Rokhl Kafrissen: No Yortsayts, Please. We're Yiddish.
Her first Tablet Magazine column of the new secular year, and apologies for taking so long to post it here.:
Yortsayt shmortsayt. Abi gezint! My first GOLDEN CITY of 2018 is here and friends, the prognosis is good. At least for Yiddish.
As always, please click and read. Share if you liked it. Share twice if you hated it. ❤️
No Yortsayts, Please. We're Yiddish. Rokhl's Golden City: Why reports of the death of Yiddish theater are greatly exaggerated, by Rokhl Kafrissen
." Not a bad novel. A very good bit of writing about what folk traditions are and why they matter--just the sort of thing that people involved in traditional Jewish music, for instance, and its evolution might enjoy. One quote in particular articulated something that I have thought about for years without being able to put it into words: "tradition is another word for community."
I am catching up from a year of overload, it seems. Here is a review of Yale Strom's new book on Dave Tarras—if you look at the 
Here is a review of Amy Horowitz's book on Israeli Mediterranean music
that might be of interest:
(2008) by Jeffrey Shandler). In short, KlezKamp represents neither a dying culture, nor its most dominant current form. It does provide wonderful access to a culture that was, and to a wonderful, very alive current culture in which "Yiddishkeit" is a significant component. Anyway, that's my take. Here's what the NY Times has to say. You can find out for yourself, of course, next month, at 
A mix of traditional, dance, electro, hip hop, and folk songs from around the Sephardic world makes up the Sephardic Music Festival's first compilation album, set for world-wide release on November 30th. Grammy-nominated artist Matisyahu combines a suite of Middle Eastern inspired hip hop riffs with a time-honored Yemenite chorus sung by Yehuda Solomon. Yasmin Levy's impassioned song "Mi Korasón" (My Heart) emphasizes the underappreciated romantic side of the Ladino language. Moshav—an L.A. based group of expatriate Israeli musicians—contributes a powerful rendition of the Yemenite wedding song "Abba Shimon" in Judeo Arabic. In addition, Yair Dalal, the world-renowned Sephardic musician who performed at the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize Gala in Oslo, offers a memorable interpretation of the classic Shabbat song "Ya Ribon."
Al Jolson’s earliest recordings are now online!
Visit the glory days of turn-of-the century vaudeville.
Valentine's is here and we thought the best way to celebrate was to give you a free download to the "i heart mixtape" of Love Songs mixed by Diwon. Feel free to pass the direct download link to everyone you know, as it is really really good: - 
Photographer Lloyd Wolf posts these photos from the inauguration:
Ruth Ellen Gruber's column, 
Check out 
Diwon has produced countless electro and hip hop mixes. His use of traditional Yemenite and Sephardic music, however, sets him apart from other artists in the genre. Influenced heavily by his family's roots in Yemen, Ethiopia and Israel, the multicultural maestro is always full of suprises and his latest release, The Beat Guide to Yiddish, is no exception. Diwon's Beat Guide mixes some of his own music into forgotten sounds from Eastern Europe.
Back on the Jewish-Music list, 
I am pleased to be able to announce the launch of my website 'Der yidisher gramofon' at: 
You've seen my review. Now Bob Cohen blogs about the sessions behind the new CD and even presents some video. Check it out 
I am very pleased to announce the launch of my site, 
![cd cover](http://www.jewishmusic-jmd.co.uk/Images/BTR0701.jpg")
I entirely overlooked this set of even newer reviews by 
Okay, these have been online for a few months—catching up means that I get to post a lot of stuff that some people will have already seen. But, this is an incredible set of reviews, covering almost everyone on my own current listening list, and on the "must review very soon or I will be depressed at not getting the word out: Michael Winograd's "Bessarabian Hop," David Buchbinder's excellent "Odessa/Havana," 
A quick note from 
With Purim due this week, it is time to mention
A few months ago I got the then current (Fall/Winter 2007) issue of a new, relatively edgy Jewish cultural magazine called "Zeek." Featuring photography, poetry, and both a CD and several articles on "Music, Art, and the World," the magazine provided a window onto new Jewish music, most of which I had, at best, vaguely heard of. There was an article by 
It's Black History month. On a site that talks mostly about Jewish music, there isn't a lot of intersection once I get through with the bittersweet way in which Rabbi Heschel's yahrzeit and the Reverend King, Jr's birthday come at the same time, just before the month begins. (Bittersweet because both are missed.) But there was a fascinating place where "black" and "Jewish" intersected in a fascinating way, and that was Harlem. A couple of months ago Grammy-winning producer Aaron Levinson got folks ranging from Taj Mahal to Don Byron to celebrate that shared history in a remarkably wonderful CD, "The Harlem Experiment. You first heard about it here 
Cleveland native ‘on a roll’ with new klezmer piano CD, by Vivian Witt, Special to the Cleveland Jewish News.
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).
'Simcha on the Square'
For those that are interested there is a lovely website about 'Simcha on the
Square' which took place in Trafalgar Square on 14 October—the student who made a wonderful website of 'Simcha on the Square' last
year—has done it again—look at this
Many thanks to 
Subject: [JLM] The greatest cantorial voices
Aside: (I guess in Poland, "Ethnic" means something a little different than
in the US? I don't see any traditional Polish bands here, but the Gypsies,
Varied Karpatihians, Jews—I mean, Klezmers, (I forgot, klezmer isn’t
Jewish in Europe, I'm still stuck in my parocial views…) only question I
have—would Bluegrass qualify as Ethnic in a Polish competition?))
Keith Wolzinger, of 
Like me, did you miss KlezKamp this year? Fear not! You can be reminded of how much you missed and feel determined to make it next year, come what may, by browsing the KlezKamp blog:
The good folks at Hippocampus are at it again (they also brought us 
George Robinson writes frequently for the Jewish Week. He listens to an incredible diversity of music. Take a read of 
Pete Rushefsky beat several others to the punch posting this link from the NYC Village Voice weekly (home of Boston's own jazz writer Nat Hentoff). Between this and the "Jewlicious" special on VH1, it does seems as though Jewish music, or at least people that can be tagged "Jewish" are suddenly more visible as Jews and Jewish than has been the case in a while—maybe ever..
Rokhl Kafrissen, gossip columnist (just kidding!) for my favorite journal of fringe Jewish American socialism (not kidding so much), "Jewish Currents", recently gave us a wonderful rant on 
In a year that has not been shy on excellent releases of Jewish music, old and new, there has been one CD that has stood out from the others, 
Yiddish Enthusiasts and anyone with a sense of humor have rejoiced at the recent publication of Michael Wex's book, "Born to Kvetch". Now, you can hear Michael Wex on Fresh Air. The original aired earlier today, 12/12/05.
This has been sitting in the inbox for an embarrassing number of months:
And what says "down home music" like Klezmer, especially big, loud, brassy klezmer (and other world music) as played by Frank London's Klezmer Brass AllStars? Many thanks to Mark Rubin for brightening up a late night attempt to catch up on just a few hundred of the most urgent messages to the KlezmerShack.
Hey, if this isn't a good excuse to be up early and listening to NPR instead of working! A really nice interview with John Zorn about his Masada music, and John Madof who recently released one of the 10th Anniversary Masada albums, and of John Madof. What I found especially interesting was the assertion that the Radical Jewish Music label was formed to give a voice to Jewish music that is broader than klezmer—to counter the notion that klezmer and Jewish music are synonyms—a goal with which anyone who knows and loves Jewish music (see last week's entry on "A Cantor's Tale," for one non-klezmer roots example) will heartily concur.
My favorite Jewish blog has done some dynamite coverage of several events at the New York Jewish Music and Heritage fest. You can start from the most recent by just popping over to 
Rokhl Kafriesen, a columnist for the Jewish Currents (among other accomplishments) blogs Alan Watsky's comments to the Jewish-Music list about KlezKanada: 
Who knew there was so much of real interest in the world of Jews and rock music? Someone does, because there is a very interesting website, 
A new KLEZCALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RESOURCE GUIDE is now on our website, 
The Forward is yet another publication with that useless "register before reading" hassle that trades millions of general bits of viewing info for 10s of specific viewing info, but it still publishes interesting articles, such as 
The 20th annual KlezKamp has come and gone. Bob Blacksberg has done his usual wonderful job of taking pictures and putting them online. You can sample them at 
Both Matisyahu and the Hip Hop Hoodíos were in Paris this fall. You can view parts of each concert over the web, courtesy Claude Szwimer. Many thanks!
When I reviewed the new 
There is a new online Jewish magazine in the UK that looks fairly interesting, called "
Here's something new: A "Diaspora" Jewish band making a big pop spash in Israel: The Haaretz review of 
There is finally another weblog devoted to Jewish music. Over the secular new year, my wife, Judy Pinnolis launched the Jewish Music WebCenter Announcements Weblog at 
Judy Pinnolis writes to the Jewish Music list:
"Morning Edition" on NPR this morning has a nice story on Ladino by Renee Montagne, which includes an interview with Sarah Aroeste, whose album, 
Just in time for Chanukah, Dovid Kanter announces an inexpensive book with 11 songs for Chanukah and Purim. You can find out more at his website, 
In the "if I don't mention it, where will you find out about it" category, Jeff Dorchen, who does all sorts of interesting stuff, has invented a wonderful 
Self-proclaimed "Renaissance Man," Richard A. Sharma raves about the latest Tzadik release by Koby Israelite. Tzadik Records describes the new release as a combination of "Cantorial Death Metal, Nino Rota Klezmer, Balkan Surf, Catskills free improvisation". It's gotten my attention, and I'm looking forward to listening to it, myself. You can head straight for the review (okay, I would format the pages differently, which would make them differently hard-to-read) at 
We were distracted last summer and almost missed this wonderful article about Italian Jewish Musical traditons, by Ruth Gruber (whose most recent book is the rather amazing "
Richard Sharma, Renaissance man and composer, has been posting reviews to the Jewish-music mailing list for a while. Now he has begun gathering his writings and getting them online. Visit the Jewish music part of his website at 