Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
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The Schmooze Beethoven in Bethlehem
Crossposted from Haaretz “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism” says the sign that currently greets visitors to Bethlehem. It is a bit ironic, given its location next to checkpoints manned by armed soldiers wearing bulletproof vests. How does one deal with such a siege? With a sense of humor:…
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The Schmooze Convicted Singer Returns to Stage
Crossposted from Haaretz For the first time since she was convicted of extortion and threats, singer Margalit Tzan’ani returned to the stage over the weekend. At about 2 A.M. on Friday morning, her performance at the Comfort 13 club in Tel Aviv began. The show, which was discussed extensively in the local media, was part…
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The Schmooze Berlin Celebrates Louis Lewandowski Festival
This past weekend in Berlin, eight choirs from four continents took part in the first ever Louis Lewandowski Festival, named for the famed music director of Berlin’s New Synagogue in the late 19th century. The choristers hailed from Jerusalem to Johannesburg and Boston to Zürich, with detours to Strasbourg, Toronto and London. The headlining group…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: A John Zorn Christmas
The CD case to John Zorn’s first Christmas record, “A Dreamers Christmas,” comes as a sort of stocking. Reaching into the sleeve you’ll find, along with the CD, a sheet of stickers that could represent a new line of holiday-themed Giga Pets. You might be tempted to over-think this album, with its cute and somewhat…
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The Schmooze Forward Fives: 2011 in Music
In this, the third annual Forward Fives selection, we celebrate the year’s cultural output with a series of deliberately eclectic choices in music, performance, exhibitions, books and film. Here we present five of the most important Jewish music releases of 2011. Feel free to argue with and add to our selections in the comments. “Songs…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: God Bless the Christmas Jews!
Bah humbug! This is a trying month for those of us with sensitive ears. Which is worse: the saccharine “holiday” drivel saturating the airwaves, or the ceaseless griping of those cheerless snobs who make a winter sport of proclaiming their distaste for the season’s musical offerings? It hardly takes a musical genius to wince at…
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The Schmooze Great American Songbook on Display
Wherever we go this time of year, we can’t escape hearing Christmas songs — be they on the radio, sung by carolers, or piped in as Muzak in stores and public spaces. It gets to the point at which it seems there is an audio loop of holiday classics running non-stop in our heads. What…
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The Schmooze In the Recording Studio with Itzhak Perlman
Photo by Mark Berney Itzhak spoke to Yitzchok in Hebrew. Hankus spoke to Yitzchok in Yiddish. The conductor made puns in English with a heavy Australian-South African accent. And this all happened in the recording studio where Bruce Springsteen recorded “Born to Run” and Madonna laid down her vocal tracks for “Like A Virgin.” We’re…
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