Nine Luminaries Of Jewish Liturgical Song
Regular readers of this page have noticed that I am paying increasing attention to Cantorial music. I can't help it. Now, Cantor Sam Weiss, himself one of the prime luminaries of the Jewish-Music list (in my never humble opinion), has taken the resources on these pages a step further. In 2003 nine biographies of (primarily) American Cantors were commissioned for inclusion in a Biographical Dictionary of World Jewish Music, a project which did not come to fruition.
The luminaries profiled don't just include people we traditionally think of as "Cantors": Yossele Rosenblatt, Mordechai Hershman, Leib Glantz, Jan Peerce, Moishe Oysher, Shlomo Carlebach, Ben Zion Shenker, Alberto Mizrahi, and Avraham Fried. Note, instead, the title of the article. Together, the biographies tell the story of how the role of cantor in American public life has changed over the century, and of the new musical influences on the Shaliach Tsibur leading traditional prayers.
I am most pleased to announce the availability of this material here on the KlezmerShack: Nine Luminaries Of Jewish Liturgical Song.