Feature articles

In the 1930s, the rise of totalitarian regimes in Europe forced many Jewish musicians to emigrate to the United States. Among them were several renowned composers who put their art at the service of the Hollywood cinema and contributed to its fame …

Judeo-Spanish music, passed down orally, evolved from the 1920s onward under the influence of the folklore movement and composers such as Alberto Hemsi, Léon Algazi, Joaquín Rodrigo, and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco …

Piyyut refers to religious poetry, often sung today in liturgical or paraliturgical settings. This article explores the influence of piyyutim on contemporary Israeli song …

As at all stages of Jewish life, the end of life and the mourning that follows are accompanied by rituals combining liturgical texts, symbolic gestures and sometimes, but more rarely, music …

The Bat or Bar Mitzvah marks the entry of boys and girls into religious adulthood. This religious initiation ceremony is marked by many liturgical and musical moments …

On the eighth day of life, the boys' circumcision is accompanied by poetic songs celebrating their entry into the Abrahamic Covenant …

This article by Polish musicologist Sylwia Jakubczyk-Ślęczka introduces us to the life and work of Leopold Kleinman-Kozłowski (1918-2019), one of Galicia's last klezmer musicians …

On Saturday mornings in winter, before sunrise, Jews from the Maghreb and the Middle East gather at the synagogue to sing baqqachot, a set of liturgical, sometimes mystical poems …

The Jewish wedding is celebrated according to numerous customs and laws designed to bring out its full spiritual and material significance. In this article, we listen to the recitation of the 7 blessings in the Ashkenazi rite, taken from an historic recording made in 1933 …

Between 1870 and 1940, musical life in France depended largely on the support of a few enlightened, music-loving patrons. Among these patrons were a significant number of Jews …