23/05/2019
The music of the Ethiopian Jews, the Beta Israel
A historic, liturgic and musicologic analysis of the music of the Beta Israel, inspired from the works by Simha Arom, Frank Alvarez-Pereyre, Shoshana Ben-Dor and Olivier Tourny …
19/12/2018
The hora
A dance from the pioneers, which is today emblematic of bar-mitsvas, weddings and other Jewish celebrations of the diaspora. Originally, the hora was a slow dance often practiced in Romania, by Jews and non-Jews. At the start of the 20th century, it arrived in Palestine where it was transformed into a collective and joyous circle dance, quickly becoming the emblematic dance of the first kibbutzniks. …
19/12/2018
Rock, hard-rock, metal, punk and Jewish music
At first, they look like very different musical styles, but when you look deeper, you can find several similarities which can allow fusion, and even a “transe-fusion”… …
21/02/2018
The Purim Shpil
The Purim Shpil – etymologically “Purim play” in Yiddish – is a satirical performance that blends theater, music, dance, songs, mimes and disguises.The origin of this custom is intimately related …
15/02/2018
Psalms and psalmodies
Traditionally attributed to King David, the 150 poetic texts that make up the book of Psalms, however, have a more uncertain origin: it would probably be a set of poems …
28/11/2017
The BUND and Yiddish revolutionary songs
The General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, generally called The Bund, was a secular Jewish socialist party in the Russian Empire, active between 1897 and 1920 …
11/01/2017
Baroque Jewish Music
Unlike various popular beliefs, Jews from Italy, Provence or even Amsterdam had a perfect knowledge concerning Art Music in the Christian world. Young Italian Jews in the 15th century went …
01/10/2016
Klezmer music: from the past to the present
Klezmer is an instrumental music for celebrations which was once performed in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe at weddings or joyous religious celebrations, such as Purim, Simhat Torah, or …
