Re: Julio Inglesias Jewish?

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of <01BEC809(dot)CCB3F840 (at) 
p132(dot)sas2(dot)dialup(dot)nyc1(dot)flash(dot)net>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
>
Mariah Carey's father is an African-Venezuelan.  I have no idea if she's Jewish.
 
> Robert,
> 
> Just because someone on the Internet said that he is Jewish doesn't make it 
> so.   No one has given the slightest bit of evidence of that except for 
> Simon telling us that his brother is a kosher caterer (where?).   If that 
> is so, and since we know that a non-Jew would not be given a hekhsher, we 
> can safely surmise that Inglesias is Jewish.   Second, based on the info we 
> have about names of Spanish Jews, there is a very great likelihood that if 
> a Spaniard has a name high with Christian references, that that person is 
> Jewish.
> 
> Assuming that he is really Jewish (as opposed to having a little Jewish 
> blood in him), what is interesting to me in all of this is that here we 
> have another Jew who aims for the best of the popular music of his country, 
> a la Striesand in America, Yves Montand in France, Emil Gorovitz in Russia 
> before emigrating to Israel (then America), I forget the name of the singer 
> in Egypt, and a whole slew of other Jews too numerous to mention who worked 
> very hard to become the chief exponents of their country's music.  This 
> goes for performers, composers, record producers, etc.   It also goes 
> beyond just having talent.  It has to do with deep ambition and hard labor 
> to reach the highest success in the host country.  The Jewishness is not 
> accident but rather an important factor that propels the career and 
> success.   I have never been interested in Ingelsias' music or his romantic 
> image, but now that I think he is Jewish, I would be curious about how and 
> why he selects the kind of music he sings, the career moves he has made, 
> the image he has tried to project, how the Spaniards react to him and his 
> Jewishness, etc. etc. and to test out various theories I have.
> 
> I have heard that Mariah Carrey is Jewish and I have also heard that she is 
> part Black.  I have no idea if either are true.   Mariah Carrey does 
> nothing for me and I find a white singer trying to sound like a Black 
> singer quite annoying.   It also says a lot about the state of American 
> music.  But, if I know that she is Jewish, I want to study why she picks 
> the music she picks and why she wants to sound that way.  Part of the 
> answer to the question would be the same if she were a non-Jewish white 
> woman, but another part goes beyond it.   I am annoyed at the fact that 
> most Jews have lost connection to their own music, except for things like 
> Fiddler on the Roof, and what they choose to sing when they want to sing is 
> Black music.   I think they make these choices because that is what is 
> considered the "cool"est and that's what's on the radio.    This is also 
> what Jews from Reform to Conservative to modern Orthodox choose to play at 
> their rites of passage celebration.   I find all this a cultural Jewish 
> poverty, but I am sorry that I don't have time to write this idea up now on 
> the list.  It will have to wait for another time.
> 
> 
> Reyzl
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------
> From:  Robert Cohen[SMTP:rlcm17 (at) hotmail(dot)com]
> Sent:  Tuesday, July 06, 1999 2:53 PM
> To:  World music from a Jewish slant
> Subject:  RE: Julio Inglesias Jewish?
> 
> Ahem, I believe this is called begging the question--or, in idiomatic 
> terms,
> circular reasoning.  If you can identify someone as a "Spanish Jew," then
> you don't need proof of their Jewishness!
> 
> 
> >From: Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl (at) flash(dot)net>
> >Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
> >To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> >Subject: RE: Julio Inglesias Jewish?
> >Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 12:58:09 -0400
> >
> > >Though Julio Iglesias may not be Jewish, it was very common that Spanish 
> >Jews
> > >changed their names to 'overtly' Christian names so as not to be suspect 
> >when
> > >in fact they were secretly practicing Jewdaism.  "Iglesia" means church
> >in
> > >Spanish.
> >
> >
> >That's right Simon.   A Spanish Jew having such a name is almost enough
> >proof by itself of Jewishness.
> >
> >
> >Reyzl
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________________________
> Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 626-2200 (fax)

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+