This Rosh Hashanah concert began five years ago as a sort of mood piece. I decided last year to expand it and include riffs off of some core elements in the Rosh Hashanah service itself. Some folks have been asking me to repost it, so here it is. You’ll notice that when you click on…
The songs we sing to ourselves play an outsized role in shaping how we see our culture. So it is distinctly uncomfortable to consider the possibility that a beloved anthem either explicitly or implicitly promotes a toxic idea. Naomi Shemer’s “Jerusalem of Gold” is among the most beloved modern Hebrew songs. No other song so…
October 29 marked the 30th anniversary of the death of the warm-voiced, humane French singer/songwriter Georges Brassens (born 1921), and tributes have included a 19-CD set out on October 17 from Mercury/Universal, following the interrogatively titled study “Brassens?” by French popular song specialist Bertrand Dicale, out in February from Les éditions Flammarion. Also receiving posthumous…
I agonized over this. We’re now in the nine-day mourning period approaching Tisha B’Av. Music is not appropriate. Can we observe by listening to music of the season? Well, I decided to go with it. It’s for those who haven’t thought of observing the mourning period, to get you in the mood. There are versions…
Crossposted from Haaretz The 17 cartons that held Naomi Shemer’s private archive contained a small black telephone book and tucked in its pages was a note in which the popular songwriter jotted down an extra stanza to “Jerusalem of Gold” at the end of the Six Day War: Just four lines in all, plus numerous…
Finally, some small change for women in Israel, so to speak. Four women have been appointed to the New Currency Committee, the Bank of Israel announced last week. The four women, veteran reporter Sherry Raz-Biron, sculptor Ilana Gur, Tel Aviv University professor Adina Myer, and design expert Gila Shakin, will not only create a female…
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