When her first liturgical tune popped into Debbie Friedman\’s head almost 30 years ago, she had no clue that she would become the queen of contemporary American Jewish music.
In his new CD, \”Garden of Yidn\” (Naxos World), violinist and music historian Yale Strom, who will be in concert in Los Angeles next week, offers tunes going back as far as the early 19th century, giving the listener not only a superior musical experience but some fascinating historical sketches of Jews in the Yiddish- and Ladino-speaking world.
\”Let My People Go-Go\” is a very kitschy CD, but this isn\’t your ordinary, everyday kitsch.
Chava Alberstein has been called Israel\’s Joan Baez, and for good reason.
\”Gershwin the Klezmer\” aims to show their continuing contribution to the musical zeitgeist: \”It\’s really about the Jewish soul of American music,\” Vass says.
Welcome to the next generation of Jewish humor, where beats become borscht in the hip-hop Cuisinart.
If ever there was any doubt that Jewish music is a universal language, these records put it to rest.
Long before the term \”politically incorrect\” graced the vernacular, sardonic singer-songwriter Randy Newman elicited considerable anger for songs that satirized sadists, lechers, liars and bigots.
The future of American Jewish music – which has an awful lot in common with its past and present – was spread out in all its diversity on May 2, when the American Jewish Music Festival returned to Los Angeles after a three-year absence.
On a warm spring evening this month, the boisterous strains of Eastern European music wafted out the window of a large, Spanish-style home in Santa Monica.
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