Re: Hazanim in NYC w/ tradl Nusach

[Lori Cahan-Simon <l_cahan...>]

Allen, did we ever figure out if your father sang at my shul?

Anyway, what about that wonderful piece from the 1920s (?) where the 
chazzans audition, each from a different European country and tradition, 
and they end up picking the Jazz singer?

Lorele

Allen Davis wrote:

> My father (Ben Davis) was a yontoivim chazzan, with interviews and 
> auditions every year at small, semi-starving shuls in South Phila. I 
> accompanied him to some of these, and young as I was, I still remember 
> the shameful way he was treated. I watched as he forced himself to 
> smile through the abuse and insult (and praise, almost simultaneously!).
>
> If "Chasendl oif Shabbes" is the positive view in song of this 
> auditioning process, does anyone know whether there is a negative view 
> featured in Yiddish song?
>
> Allen
>
>
>> Cantors in NY have not often had a golden age.  My uncle, Dr. Samuel
>> Margoshes (who is best known for his dailty front-page column in Der 
>> Tag),
>> was a co-editor/author of a book that described in detail the Jewish
>> community in NYC in 1917, when all but 2-3% of the synagogues were 
>> Orthodox.
>> A chapter by a cCantor is sad.  He described how it was the regular 
>> practice
>> to ask Cantors to audition for a position, without pay, and repeat this
>> weekly for as long as months before hiring one, who they might then 
>> fire in
>> less than a year.  It is no wonder that those who could took their 
>> talents
>> to the theater.
>>
>
>
>

-- 
You can now hear Lori's new CD, Songs My Bubbe Should Have Taught Me; Vol.1: 
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