Re: Info on Jewish music

[dano (at) panix(dot)com <dano...>]

In <2gk79b$o0b (at) charm(dot)magnus(dot)acs(dot)ohio-state(dot)edu> semartin 
(at) magnus(dot)acs(dot)ohio-state(dot)edu (Sean A Martin) writes:

>Any recommendations?  Who, in your opinion, are the most important artists
>making Jewish music today?  Anyone have strong opinions on the definition of
>Jewish music?  How difficult is this music to find in the United States?  Any
>mail order?  (The Jewish Book Center of the Workmen's Circle has a good
>collection of Yiddish music, but they don't seem to have much--in Yiddish or
>Hebrew--that's contemporary.)

>Hope this generates some discussion.

>Sean

I guess the question is: what exactly is Jewish music? Anything sung or
performed by a Jewish artist? The answer must be no, otherwise everything
by Billy Joel would be "Jewsih Music." This, of course, begs the question:
is all music sung by Israeli's "Jewish" music? No, also.

So there must be something about the piece, itself, that makes it Jewish.
Could a non-Jew write Jewish music? A lot of so-called "Jewish" music
started out as Gentile tunes that were then adopted by Jews and used with
Hebrew or Yiddish. The tunes for Maoz Tzur and the Miserlou (Jewish
wedding standard) are two good examples.

So, is every song by Nurit Galron "Jewish" music? Hmmm...

Anyway, there is plenty of Jewish music books and tapes/CDs available.
Call Tara Publications at 516-295-2290. They are the largest publisher of
Jewish music books outside Israel, with over 160 titles. They have a large
mail-order catalog and supply Judaica stores worldwide.

Dan

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Topic No. 7