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yiddish

Mikveh Plunges Into Uncharted Waters

Since the klezmer revival exploded a quarter century ago, the Ashkenazi musical tradition has experienced more variations than deli sandwiches. There has been klezmer-infused jazz, hip-hop, bluegrass and most any other permutation one can imagine. But as klezmer has morphed from shtetl to nightclub fare, one of the most unusual things it has added is women, said musician-scholar Yale Strom.\n\n\”Traditionally, the purveyors of Yiddish songs and culture were women, but that didn\’t occur outside the home,\” said Strom, author of \”The Book of Klezmer\” (Chicago Review Press, 2002). \”Women did not play in klezmer bands because of the Orthodox prohibition against hearing a woman\’s voice and because nice Jewish girls stayed home.\”

Janet’s Retro Planet

It could have been a scene aboard the deck of the Titanic — before that pesky iceberg hit.

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Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.