Given to the IEMJ in 2015 by his son Joel Chalude, the archives of Jacques Chalude, known as Ben Baruch, include more than 440 documents, among them beautiful painted 78-rpm records, scores of Yiddish liturgy and songs, as well as nearly a hundred concert posters and press clippings from the 1930s to 1980s.
Born on September 20, 1914 in Staeiszyn, in the region of Kalisz (Poland), among a religious family, Yitshak Zaludkowski and his family settled in Brussels in 1919. In 1940, shortly after the German invasion of Belgium, he went into exile in France and took the name of Jacques Chalude. During the war, he continued his studies in opera singing and performed on various stages. At the end of the war, back to Paris, he became a soloist at the French Radio Broadcasting.
In 1945, hired under the name of Ben Baruch at the Habibi Club run by Sigmunt Berland in Paris, he performed a repertoire composed mainly of songs in Yiddish and Hebrew. But from 1952, he decided to focus on religious singing and performed as a hazzan, especially at the Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth synagogue where he officiated until 1976. He died in Paris in 1997.
Throughout his career, Ben Baruch has performed in a variety of musical styles, from opera to Yiddish cabaret songs, from Polish Jewish liturgy to Ashkenazi consistory melodies.
The video montage ” Ben Baruch à l’affiche ” (Ben Baruch on the billboard), proposed below, retraces during 4 minutes the career of this extraordinary singer through a selection of posters, music and photographs.
Consult Ben Baruch’s biography
Browse the Jacques Chalude (Ben Baruch) archives
Discover Ben Baruch’s painted records
Buy the box set ” Jewish music in post-war Paris – Elesdisc 1948-1953, coll Archives, vol. 1 à 6.
