19/01/2022
KREIN, ALEXANDER (1883-1951)
Alexander Krein (Aleksander Abramovič Krejn) was born on October 20, 1883 in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod. His father, Abraham, was a violinist with a passion for Jewish music, …
29/12/2021
ENGEL, JOEL (1868-1927)
Composer, folklorist and musicologist, Joel Engel was born in Berdyansk (Crimea) in 1868. After studying law and on the advice of Tchaikovsky, he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory, where he …
14/12/2021
Zrihan, Emile
Born in Rabat, Morocco in 1952, Emile Zrihan (sometimes written “Zrihen”) was introduced to Jewish liturgical chant and Moroccan folk music at an early age. He emigrated to Israel with …
13/12/2021
Tounsi, El Kahlaoui (1932-2000)
El Kahlaoui Tounsi, whose real name was Elie Touitou, was born in Tunis on January 24, 1932. He spent his childhood in the popular neighborhoods which had a strong artistic …
07/12/2021
Elmaghribi, Samy (1922 – 2008)
Samy Elmaghribi, whose real name was Salomon Amzallag, was born on April 19, 1922 in Safi in Morocco, a quite symbolic day …
20/10/2021
The organ in the Jewish tradition
On May 21, 1856, the conference of the French chief rabbis, presided by the chief rabbi of France Salomon Ulmann (1806 - 1865), endorsed the use of the organ in the Consistorial temples. This decision was subject of a lively debate between the holders of Orthodox Judaism and the reformers …
11/10/2021
Levin, Leibu (1914-1983)
Leibu Levin was born in the town of Kimpelung, Bukovina, in 1914. From 1919 he lived in Czernowitz. He studied Yiddish language and literature in the Seminar of the “Yiddisher …
05/07/2021
Zimet, Ben (1935)
Ben Zimet, a native of Canada with a Jewish-Polish origin, is a Yiddish singer and story teller who lived for a long time in France. After his youth spent in …
18/02/2021
Esther, a Purim oratorio by the composer Lidarti (1730- ap. 1793)
Rediscovered in 1997, the score of the oratorio Ester (1774) by the composer Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti is to this day the longest and richest work of all Hebrew art music …
17/02/2021
The Judeo-Portuguese rites in France : Bordeaux, Bayonne, Paris
Engaged in a PhD research work, Hervé Roten studied during seven years the music of the Judeo-Portuguese communities from all sides. He collected precious information, and his thesis that was defended in 1997 gives us the core of it. This work was rewarded by the Zadoc-Kahn Association Award in 1998. …
