This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
The Latest
-
The Schmooze No Bears Are Back in Town
Crossposted from Haaretz Up until around two years ago, Lo Dubim (which translates to “No Bears”) was one of the most active and well-liked bands in the Tel Aviv and festival indie scene, from InDNegev to the Menashe Forest Festival and back in time to the Hutzmizeh Festival. But then, suddenly there was no trace…
-
The Schmooze Leonard Cohen’s Altneu Song
“Old Ideas,” Leonard Cohen’s first album of new material since 2004’s “Dear Heather,” is set for a January 31 release. Cohen, now 77, is planning another tour to support the record. Given the subpar quality of “Dear Heather” (as explicated in this review by John Jeremiah Sullivan), and the dodgy quality of Cohen’s later studio…
-
The Schmooze Joined by Oud
Crossposted from Haaretz The closing performance of the Jerusalem Oud Festival, starring the singer Aynur Dogan, exemplified the festival’s beauty and necessity. Even in times when the word “flotilla” brought to mind pleasant connotations, Israeli music lovers did not have many opportunities to enjoy a leading Turkish singer. In recent times, marked by Israeli-Turkish hostility,…
-
The Schmooze Monday Music: Haredi Hip-Hop Rocks Tel Aviv
Crossposted from Haaretz The mostly secular crowed at Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv had a religious experience last week when the five-piece Haredi Hip Hop band Shtar took to the stage, traditional wardrobe intact. It wasn’t long before the crowed began to sway to the rhythm of rapper Ori M’Ori’s tassels, as he hammered out…
-
Music Israel’s Gender Wars: A Week of Changes
It was small, low-key and the participants numbered in the hundreds, not the thousands. But a crowd of Israeli women took to the streets to speak out — or, more accurately, sing out — against the continuing attacks by religious extremists on women’s right to be seen and heard freely in the public square. The…
-
The Schmooze Monday Music: Down Home Brooklyn
Photo courtesy of Andy Statman The version of “The Lord Will Provide” on “Old Brooklyn,” Andy Statman’s virtuosic two-CD excursion through all manners of American and Jewish music, struck me as unusual, and not just because the voice and clarinet duet is spine-tinglingly powerful. It’s more because the 18th-century hymn, written by James Newton —…
-
The Schmooze Monday Music: Moshe Hecht’s Spiritual Pop
The song titles tell you a lot about this album: “Master Of The World”; “The Soul”; “Father in Heaven.” Even Moshe Hecht’s last name suggests Orthodoxy. But the sounds of his first album, “Heart Is Alive,” are surprisingly diverse. While the lyrics of Hecht’s compositions come from a devout mindset, the sonic colors are those…
-
The Schmooze Band From the North Country
Crossposted from Haaretz The Louisa band is still not so well known in Tel Aviv, but in the north of the country the rock band that Idan Talmud and Itay Sacharof formed has drawn a devoted audience for more than a year, despite their cautious abstention from too much publicity and exaggerated digital hype on…
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The ICE shooting in Minneapolis shattered my Holocaust survivor father’s American dream
- 2
Opinion A quiet diplomatic shift in the Middle East, with monumental consequences for Israel
- 3
News Why protests in Iran seem surprisingly pro-Israel
- 4
Culture Bob Dylan warned us about guys like Stephen Miller
In Case You Missed It
-
News The ADL’s turn away from civil rights was years in the making — Oct. 7 accelerated it
-
Opinion What Jackson, Mississippi’s only synagogue means to its city — in the wake of arson, and beyond
-
Yiddish אַ גוטע בשׂורה וועגן דעם נײַעם פֿאָרווערטס־פּאָדקאַסטGood news about the new Forverts podcast
במשך פֿון די ערשטע פֿינעף טעג האָט מען אים אַראָפּגעלאָדן מער ווי טויזנט מאָל.
-
Yiddish World You can now enjoy the Yiddish Book Center’s exhibit on your phone
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism