performances of 2011
“Kommilitonen!” By Peter Maxwell Davies Juilliard Vocal Arts Photo by Nan Melville Topping my list of the best classical performances of 2011 was that rarest of things: a brilliant operatic rendering of real historic events that engaged the audience emotionally, morally and intellectually. Juilliard presented the American premiere of “Kommilitonen!” (“Fellow Students!”) composed by Peter…
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Culture Adrienne Cooper Embodied Progressive Spirit
It is hard to imagine the world without Adrienne Cooper, a friend said to me on learning that she was near death. As she did for so many others, she enriched my life for decades with thrilling song, wise words, and trenchant humor. She is perhaps best known as a concert and recording artist, one…
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The Schmooze ‘Musica Ethnit’ Returns to Jerusalem
After a six-year hiatus, the Mediterranean Musical Meeting festival returned to Jerusalem’s picturesque Mishkenot Sha’ananim neighborhood last week, filling the cobblestone streets with the sounds of young Israelis learning Middle Eastern music, or as it is known in Hebrew, musica ethnit. The term has evolved to mean acoustic, traditional Middle Eastern music, or new compositions…
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