Shalom Aleichem (Jewish music thread)

[Sava]

2 Live Jews - As Kosher As They Wanna Be

[Nostromo]

So if a Japanese person writes a symphony, it isn't Japanese music any more, it's European? Sorry, I don't buy that line of reasoning.

Its Japanese music, in a sense. Since a Japanese wrote that symphony, its Japanese.

But in another sense, that symphony isn't Japanese. His symphony didn't come out of the homegrown musical traditions of Japan: it came out of homegrown musical traditions of Europe. I'm assuming, of course, he didn't give a Japanese twist to it, and integrated somehow both traditions.

In other words, when Spiffor asked for Jewish music, he didn't ask for music made by a Jew : that could be anything, it could be classical, jazz, pop, rock, you name it. He didn't ask for Serge Gainsbourg, for example. He asked for a certain type of music, Jewish music like Klezmer. Of course, you don't have to be a Jew to play that kind of music. So, in that sense, Mahler doesn't fit the bill, unless he had a klezmer band we didn't know of

@ Sava

[molly bloom]

Spiffor, I heartily recommend this collection:

http://www.mp3.com/albums/579396/summary.html

[QUOTE] 'The Lost Jewish Music of Transylvania -
Szól a kakas már'

[QUOTE]


It features the stunning voice of Marta Sebestyen, who also features on the album 'Kaddish' by Towering Inferno, and on the soundtrack of the film 'The English Patient'.

Everybody knows klezmer music, but what we can hear on this exceptional album is the ancestor of klezmer - the forgotten old Jewish music of the Carpathian Basin.

Muzsikás has recoded these songs after years of research, which produced interesting results - for example collecting music from gypsies, authentic players of klezmer, or finding instruments such as the guitar-like 'zongura' or drum with cymbal. The results of this research are all here on this wonderful album.

The beautiful trustworthy voice of Márta Sebestyén brings a special breath to this recording.

'... Hungary's finest active folk troupe... inexhaustible themes handled by superb musicians.'
The Washington Post

'Hungary's leading folk ensemble...'
Gramaphone

'The ebullient music must have been a shock to anyone who thinks that Hungarian music is gypsy violins... ... this raucously beautiful music...'
New York Times

We have a compilation of music and advertisements on c.d. in Australia from the golden age of Yiddish radio in the United States- I can't remember the title unfortunately, but I do recall it featured the wonderful song, 'Levine and His Flying Machine'- these websites might be of some assistance:

http://www.npr.org/about/press/020204.yiddishradio.html

http://www.yiddishradioproject.org/exhibits/history/

[Spiffor]

Re: Shalom Aleichem (Jewish music thread)

Boris, Nostro: To end the dispute, I'd just like to re-state the first sentence of the thread:

Originally posted by Spiffor
So, I'm looking for some good traditional Jewish Music (especially Yiddish Music).

I haven't had the pleasure to hear so much of Mahler, but I grently enjoyed what I heard. However, Mahler is indeed not what I was looking for when creating this thread. I'll keep Mahler in mind next time I want to expand my classical horizons though

[Mr. Harley]

Far Away Lands : The Medieval Sephardic Heritage perfomred by Ensemble Florata - Alison Sabedoria (her voice is gorgeous), Suzanne Hirschman, and Tim Rayborn. I love the title tune Siete Hijos Tiene Hanna, and also Durme Durme which is a lullaby.

[lord of the mark]

spiff - there are a number of traditional Yiddish muscial styles, IIUC. Klezmer (which has rom/gypsiy influences) is indeed the most popular today, but there are other folks styles. Many of which influenced the liturgical music of Ashkenazic Jews.

Note that non_ashkenazic Jews have their own musical traditions, as Shawn mentions. But I assume you are mainly interested in eastern europeam Yiddish.

Many of the folk melodies are also played by Klezmer bands, so you may have heard some of them via Klezmer, for example the famous lullaby "rozinkes mit mandlen"

Note also that much recorded Klezmer music comes from the New York yiddish theater scene (1900-1940) and so isnt "eastern european" technically.

when i have time i will try to find some more stuff for you.

[molly bloom]

I thought I had another one- 'Music From Christian and Jewish Spain':

Before their expulsion in 1492, the Jews of medieval Spain developed a rich and lively culture, including an exquisite repertory of songs called romanceros--and they kept that repertory alive as they settled in places as diverse as Morocco, Bosnia, Turkey, and Bulgaria.


Lovely as the romanceros are, they would have languished as the objects of ethnomusicological studies and might have disappeared altogether, were it not for the efforts of gifted musicians like Hespèrion XX. Jordi Savall and his ensemble, fronted by the unique soprano Montserrat Figueras, just about single-handedly brought those songs to the attention of the modern public with this 1976 recording (now reissued at a bargain price). Disc 1 features a selection of secular music from "Christian" Spain--that is, the courts of Ferdinand and Isabella and the Catholic nobility. The music is elegant and occasionally austere, but Figueras, Savall, and colleagues give the livelier pieces a flavorful swing. Yet disc 2, which features the Sephardic songs, is the real drawing card here.

It was in Moorish Spain that Jewish culture flourished, so Hespèrion XX performs the romanceros with Arabic instruments, such as the 'ud (the ancestor of the European lute) and hand drums. These musicians, rechristened Hespèrion XXI in honor of the new century, perform this repertory with more polish now than they did in 1976, but--just as A Feather on the Breath of God did for Hildegard von Bingen--this recording made its own little bit of musical history. --Matthew Westphal

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000J2QD/102-8006859-6000141?v=glance

Well worth a listen.

[Cyclotron]

I must say that I'd never really listened to traditional Jewish music before this last week, where I had dinner in Prague on an evening when such a band was playing - their oboist (I think it was an oboe) was actually the guy who is the pianist in Schindler's List, apparently. I was very impressed, and now going over the recommendations of this thread.

I bought a CD from them, but am planning to give it to a friend, so I regrettably cannot listen to it. It's just not a good gift without the plastic wrapping.

[Mr. Harley]

Molly, I will have to pick up that CD - have you listened to the one I posted? (we picked it up when I took my wife into NYC when she had become interested again in Judaism, and where one of the premier Jewish religious bookstores in the US is located - talk about expensive books :gasp: ) I would not be surprised it they owe a debt to the group you posted.

[lord of the mark]

http://www.jewishstore.com/Music/Pro...ProdID=VAN2135

heres a recording of Jan Peerce, an opera singer sining Yiddish songs. Not as popular these days, I think when everyone wants to hear a klezmer group.


Some Klezmer gorups Ive enjoyed - The New England Klezmer Conservatory Band, and the Old World Folk Band, out of Harrisburg, PA.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
Molly, I will have to pick up that CD - have you listened to the one I posted? (we picked it up when I took my wife into NYC when she had become interested again in Judaism, and where one of the premier Jewish religious bookstores in the US is located - talk about expensive books :gasp: ) I would not be surprised it they owe a debt to the group you posted.

I borrowed that one from a work colleague who survived the occupation of Salonika.

He also pointed out to me that the a piece of music on a double c.d. of songs from the Byzantine and Ottoman empires was a Sephardic lullaby his mother used to sing to him.