Founded in 1964 by Prof. Israel Adler, the Jewish Music Research Centre is one of the oldest research centers of the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Located in the Mount Scopus campus, the staff of the JMRC works in close cooperation with the Hebrew University’s Department of Musicology and the Institute of Jewish Studies as well as with the Music Department and Sound Archives of the National Library of Israel that curate all recorded and written documents gathered by the JMRC researchers past and present…
The main task of the JMRC is to study the musical cultures of Jewish communities of the past and present. Research encompasses ethnographies of extant oral traditions as well as historically-oriented research focusing on the interpretation of Jewish musical cultures in their widest possible social, cultural and historical context because a full appreciation of the Jewish musical traditions must refer to the musical cultures of the non-Jewish societies with whom the Jews were in close contact for the past two millennia. Thus many projects are carried on in conjunction with colleagues and institutions from around the world, expanding the vistas to co-territorial musical cultures.
The results of the JMRC Projects are published in diverse series of publications: Yuval – Studies of the JMRC (articles and book reviews appearing now on digital format); Yuval Monograph Series; Yuval Music Series (consisting of musical scores and source materials); and the Anthology of Music Traditions in Israel (CDs accompanied by booklets, since 2022 published as playlists in this website). The JMRC also produces the innovative recording series Contemporary Jewish Music. Since 2023 all JMRC publications (printed and sound files) are available for free downloading in this website and can be also read through the website of the National Library of Israel.
