When singers Polina Fradkin and Paulina Levi got 50,000 Instagram followers, they celebrated with a cake. But these days, they are really cooking. The Shvesters (the Yiddish word for “The Sisters”) now have 134,000 followers on Instagram and 24,500 on TikTok. In the history of Jewish music, female duos are fairly rare; Jewish female duos […]
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A $500,000 donation to the Zamir Choral Foundation from husband and wife Robert and Vicki Lieberman aims to teach conductors of Jewish choral music. Named after Matthew Lazar, the foundation’s founder and director, between 12 and 15 fellows will be selected for the program. Vicki Lieberman, a rabbi, called singing during Shabbat services “some of my most […]
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The Chassidic drinking song Yoshke, performed at Maxwell Street Klezmer Band’s 30th Anniversary Concert on November 3, 2013 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, with all 28 past and present members of Maxwell Street Klezmer Band as well a representatives of the Junior Klezmer Orchestra. This track is featured on the band’s 2002 […]
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The FC Band, which features teens with and without disabilities, brings us the catchy “Get Lit.”
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The translator of the Tanakh into modern Yiddish, the poet Yehoash (Shlomo Blumgarten), came to the land of Israel from New York in 1914 and settled in Rehovoth. He wanted to live in the ancestral land, and being ill with tuberculosis, he wanted to get away from the big city and live in a healthier […]
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Did you know that Dolly Parton’s song 9 to 5 was inspired by 9 to 5, a workplace feminist movement? In 1973 Ellen Cassedy founded the organization with the aim of bringing about fair pay and equal treatment for women in the workplace. 9 to 5 is so much more than a toe-tapping song! So, […]
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The Israeli Artists Project is holding the Stav Festival, named after the Hebrew word for “fall,” from Sept. 28 through Oct. 29 in New York City. With participation from 100-plus Israeli artists, the program offers a mix of theatrical plays, live music performances, an art exhibit, children’s activities and interactive workshops. “It is strategically timed around the Jewish […]
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After years fighting a serious illness, Oded Dovid (“Dedi”) Graucher died in Jerusalem on Sept. 11. Graucher rose to prominence following the release of his second album, 1993’s “Ratza” with its epic title track making him famous in the world of Jewish music. He would record six more albums through 2003, followed by singles in 2008 and […]
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Also transcribed as A git yuhr zu alle leite, A gut masoldig yohr, A gut maseldig yohr, this song by David Meyerowitz is suitable for Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. The chorus repeats four times and anybody can sing it! There’s another verse, you can find it at my blog http://yiddishpennysongs.com
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After World War II, Palestine Symphony Orchestra musicians who wanted nothing to do with their German-made instruments offered Moshe Weinstein an ultimatum. Weinstein had trained as a violinist and violin maker in Vilnius, then part of Poland, and moved in 1938 to Mandatory Palestine, where he opened a violin shop. The musicians told him of […]
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