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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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Shabbat songs

The Shabbat, the day of rest, is a very important event of Jewish life. And the songs that rhythm this particular day hold a major place, at the synagogue as …

Zaraï, Rika (1938 – 2020)

Rika Zaraï, born under the name Rivka Gozman, was born on February 19,1938, in Jerusalem, in Palestine. Her father was a Russian from Odessa and her mother was a Pole …

Goldenshteyn, German (1934-2006)

German Goldenshteyn was born in 1934 in Otaci (in Bessarabia), formerly in Rumania, a part of today’s Moldova. During the second world war, Rumania fought with the Axis forces (Germany, …

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Piyyut and contemporary Israeli song

Piyyutim (religious poems) have had a significant influence on contemporary Israeli song

Bible poems & Jewish prayer

These two CDs by Semjon Kalinowsky (viola) and Torsten Laux (organ) invite us to discover—or rediscover—the musical works of some…

Weiss – Psalms and Hymns & The echo of the temple

In March 2025, Polish musicologist and organist Jakub Stefek donated two CDs and a 33-rpm record to the European Institute…

Music of David Eisenstadt

David Eisenstadt (Dawid Ajzensztadt), conductor, educator, and composer, was born in Nasielsk, Poland, in 1890. He was murdered in Treblinka…