This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
The Latest
-
Music Heeb-ish, Not Jewish
The hipster humorists at Heeb Magazine are taking their cool cultural gestalt out West, organizing a music festival in Oakland, Calif. But, they want to be clear, it’s not a Jewish music festival. San Francisco’s always informative (albeit unfortunately named) Jewish newsweekly J. reports that the “Heeb fest won’t include any Jewish programming or content,…
-
Music Why Do Jews Love Irish Music?
Why do Jews love Irish music? Actually, I didn’t know they did, until Gwen Orel told me so. Writing in The Village Voice, Orel presents some anecdotal evidence that Jews are particularly well-represented in New York’s Irish music scene — which, of course, begs the question: “What makes so many Jewish-Americans with no Celtic heritage…
-
Music Babs May Be Bailing, But Israel Still Has Denzel
The AP reports: Barbra Streisand has announced that she will pull out of Israel’s 60th anniversary celebration next month. Streisand was one of the big-name guests slated to appear at the Jerusalem convention hosted by President Shimon Peres beginning May 13. The American diva was supposed to perform a rendition of the Hebrew prayer Avinu…
-
Music Rabbis Against Concerts
I’m a little late to the game on this one, so I’ll summarize in brief: A couple weeks ago the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Hamodia published a statement from 33 ultra-Orthodox rabbis — including some of the American haredi community’s most respected figures — prohibiting attendance at a planned charity fund-raising concert at Madison Square Garden’s WaMu…
-
Music Matisyahu’s New ’Do
Reggae sensation Matisyahu made waves last year when he revealed that he was no longer affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect. Since then, he has been davening at a shul affiliated with the Karliner Hasidim, who are known for screaming their prayers. Now, it appears, his new spiritual orientation is starting to show in his…
-
Books Songbook Recaptures Lost Melodies
Heard any good Yiddish folksongs lately? Chances are good that the answer is “no.” Not because there aren’t any good Yiddish folksongs to be heard; for generations, the Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe sang innumerable songs about love and loss, death and marriage. They sang to their children to soothe them to sleep, and they…
-
News Symposium Seeks To Save Yiddish Dance
Most academic symposia don’t offer a steady supply of cold beer and hot pirogi. Fewer still offer the chance to see Michael Alpert, frontman for the progressive klezmer band Brave Old World, dancing on a chair. The first-ever Yiddish Dance Symposium had both. The bulk of the symposium, which was chaired by Alpert and by…
-
Music Whoever Said That Rappers and Orthodox Jews Don’t Mix?
Okay, I’m not sure anyone’s actually said that — and now nobody’s going to be able to say it, because we have ironclad evidence to the contrary. TMZ.com reports that the rapper Pharrell — who collaborated with Snoop Dogg on the hit single “Drop It Like It’s Hot” — “was driving around Miami when he…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
- 2
Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
- 3
Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
- 4
Culture She was my Hebrew school bully — and I finally learned what happened to her
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Cuomo says key factor in his primary loss was Mamdani’s support from young, Jewish, and pro-Palestinian voters
-
Fast Forward Elon Musk wants your kids to use his chatbot. The same one that praised Hitler.
-
Fast Forward Nation’s largest teachers union rejects move to cut ties with ADL
-
Culture In this Holocaust story, there are few words, no swastikas, no yellow stars — just movement, passion and empathy
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
