This is the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
Music
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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