Re: Ruth Rubin's Obit

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

Carla (& Judith Cohen et al.):  Do you mean a *video* documentary?  Please 
clarify.  What's the title?  Available from whom (other, i.e., than 
Judith!)?  Thanks -- Robert Cohen (catching up after over a week away--sorry 
for so many postings!)


>From: "Carla da Silva" <cdas (at) planet(dot)nl>
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: Re: Ruth Rubin's Obit
>Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 18:00:10 +0200
>
>I don't know how well known it is among Yiddish singers that there is a
>wonderful documentary about Ruth Rubin. I was lucky to be able to copy it
>from Judith Cohen when I was staying in Toronto this summer. I'm sure it
>must be in the YIVO, but several well informed people I spoke to didn't 
>know
>about it. It's worth trying to find it.  It shows Ruth working with people,
>collecting songs, performing, etc. In general:  it's her life story.
>
>carla
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <MaxwellSt (at) aol(dot)com>
>To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2000 5:36 PM
>Subject: Ruth Rubin's Obit
>
>
> > Ruth Rubin
> >
> > NEW YORK (AP) - Ruth Rubin, a scholar, collector and performer of 
>Yiddish
> > folk songs, died Sunday in Mamaroneck, N.Y. She was 93.
> >
> > One of the first women to become a prominent folklorist, Rubin was also
>among
> > the first American scholars to document the culture of Eastern European
>Jews.
> > Her collection of about 2,000 recorded songs was a cornerstone of the
>Yiddish
> > revival movement in the 1970s.
> >
> > Rubin's books included ``A Treasury of Jewish Folksong'' (1950) and
>``Voices
> > of a People: The Story of Yiddish Folksong'' (1963). Her studio 
>recordings
>of
> > the songs for Folkways in the 1940s are available through the 
>Smithsonian
> > Institution.
> >
> > In the mid-1930s Rubin began concentrating seriously on folklore, going 
>on
>to
> > study with Max Weinreich and, during World War II, translating diaries
> > smuggled out of ghettos and Nazi camps.
> >
> > With the revelation of the extent of the Holocaust, and its sweeping
> > destruction of Yiddish culture, Rubin became determined to preserve a
>piece
> > of what remained by making field recordings
> >
> > Dragging a bulky reel-to-reel tape recorder from house to house in 
>cities
>in
> > Canada and the United States, she captured well- and lesser-known songs
>that
> > flourished in more intimate, domestic settings, like the kitchen or over
>the
> > cradle.
> >
> > Unlike klezmer music, which was performed primarily by men at public
> > occasions, the songs Rubin recorded were sung almost exclusively by 
>women,
>a
> > group largely ignored by the cultural chroniclers of her day.
> >
> > AP-NY-06-17-00 0550EDT
> >
> >
> >
>
>

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