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Everybody's favourite classic Hava Nagila’s lyrics were penned by legendary musicologist Abraham Zevi Idelsohn who devoted his life to studying, gathering, and classifying Jewish music in all of its forms in order to better understand the very nature of Jewishness itself. Hava Nagila “Come, Let's Rejoice” saw him setting his own text to a melody that he adapted from a Hasidic melody.
Four modern-day protégé’s, Roger Bennett, Courtney Holt, David Katznelson and Josh Kun, founded THE IDELSOHN SOCIETY to continue his work.
Last month the Idelsohn Society released "Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations," which shines a revealing light on the involvement of Jewish Americans in African-American music.
Presented by the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation, a self-described group of "record-collecting dumpster divers" who aim to re-examine Jewish-American history by showcasing sometimes long-forgotten music, the exhibit makes a fascinating display of the influence of Jewish and Yiddish culture on black popular music of the 20th century.
This musical relationship has been well documented, from Tin Pan Alley through jazz and rock to hip-hop. The flipside of black artists exploring Jewish musical culture has been less discussed, but a new exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum aims to change that.
"There's been an infinite amount of ink that's been dedicated to the involvement of American Jews in black music," society co-founder and music writer Josh Kun says. "So in retelling this story, we thought it would be more useful to look at the other side."
That other side was sparked by the discovery of an extraordinary 7-inch record from 1958 of balladeer and make-out music king Johnny Mathis singing "Kol Nidre," the prayer traditionally intoned at the beginning of Yom Kippur. "Why was Mathis, at the height of his career, recording synagogue songs?" Kun asks.
The society's search soon yielded an avalanche of gems. They found a home recording of Billie Holiday singing the ballad "My Yiddishe Momme"; Marlena Shaw's 1969 version of "Where Can I Go?," which reimagines the post-Holocaust song as fuzzed-out civil-rights funk; and an epic medley by the Temptations and the Supremes of songs from Fiddler on the Roof.
An accompanying CD, released 14 Sept, features 15 of the tracks from the exhibit, including performances by Aretha Franklin ("Swanee"), Cannonball Adderley ("Sabbath Prayer"), and Nina Simone ("Eretz Zavat Chalav").
High Priestess of Soul Nina Simone sang this 1950s Israeli folk-dance ode to “a land flowing with milk and honey” (written by Eliahu Gamliel) on the stage of Carnegie Hall in 1963 on the same day that Martin Luther King Jr was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. Neither Simone nor her biographers talk much about her choice of “Eretz Zarat Chalav,” which she first added to her repertoire in 1962 when she performed on the CBS program Camera Three. A year later, she sang it again on the TV show Hootenany, in front of an all white audience at Salem College not long after the assassination of JFK.
The exhibition will tell far more than the CD allows ("We could have released a four-volume set, easy," Kun says). Interactive apps will guide visitors through different themes, such as the role of Yiddish in 1930s jazz and blues, or the intriguing frequency with which black artists in the 1950s sang about Israel.
It's a stirring collection, enough to make you wonder if by looking back at the past, the exhibition aims to foster a more hopeful new chapter in the often-fraught history of black-Jewish relations. Kun is optimistic, although he's quick to point out that the exhibition is meant to be more than just a political statement: "I think that through music we can have the kinds of conversations that are sometimes too tricky or too painful to have."
Who and what is The Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation?
They are a critically acclaimed all-volunteer non-profit organization. A small but dedicated team from the music industry and academia who passionately believe Jewish history is best told by the music we Jews have loved and lost.
“In order to incite a new conversation about the present, we must begin by listening anew to the past,” they say on their website.
We do this in a number of ways:
• Re-releasing lost classics like Mazeltov Mis Amigos, and compilations like Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations
• Filming the story of every musician we can find across the country to build a digitally-based archive of the music and the artists who created it in order to preserve their legacy for future generations
• Curating museum exhibits that showcase the stories behind the music, like “Jews on Vinyl” which is travelling the nation
• Creating concert showcases like “Mazeltov Mis Amigos” at Lincoln Center and “Jews on Vinyl Revue” at the Skirball Cultural Center
All of this work, they say, is driven by the passion and energies of their volunteer supporters and donors across the US who share their belief that music creates conversations otherwise impossible in daily life.
“Our work has lifted the past into the present, from the pages of the New York Times, to the NPR airwaves, and the stage of the Lincoln Centre,” says the website.
Last but not least, this is the newest and only colour video. It only has a snippet of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” – but it is a great one to watch.
When The Jackson 5 appeared on The Carol Burnett Show to do a salute to vocal groups, they unwittingly paid tribute to one of the 20th century’s most tangled Black-Jewish pop back-and-forths. Originally a Sholom Secunda Yiddish theatre tune, this was taught to a Black vaudeville duo Jennie Grossinger when they were performing at Grossinger’s flagship resor. They then sang it in Yiddish on stage at The Apollo Theatre in Harlem where it was heard by Jewish-American songwriter Sammy Cahn who then (at the request of Jewish label execs) transformed it into an English-language hit for The Andrew Sisters. This is from 1975. Janet Jackson makes her first appearance at 8 years old on this rare, vintage footage.
