Tag Archives: music

Sounds Sacred — Jewish Music (Stanford)

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Some Thoughts re: The Death of Klinghoffer (John Adams)

The staging of “The Death of Klinghoffer” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York opens one more chapter in the new Jewish culture wars. Throwing art and politics and the politics of representation into the mix, the opera scored by … Continue reading

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(Fast Without Motion) Felix and Moses (Mendelssohn)

On the drive home to New York a couple months back I caught an episode of David Dubal’s Romantic Piano on WQXR. I don’t like very much 19th C. romantic repertoire, but I stuck around to listen because Dubal is … Continue reading

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Pete Seeger & Shulamith Aloni (The Historical Time of the Old Left and Leftwing Zionism )

This week marks the death of two twentieth century giants, Pete Seeger and Shulamith Aloni. In the United States and in Israel, both fought tirelessly for civil rights and human rights, human dignity and social justice. Who remembers these things? The … Continue reading

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Techno Medieval Religion SoundSpace (The Forty Part Motets) (Janet Cardiff at the Cloisters)

For Christmas: Before it closed a couple of week ago, I went to catch Janet Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet, a 2001 sound installation of Thomas Tallis’ 40-part choral piece “Spem in alium” (1570), recorded by forty singers and then … Continue reading

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40 mph (Through Snow) (Drive Civil)

Driving through heavy snow is a social trust, the most civil form of the art. Moving at super slow speed, everyone gives right of way to the other. We’re all in this together. With almost no room for error, everyone … Continue reading

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Auto-Orientalism (Franz Rosenzweig & Dhafer Youssef)

Preparing a conference paper on German Jewish auto-orientalism in the Star of Redemption, I’m listening to jazz oud played by Dhafer Youssef, a Tunisian artist who now lives in France. You can listen here at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Nhzf2DW98.  Youssef’s website is at http://www.dhaferyoussef.com/. MyContinue reading

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Radio Road Music (Stevie Ray Vaughn & Nelson Mandela)

Speeding through the dark, I love listening to the radio on the four hour drive from Syracuse to New York, mostly because I never that I am in full control as to what I am going to get. I scan … Continue reading

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(Myth) What Does the Fox Say? (Ylvis)

[Spoiler alert] What does the fox say? I like a lot this little Youtube music-video clip. It was supposed to be a joke by the hosts of a Norwegian variety show. Then it went viral. More profound than meets the … Continue reading

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(מה שיותר עמוק יותר כחול (1970 (Arik Einstein)

For anyone interested in modern Israel and the new Israeli identity that emerged out the 1960s and into the 1970s and early 1980s, Chemi Shalev’s obituary of the Israeli singer Arik Einstein is a must read. Einstein’s was the baritone … Continue reading

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