the KlezmerShack

One year ago today, the world lost Ben Zion Shenker, a rabbi, cantor and composer who had been dubbed "the greatest living figure of Hassidic music." Shenker devoted his life to niggunim--spiritual melodies used in Hassidic worship--in the Polish Modzitzer Hassidic tradition, starting with the melodies of Rabbi Saul Taub.

A new video from Milken's oral history project features Shenker's insights about the styles, inspirations and significance of niggunim in his own life, and in the various Hassidic traditions of Eastern Europe.

Posted by Ari Davidow at 6:38 PM | Permalink

On a rock, on a rock, sit a turnip and a horseradish. I beg of you, says the horseradish: Why is the sky is so clear? Performance by Khave Rosenblatt, commentary by Itzik Gottesman. Now at CTMD's Yiddish Song of the Week!

/yiddishsong.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/af-a-shteyn-zitst-a-reytekh-mit-a-khreyn-performed-by-khave-rosenblatt/

The Yiddish Song of the Week is presented by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center's An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture.

Posted by Ari Davidow at 6:35 PM | Permalink

All the children have to go to school. The "micro" (bus) takes us and brings us back. What a joy for the children! School, oy, oy, oy school…. A song for school performed by Ester Szulman, commentary by Itzik Gottesman. Now at CTMD's Yiddish Song of the Week.

yiddishsong.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/shule-oy-oy-oy-shule-performed-by-ester-szulman/

Edited by Itzik Gottesman, the Yiddish Song of the Week is presented by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and the Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center's An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture.

Posted by Ari Davidow at 6:59 PM | Permalink