Like Wildflowers, Suddenly

Like Wildflowers, Suddenly
On Creating a Musical Tribute to Israel
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Hebrew College, Berenson Hall
$15 at the door
To register, Click here.
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001z-i2hewoZZ4kH5pX6sFnA5HpW2HGgKjmAwkahGFwtMFL8FxyaSflvZgrSkcU45O6U6LrOBL-PrYyIHpo7bahAWnVAtOem1Ax5I0CH1jWx1o5v-p9u3WPIJw_vlzuS--InLGL2Qe662KYOrTwuBwFZ2yrDtm5sdp6-IAdTmuKupY=
Cantor Charles Osborne
Cantor Aryeh Finklestein
Dr. Joshua Jacobson and the Zamir Chorale of Boston

Let it come
like wildflowers,
suddenly, because the field
must have it: wildpeace

So ends the poem "Wild Peace" by Yehuda Amichai. Those words were the starting point for composer Charles Osborne and librettist Aryeh Finklestein as they set out to create a musical tribute for Israel's 60th birthday. The result is Like Wildflowers, Suddenly, an oratorio encompassing three stages of Jewish history-biblical, the diaspora and the modern Jewish state of Israel.

In this special lecture-concert leading up to the composition's world premiere with the Zamir Chorale of Boston on June 1 at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., Osborne and Finklestein will be joined by the Zamir Chorale and founding director Joshua Jacobson to explore the inspiration for their work and the process of musical creation. Says Osborne, "The piece conveys three stages of the Jewish state: existence, non-existence and re-existence. It's an emotional expression of our relationship to the land."

TREASURES OF THE YIVO SOUND ARCHIVES

TREASURES OF THE YIVO SOUND ARCHIVES Instructor: Lorin Sklamberg (Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Sound Recordings) A fascinating survey of YIVO¹s audio holdings. Examples will include rare commercial and private audio and video recordings of Yiddish folk, theater and art songs, cantorial and klezmer music.
Class conducted in English.

3 Wednesdays, 7:00-8:30 P.M.
March 19-26, April 2
Tuition: $90 / $75 (YIVO members)

CLASSES ARE HELD AT YIVO:
Entrance at 15 West 16 Street (bet. 5th & 6th Aves.)

For further information and to register, please leave your name and contact information at 212-294-6139.

“Beyond Boundaries: Music and Israel @ 60”

“Beyond Boundaries: Music and Israel @ 60” looks at the Present-Day Complexities of Israeli Music

View Beyond Boundaries Brochure On Friday, March 28, “Beyond Boundaries: Music and Israel @ 60,” a symposium of the Center for Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, will explore the complex diversity of musical styles, cultures, religions and ethnicities that is Israel today. The daylong event will present papers, discussions, and musical performances from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM in the Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall on the first floor of the Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street).

In the morning, three speakers will present papers on a variety of topics significant to our understanding of the present-day climate for music in Israel. In the afternoon, from 1 to 3 P.M., there will be a concert by two performance groups: the renowned contemporary New York-based chamber ensemble Continuum, with a program of Israeli art music with pieces by Tzvi Avni, Betty Olivero, and Benjamin Yusupov; and Galeet Dardashti’s all-woman band Divahn, with a program of ethnic and popular Mizrahi music. Dr. Marsha Dubrow, Musicologist and Resident Scholar at the Center, will serve as the moderator for the day. “Beyond Boundaries: Music and Israel @ 60”
Among the speakers in the morning session:

At 9:45 A.M., Dr. Ronit Seter of the Hebrew University will present a paper entitled, “National Identities Playing Musical Chairs: Israeli Art Music, 1948-2008”. In her paper, through a discussion of Israeli art music composers over the past sixty years, she will argue that in Israel, given its origins as a society of immigrants, multiple national identities have become a seminal hallmark of the complex Israeli Identity in music. She will make references to first, second, and third generation composers and the continuously broadening of the national identity mix over time, with special focus on Tzvi Avni, Betty Olivero, and Benjamin Yusupov, whose works will be performed in the afternoon concert..

At 10:30 A.M.., Dr. Benjamin Brinner of UC, Berkeley will speak on “Beyond Ethnic Tinge or Ethnic Fringe: The Emergence of New Competences in Israeli/Palestinian Musical Collaborations”. His remarks will be centered around field study conducted in Israel for his forthcoming book from Oxford University Press, Playing Across a Divide: Musical Encounters in a Contested Land, as well as theoretical frameworks he developed for the study of musical competence and interaction reflected in his book, Knowing Music, Making Music. Dr. Brinner’s analysis will also reflect aspects of social network theory. His presentation will support the notion that cultural collaborations can serve as bridge-builders enhancing understanding and deepening positive relationships between peoples.

At 11:15 A.M., Galeet Dardashti, both a scholar and performer, will present a paper on the subject, “The Piyut Craze: The Popularization of Religious Mizrahi Songs in the Israeli Public Sphere”. Ms. Dardashti will examine how new popular forms of traditional, Judeo-Arabic religious poetic songs are contributing to a reconfiguration of previously essentialized identities of Israeliness. According to Ms. Dardashti, “Israelis of all types are signing up for classes that teach them to sing Mizrahi piyutim: the new age spiritual seekers, the young third-generation Mizrahim seeking the roots they previously shunned, and both secular and devout Mizrahim and Ashkenazim of varied ages.” Dardashti has conducted several years of fieldwork in Israel, She notes, “Not only is it notable that the wider public is interested in Mizrahi culture, but until recently, the boundary between those who self-describe as secular and religious in Israel was more defined.”

This symposium is the first public program to be offered by the Center for Jewish Studies’ Initiative in Jewish Music. Begun last fall by scholar, performer, composer and producer Marsha Dubrow, a Princeton-trained musicologist, this initiative is an attempt to fill a gap in the availability of strong Jewish music program offerings at secular colleges and universities. “Beyond Boundaries” is co-sponsored by the D.M.A./Ph.D. Program in Music, the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation and the Center for the Humanities. “The Symposium will be the first of many unique and interesting offerings in the realm of Jewish music at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Center for Jewish Studies,” Dubrow said.

The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York (CUNY). An internationally recognized center for advanced studies and a national model for public doctoral education, the school offers more than thirty doctoral programs as well as a number of master’s programs. Many of its faculty members are among the world’s leading scholars in their respective fields, and its alumni hold major positions in industry and government, as well as in academia. The Graduate Center is also home to more than thirty interdisciplinary research centers and institutes focused on areas of compelling social, civic, cultural, and scientific concerns. Located in a landmark Fifth Avenue building, the Graduate Center has become a vital part of New York City’s intellectual and cultural life with its extensive array of public lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and theatrical events. Further information on the Graduate Center and its programs can be found at www.gc.cuny.edu

Treasures of the YIVO Sound Archives

Treasures of the YIVO Sound Archives
With Lorin Sklamberg (Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Sound Recordings)

A fascinating survey of YIVO's audio holdings. Examples will include rare commercial and private audio and video recordings of Yiddish folk, theater and art songs, cantorial and klezmer music.
Wednesdays, March 19-26 and April 2, 2008, 7:00-8:30 PM

$90 ($75 for YIVO members)

Italian Jewish Music in Montclair

Montclair State University, in Montclair New Jersey, will host a semester-long Italian Festival of the Arts and Humanities, which will include a few events of Jewish music.

April 1:
Lecture: Jewish Musical Activity in Northern Italy
Lydia Cevidalli and Simonetta Heger, Milan Verdi Conservatory
* Tuesday April 1, 2008
* 8:30 am
Location: University Hall, Room 1010

Featuring visiting scholars Lydia Cevidalli, chamber and orchestral performer and violin professor at the Milan Verdi Conservatory; and Simonetta Heger, soloist and piano and harpsichord professor at the Milan Verdi Conservatory. Part of the Italian Festival of the Arts and Humanities, "An Italian Sense of Place."


April 3
Concert: The Splendor of Italian Music under the Star of David
featuring the Ensemble Salomone Rossi and guests
* Thursday April 3, 2008
* 7:30 pm
Location: Alexander Kasser Theater
Cost: Call the Box Offce
RSVP: 973-655-5112

April 8:
Lecture: Between Ghetto and Emancipation- Musical Traditions of Italian Jews
Francesco Spagnolo, music curator and author
* Tuesday April 8, 2008
* 1:00 pm
Location: University Hall, Room 1040
Featuring Francesco Spagnolo, music curator and lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Part of the Italian Festival of the Arts and Humanities, "An Italian Sense of Place."

For further information, see www.montclair.edu/italianfestival or email simonW@mail.montclair.edu
or call 973-655-4185

John Zorn and the Future of Jewish Music Lecture

The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University's S.E. Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus, invites you to join librarian Daniel Scheide, who will present a lecture titled "John Zorn and the Future of Jewish Music," on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 from 7 to 8 p.m.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 29, 2007, from 7 to 8 p.m.

WHERE: Paul C. Wimbish Wing of the S.E. Wimberly Library
Mildred & Abner Levine and Ruth & Saul Weinberger Jewish Life Center
Hillel Golden Pavilion
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431

COST:*Free and open to the public
CONTACT: Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries at 561-297-0080

"The Media and the Messenger: Transforming the Cantor's Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Jeffrey Shandler
March 9th
"The Media and the Messenger: Transforming the Cantor's Art In the Age of Mechanical Reproduction " Location: The Center for Jewish History
15 W. 16th St. New York City
Date: Friday, March 9, 2007
Time: 10:30 AM to Noon

Admission: This event is free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society
and the American Society for Jewish Music
The Jewish Music Forum lecture series continues, with an investigation of the cantor's life, art, and spirituality as narrated through various modes of communication:
"The Media and the Messenger: Transforming the Cantor's Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Presented by:
Dr. Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers University
Respondents: Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, New York University, and Dr. Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University Co-sponsor: Working Group on Jews/Media/Religion at the Center for Religion and Media, New York University

In brief:
Jeffrey Shandler will discuss how American cantors' interactions with new media of the past century transformed their art and their stature as performers. Their engagement with sound recordings, sheet music, motion pictures, and radio and television broadcasting created new possibilities for cantors that tested the limits of their traditional role as shliah tsibur (communal messenger). Of special interest is how cantors have become subjects of mediations, especially in narratives in which the cantor's life and career figure as exemplary tales of the encounter of Jewish tradition with the challenges of modernity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Distinguished panel:

Dr. Jeffrey Shandler, a scholar of modern Jewish culture, is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. His publications include Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and Culture (2005), Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting (2003), Awakening Lives: Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland before the Holocaust (2002), and While America Watches: Televising the Holocaust (1999).

Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is University Professor, Professor of Performance Studies, and Affiliated Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. Her publications include Image Before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864-1939 (with Lucjan Dobroszycki) (1977); Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage (1998); The Art of Being Jewish in Modern Times (edited with Jonathan Karp) (in press); and They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust (with Mayer Kirshenblatt) (in press).

Dr. Mark Slobin is a professor of music at Wesleyan University and past president of the Society for Ethnomusicology. His books include Tenement Songs: The Popular Music of the Jewish Immigrants and Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World, both of which received ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award, and Music in the Culture of Northern Afghanistan.

About the Jewish Music Forum:

The Forum is a colloquium in which invited lecturers present original research in a flexible format that is followed by response and open discussion. With the support of the American Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Music Forum, a project of the American Society for Jewish Music, launched its new series at the Center for Jewish History in the spring of 2005. The Jewish Music Forum is devoted to the study of Jewish music in all of its historical and contemporary diversity.

'Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish' at National Arts Club

Monday, December 18, 2006 at 8 PM
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South (at 20th St. between Park Avenue & Irving Place), New York City
Free event.

Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish Slide Lecture, Musical Performance & Booksigning
In his latest book, Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish, composer and author, Jack Gottlieb chronicles how Jewish songwriters and composers transformed American popular music of the mid-twentieth-century. Dr. Gottlieb will play piano and show vintage images as he illustrates the connection, citing instances where Yiddish songs and cantorial music were adapted by Jewish songwriters as they penned tunes for Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood. The book (which includes a CD) will be available at NAC member discount. A reception will follow.

American Democracy Inspires Jewish Music

Meira Warshauer Look to the Light will be performed on November 12 at Princeton University as part of American Democracy Inspires Jewish Music and Poetry Program

Meira Warshauer’s Look to the Light for SATB and piano, with text by Rabbi Dan Grossman will be performed by Sharim V’Sharot, central New Jersey’s select Jewish choir, Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director, as part of their “American Democracy Inspires Jewish Music and Poetry” program on Sunday, November 12 – 1:00 PM in Frist Hall on the campus of Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. Look to the Light portrays Chanukah themes of light and freedom through the lens of American experience, with references to George Washington and Billings, Montana.

This program is free and open to the public, however reservations are required. For reservations and more information, call (609) 443-1623 or visit http://www.SharimVSharot.org.

In addition to the musical portion of the program, Robert Reinstein, Dean of The Beasley School of Law, Temple University will discuss the exercise of free speech, religion, and the right to petition for the redress of grievances as guaranteed by the Constitution. Esther Schor, Professor of English, Princeton University, joins Elayne Robinson Grossman in discussing and performing poetry and music inspired by the First Amendment. More about this online at http://www.sharimvsharot.org/events.htm.

Sharim V’Sharot’s mission is to perform the music of the Jewish people and to impart the passion of Jewish life through the experience of fine musical performances. The program on November 12 is supported by the “We the People” initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities through a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. The “We the People” initiative supports projects that advance the study, teaching, and understanding of American history and culture. This program is also co-sponsored by the Program in Judaic Studies and the Center for Jewish Life at Princeton University; The Beasley School of Law, Temple University; The United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks; Rider University’s Hillel; and the Sharim V’Sharot Foundation. Visit them online at http://www.SharimVSharot.org.

Meira Warshauer’s compositions have been performed and recorded to critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, and Asia. A graduate of Harvard, New England Conservatory of Music, and the University of South Carolina, Dr. Warshauer studied composition with Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman, William Thomas McKinley, and Gordon Goodwin. She has received numerous awards from ASCAP as well as the America Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. In 2000, she received the first Art and Cultural Achievement Award from the Jewish Historical Society of S. Carolina.

Dr. Warshauer is a Visiting Lecturer at Columbia College, Columbia, South Carolina . Her CDs include the soundtrack to the documentary Land of Promise: The Jews of South Carolina and Spirals of Light, chamber music and poetry (by Ani Tuzman) on themes of enlightenment, on the Kol Meira label and "Revelation" for orchestra, included on the MMC CD Robert Black Conducts. Her music is published by Oxford University Press, MMB Music, World Music Press and Kol Meira Publications. Her latest Bracha Newsletter is online at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/march06/MW_nws_030906.htm. You can find much more about her at http://home.sc.rr.com/meirawarshauer/.

Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska offers Jewish Music Symposium

A two-day academic symposium called "'I Will Sing and Make Music': Jewish Music and Musicians Throughout the Ages" will be held October 29-30, 2006. It is The Nineteenth Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium being held in Omaha Nebraska. This year's theme on Jewish music has as keynote speaker Josh Jacobson of Northeastern University. http://puffin.creighton.edu/klutznick/
Presenters include:

Theodore Albrecht
Kent State University
"Beethoven's Quotation of Kol Nidrei? A Circumstantial Case for Sherlock Holmes"

Paul Eisenstein Baker
University of St. Thomas (Houston)
"Leo Zeitlin and the Early Twentieth Century Society for Jewish Folk Music"

Emily A. Bell
University of Florida
"Revitalizing the Synagogue Ritual: Cantor David Putterman's Annual Service of New Music at New York's Park Avenue Synagogue"

Dan W. Clanton, Jr.
University of Denver
"'From Biblical Times to Lyrical Rhymes': The Assertion of Jewish Identity in Music as Cultural Resistance"

Marsha Bryan Edelman
Gratz College
"What Do You Mean, 'It Doesn't Sound Jewish?': Debunking Myths and Defining Models for Extra-Liturgical Music"

Anat Feinberg
College of Jewish Studies Heidelberg
"To Play or Not to Play: Jewish Musicians in Germany After 1945"

Susan M. Filler
Chicago, IL
"The Music of Yiddish Theater and Its Influence on Broadway"

Rabbi Jonathan Gross
Omaha, NE
"Make a Note of That: The Importance of the Ta'amei Hamikrah in Understanding the Torah"

Charles Isbell
Louisiana State University
"Musical Notations in the Biblical Book of Psalms"

Joshua Jacobson
Northeastern University
KEYNOTE-"Jewish Music: What Is That?"

Daniel Juette
University of Heidelberg
"Public Space and Jewish Music in Renaissance Italy"

Charles Jurgensmeier, SJ
Creighton University
"Solomon Sulzer and Ranz Schubert: A Musical Collaboration"

Rita Ottens
City University of London
"'It'll Still Take Some Time Until We Will Get Over It': A Field Report from the Klezmer Scene of New Germany"

Joel E. Rubin
University of Virginia
"'They Danced It, We Played It': Adaptation and Revitalization in Post-1920s New York Klezmer Music"

JEWISH CABARET IN EXILE, SONGS OF MODERNITY

YIVO Presents: JEWISH CABARET IN EXILE, SONGS OF MODERNITY
by the New Budapest Orpheum Society
Thursday, September 14, 7 pm
VENUE: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street
TICKETS: $20/$10 students - Box Office: 917-606-8200/www.ticketweb.com

Experience the musical tradition of the European Jewish cabaret. The NBOS, an eight-member ensemble, revives hauntingly beautiful songs from these troupes and from composers and lyricists in exile. The performance will mix skits, comedy, and songs in German, Hebrew, Yiddish and English with scholarly commentary.

Pre-concert talk (free to ticket holders): 6:15-6:45 p.m., "Jewish Cabaret: The Stories Behind the Stereotypes" Philip Bohlman, Artistic Director, New Budapest Orpheum Society; Mary Werkman, Professor of the Humanities and of Music, University of Chicago For more information http://www.yivo.org/events/index.php?tid=139&aid=355

Joel Rubin tonight at the Center for Jewish History

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 , 7pm
"More Famous than the Beatles: Klezmorim as Negotiators of Change in 19th and 20th century Poland"
Vladimir and Pearl Heifetz and Joseph Kremen Memorial Lecture
Dr. Joel E. Rubin, Syracuse University
at: The Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, NYC

Joel E. Rubin Presents at CJH

The Vladimir and Pearl Heifetz and Joseph Kremen Memorial Lecture
"More Famous than the Beatles: Klezmorim as Negotiators of Change in 19th and 20th century Poland"
Dr. Joel E. Rubin, Syracuse University
May 30, 2006 at 7:00pm
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16 Street
New York, NY 10011
Kovno Room
Please contact the CJH Theater Box Office
phone: (917) 606-8200
email: boxoffice@cjh.org

Wonderful World of Folk Songs in NJ

"The Wonderful World of Folk Songs" is a multimedia presentation by Mr. Zvi Shacham
Date: March 2, 2006
Time: 8:00pm
Admission: Free
Place: Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County
230 Old Bridge Turnpike, South River, NJ 08882
RSVP by 2/28/06 info@jf-gmc.org or (732) 432-7711 ext 20
Ever wondered….
¯What is the origin of the American National Anthem?
¯Who really wrote Hatikvah?
¯Who wrote Hava Nagila?
¯Who are the outstanding American folk songs writers and performers?
Folk songs are part of the tradition and folklore of all nations. They reflect the history and culture of the people. Mr. Shacham has been studying, collecting and presenting international folk music for many years.

A Sunday with Mieczyslaw Weinberg: program in Paris

Sunday, January 22nd 2006, 3pm
"A Sunday with Mieczyslaw Weinberg"
Concert programme: Sonate No 4 op.56, Sonatine op.46 for violin and piano, Chants juifs op.13, String Quartett No 8, Notturno
Round table: Weinberg, a musician to discover
With Olia Weinberg, Frans Lemaire (musicologist), Reinhard Flender (editor)
Further Information:
L'Assocation internationale Dimitri Chostakovitch www.devinci.fr/chostakovitch
Le Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaisme Paris www.mahj.org

Diversity and Unity: North African Musical Traditions at CUNY

An upcoming engagement of ASEFA on Feb. 8, 2006 in NYC-- "Diversity and Unity: North African Musical Traditions"
Samuel Thomas with Yoel Ben-Simhon and Dudu Bohbot as Asefa, present a performance/ presentation on the music of the Maghrebi at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Segal Theater, 6:30pm
365 Fifth Ave, NYC
$10 donation at door
This event is co-sponsored by the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, the Center for Jewish Studies, and the Ph.D Program in Ethnomusicology. See flyer for more details http://www.jatm.org/files/Asefa_020806.pdf http://www.jatm.org/ASEFA

Jewish Music Forum features Dr. Hankus Netsky in September

The Jewish Music Forum is very pleased to introduce the 2005-2006 schedule of our academic seminar series, "New Perspectives on Music in Jewish Life." The first speaker will be Dr. Hankus Netsky of the New England Conservatory of Music. On Friday, September 23 at 10 A.M. at the Center for Jewish History, Dr. Netsky will deliver a lecture, "The Philadelphia Russian Sher Medley: Viewing the Immigrant Experience through a Musical Text." Dr. Mark Slobin of Wesleyan University will serve as respondent to this talk. All sessions of the Jewish Music Forum take place on Friday mornings, beginning at 10:00 AM at the Center for Jewish History. For additional information, please contact James Loeffler at 212-294-8328 or jloeffler@jewishmusicforum.org.

The second year of this series continues the Forum's initial goal of providing new contexts for scholars across Jewish studies to explore ways of incorporating music into their research. We have assembled a broad range of researchers who approach Jewish music from a rich variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives.

Hankus Netsky, Ph.D., is an instructor in jazz and contemporary improvisation at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he has taughtfor twenty years. He received his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and has published articles on the history of klezmer music in the United States and Eastern Europe. He is also a multi-instrumentalist and composer and the founder and director of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, an internationally renowned Yiddish music ensemble. He currently serves as research director of the Klezmer Conservatory Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to research on Yiddish musical traditions.

Prof. Martin Schwartz speaks at SOAS in London

Professor Martin Schwartz of the University of California will speak on the topic of "THE LARGE SHARED REPERTORY OF GREEK AND KLEZMER / YIDDISH VERNACULAR MUSICS"

DATE: 6.00pm on Wednesday 22 June 2005
PLACE: Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG
ADMISSION: Admission free. Open to all interested parties. A collection will be taken.
RESERVATIONS: All places must be reserved in advance. Please e-mail ed.emery@britishlibrary.net.

Professor Schwartz is a long-standing collector of Greek, Turkish and traditional klezmer music. In this fascinating talk he will examine the common musical heritage to be found in Greek music and klezmer music. He will introduce musical examples from early/archival recordings of rebetika and demotika, and klezmer instrumentals and Yiddish vocal music, arranged into various categories and discussed in a historical context.

This is a sampling of the results of an innovative research project that Professor Schwartz has been pursuing for over 35 years. Martin Schwartz has been a seminal figure both in the international revival of klezmer music and in North American interest in rebetika.

His publications on music include the following collections:
Klezmer Music: Early Yiddish Instrumental Music, The First Recordings, 1910-1927, From the Collection of M. Schwartz. Edited by Professor Martin Schwartz and Chris Strachwitz. [1983 ] (Arhoolie-) Folkloric Records, LP/Cassette 9034. 3 pages of annotations.

Greek-Oriental (Smyrnaic-Rebetic) Songs and Dances, 1925-1935, From The Collection of M. Schwartz. Edited by Professor Martin Schwartz and Chris Strachwitz. (Arhoolie-) Folkloric LP 9033. 3 pages of annotations.

Greek-Oriental Rebetica: Songs and Dances in the Asia Minor Style, 1911-1937. (Arhoolie-) Folkloric CD/Cassette. (Some selections repeated from 1983 LP above, with substantial expansion of material, and new 24- page booklet of history, personnel notes, literal and poetic translations by M.S.) [1990]

Yikhes: Fruehe Klezmer Aufnahmen aus der Sammlung von Prof. Martin Schwartz. Trikont (Germany) CD US 0179 (with contributions to 25-page booklet; selections reproduced for the first time).

Klezmer Music: Early Yiddish Instrumental Music, 1908-1927, From the Collection of Dr. Martin Schwartz. With (22 pp. of) annotation by Martin Schwartz. Arhoolie-Folkloric CD 7034. [1997]

This seminar is a joint venture by the Institute of Rebetology [London] and the Jewish Music Institute [SOAS], as part of the Rebetiko Summer School (SOAS, 22-25 June 2006).

It is organised in partnership with "Greece in Britain" (www.greeceinbritain.org.uk), a nationwide series of events presented by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture.

Article about Prof. Schwartz:
www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2003/03/12_klez.shtml
Website: www.geocities.com/Rebetology
Inquiries: ed.emery@britishlibrary.net

"Between Wissenschaft and Etnografiia" for ASJM in NYC

James Loeffler, "Between Wissenschaft and Etnografiia", NYC, May 13
American Society for Jewish Music
Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street New York, NY 10011
May 13
James Loeffler, Columbia University, "Between Wissenschaft and Etnografiia: The Search for a Jewish Musical Science in Eurasia, Past and Present"
Guest chair and respondent: Dr. Ludmila Sholokhova, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
All sessions will take place on Friday mornings, beginning at 10:00 AM at the Center for Jewish History. Please RSVP via e-mail to the American Society for Jewish Music or call 212-294-8328. For additional information, please see www.jewishmusic-asjm.org.

The Jewish Music Forum and The Center for Jewish History Lecture

The Jewish Music Forum and The Center for Jewish History
are pleased to present

Professor Mark Kligman
(Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion)

Friday, April 8, 10 AM
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street

"Beyond Yiddishland: New Studies from the Jewish Musical Mediterranean"

The music of Sephardi Jewish communities is a diverse and complex cultural phenomenon. Spanning the Mediterranean from the Western Sephardic communities of Spain and Portugal to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire and the Levant, the Sephardi world encompasses a vast geographic, cultural and linguistic space. This presentation will offer a broad overview of the development of academic scholarship on Western and Middle Eastern Sephardi musical traditions. Using extensive audio examples, Professor Kligman will demonstrate the stylistic and cultural diversity across Mediterranean Jewish communities, past and present. Guest Chair and Respondent for the event will be Professor Uri Sharvit of Bar-Ilan University.

This lecture is the fourth session in the New Perspectives on Music in Jewish Life seminar series of the Jewish Music Forum at the Center for Jewish History. Please RSVP to the American Society for Jewish Music at asjm@cjh.org or 212-294-8328. Interested individuals may also request a copy of Professor Kligman's paper in advance by contacting James Loeffler at JBL37@columbia.edu. The Jewish Music Forum is a new project of the American Society for Jewish Music, an affiliate of the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History. For more information, please see the website: www.jewishmusic-asjm.org

Brecht Forum at Westbeth NYC

On Wednesday, Mar. 2, at 7:30pm, the Brecht Forum at Westbeth (451 West St., corner of Bank St.) in Manhattan will be celebrating the 100th birthday of the man who made Brecht & Weill household words in America: Marc Blitzstein, a seminal figure in American music, theatre, and opera, best known for his translation/adaptation of THE THREEPENNY OPERA, as well as his own Broadway operas THE CRADLE WILL ROCK and REGINA, and the unfinished TALES OF MALAMUD and SACCO AND VANZETTI. In January 1936, Blitzstein played his song about a prostitute, "The Nickel Under the Foot" at a party for Brecht, who then suggested that it be expanded to show how under capitalism everyone sells out. That became THE CRADLE WILL ROCK. A tape recording, discovered in the archives only last summer, of Blitzstein playing and singing that song will be played in public for the first time at the symposium. Helene Williams and Leonard Lehrman will perform. Admission is by donation.

New Jewish Music Forum

The American Society for Jewish Music has launched the New Jewish Music Forum. Speaking in New York at the Center for Jewish History last Friday on Feb. 11 was Edwin Seroussi, Head of the Jewish Music Research Center located at Hebrew University in Jersualem. Seroussi, who spoke on "Studying Jewish Music in Israel: Achievements, Failures and Challenges for the Future," also has a recently released book called "Popular Music and National Culture in Israel." Seroussi's talk centered on both the historic and political as well as artistic influences that shaped the course of Israeli music. Mark Kligman of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion moderated. His respondent at the forum was Professor Stephen Blum, City University of New York. Professor Seroussi is also the Emanuel Alexandre Professor of Musicology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The New Jewish Music Forum is being led by distinguished musicologists: James Loeffler of Columbia University as Executive Director of the Jewish Music Forum, ASJM Board Member Mark Kligman as Academic Chair, and Judah M. Cohen of New York University as Vice-Academic Chair.
Jewish Music Forum in February 2005
Photo (from left to right): Mark Kligman, Edwin Seroussi, Judah Cohen, Jim Loeffler, Stephen Blum.

Yiddishist Caraid O'Brien, NYC, Feb 9

Wednesday, February 9th, 4:30pm
Congregation Shaare Zedek
212 W. 93 St. (E. of Broadway)
NYC
Further info: (212) 724-6388
Acclaimed Yiddishist CARAID O'BRIEN will appear at the Westside Yiddish Cultural School, located in the basement of Congregation Shaare Zedek. Ms. O'Brien will relate her experiences growing up in an Irish-American family in Boston, her serendipitous discovery of Yiddish, and her career dedicated to the Yiddish language as a Yiddishist, actress and writer (as profiled in the NEW YORK TIMES). This event is free and open to the public. Seating will be on a first-come basis.

'The Whitechapel Windmill' and A Seminar on Jewish Boxers of London's East End

Tuesday 29 March 2005
A Seminar on Jewish Boxers of London's East End
And excerpts from a brand new opera
'The Whitechapel Windmill'
by Howard Frederics
The opera deals with the life of the famous Jewish boxer from the East End Jack 'Kid' Berg (born Judah Bergman) covering aspects of his fascinating life. and 2 lectures on the history of Jewish boxing in Britain.
7.30pm Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon Square, London WC1
e-mail blooms.theatre@ucl.ac.uk 020 7388 8822
details from Clive Bettington 07941 367 882 c.bettington@jeecs.org.uk
supported by the Kessler Foundation. The Jewish Institute (University College London), Kingston University and is part of the International Forum for Yiddish Culture project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

New Jewish Music Forum

The Jewish Music Forum, a new initiative of the American Society for Jewish Music, an affiliate of the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History, is pleased to announce its inaugural academic seminar series. This ongoing seminar will feature leading scholars presenting new research findings and theoretical contributions to the academic study of Jewish music. All events are free and open to the public.

Jewish Music Forum
Spring 2005 Academic Seminar
"The Study of Music in Jewish Life"

January 28
Professor Kay Kaufman Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music at Harvard University, Inaugural Lecture, "Memory and History in Jewish Music"

February 11
Professor Edwin Seroussi, Emanuel Alexandre Professor of Musicology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, "Studying Jewish Music in Israel: Achievements, Failures and Challenges for the Future" Guest chair and respondent: Professor Stephen Blum, City University of New York

March 11
Professor Judah M. Cohen, New York University, "Who Will Reclaim the Golden Sounds?: Judaism, Tradition, and Music Scholarship in an American Context" Guest chair and respondent: Professor Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University

April 8
Professor Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, "Beyond Yiddishland: New Studies from the Jewish Musical Mediterranean" Guest chair and respondent: Professor Uri Sharvit, Bar-Ilan University

May 13
James Loeffler, Columbia University, "Between Wissenschaft and Etnografiia: The Search for a Jewish Musical Science in Eurasia, Past and Present" Guest chair and respondent: Dr. Ludmila Sholokhova, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

All session will take place on Friday mornings, beginning at 10:00 AM at the Center for Jewish History. Please RSVP to the American Society for Jewish Music at asjm@cjh.orgor
212-294-8328.
Introducing the Jewish Music Forum The American Society for Jewish Music (ASJM) is pleased to announce the formation of a major new project, the Jewish Music Forum (JMF). Taking its name and inspiration from an earlier chapter of ASJM's history, the new Jewish Music Forum will serve both as a regular meeting place and an international network for scholars and researchers who are actively studying Jewish music, as well as a key cultural resource for artists and educators creating new Jewish music today. The Jewish Music Forum (JMF) will concentrate on three main areas of activity. First, JMF will host an annual series of regular academic seminars at the Center for Jewish History, where AJHS is a partner and ASJM an affiliate organization. There, participants will come together to present new research findings, theories and works-in-progress for an audience of scholars, graduate students and other interested Jewish music specialists. The aim will be to build up a core group of New York-based participants representing interdisciplinary interests who will be joined by visiting researchers. New media technology will allow these sessions to be recorded and archived on DVDs for interested individuals and academic institutions well beyond New York. Beyond this series of academic seminars, JMF will work together with performers, educators and composers to complement the fruits of academic labor and create artistic programs for the general public. The academic seminars will be coordinated with concerts and workshops held at the Center for Jewish History and elsewhere, providing the public an opportunity to experience both the rich diversity of Jewish music and the important, revealing efforts of Jewish music scholarship. The JMF will aim to support and amplify the efforts of the journal Musica Judaica to bring original academic research to a wide audience. Finally, in the interest of promoting the study of Jewish music in larger American and international academic circles, JMF will also join in sponsoring events and forums at academic conferences, such as annual meetings of the Association for Jewish Studies, the American Musicological Society and the Society for Ethnomusicology. JMF will also serve as the American affiliate of the Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. These efforts will serve to promote awareness of the important research going on in the field of Jewish music today. By linking up scholars of Jewish music from disciplines ranging from musicology to anthropology to history and beyond, JMF intends to develop a professional network of specialists in Jewish music, who can serve as resources to each other and the different communities where they live, work and teach. To lead the project, the American Society for Jewish Music has named James Loeffler of Columbia University as Executive Director of the Jewish Music Forum, ASJM Board Member Mark Kligman of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion as Academic Chair, and Judah M. Cohen of New York University as Vice-Academic Chair. They are joined as well by a steering committee comprised of leading scholars from the United States and Israel. Together this team has assembled the schedule for the first semester of academic programs centered on the series of academic seminars to be held at the Center for Jewish History beginning in January 2005. For further information about the activities of the Jewish Music Forum, please contact the American Society for Jewish Music by email at asjm@cjh.org or telephone at 212-294-8328. "The Study of Music in Jewish Life" Seminar Jan. - May 2005 The study of Jewish music has its roots in the nineteenth century European Wissenschaft tradition. The first studies of Jewish music initially centered on the European Jewish liturgical music, with the prime focus on the Ashkenazic tradition and only occasional forays into Western Sephardic traditions. At the turn of the twentieth century the field grew significantly through major individual and collective efforts in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Palestine. Studies of artistic and folk traditions came to form part of the burgeoning academic fields of European musicology and ethnomusicology. The first attempts at global views of Jewish music also began to appear in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Idelsohn's Jewish Music in Its Historical Development (1929) is one early prime example. During the course of the twentieth century studies of Jewish music have become more specifically delineated with attempts to uncover specific aspects of a regional or single tradition rather than a comprehensive global view. Contemporary studies of Jewish music cover a wide geographic area documenting various traditions around the world and are situated within one or more disciplines, including musicology, ethnomusicology, Judaic studies, linguistics, anthropology and history. In addition, the emphasis in recent decades on interdisciplinary studies has opened new opportunities and new challenges for scholars. This first seminar series will thus focus on questions of the historical development of methodology and discipline in the study of Jewish music.

Jack Gottlieb on LOC site

Jack Gottlieb wrote the book, "Funny, It Doesn?t Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood.? At http://www.loc.gov/locvideo/gottlieb/, you can see and hear a talk he gave on September 20 at the Library of Congress. He plays and sings examples of American music, Hebrew prayer melodies, and music from the Jewish theater, to illustrate his thesis that they are not coincidentally similar.

Professor Jehoash Hirshberg at JTS

Professor Jehoash Hirshberg of The Hebrew University presents a lecture: "The Musical Heritage of the Karaite Jews of Egyptian origin in Israel - Liturgical and Paraliturgical Traditions and Performance" Thursday, February 12, 10:30 AM, at Kripke 406 Jewish Theological Seminary 3080 Broadway, New York Free and Open to the Public. All are invited.