“A swansong of rare and vanishing beauty. Those present were witness, on the first day of spring, to an early blossoming in Miss du Pré’s playing, and such a…
This year is proving to be a busy and fruitful one for Mosaic Voices. Members of the resident choral group of New West End Synagogue have built on the success of the beautifully made and wonderfully atmospheric music videos they…
In less than an hour, a promotional film about the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra sails at a rate of knots through nearly a century of cultural history. Its aim is to open the pockets of potential donors, but it's likely to open their…
In 1969, the same year his mischievously erotic single ‘Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus’ sold six million copies and was denounced by the Vatican, French Jewish songwriter Serge Gainsbourg bought a house at 5 bis rue de Verneuil in Paris’s chic 7th arrondissement. It took two years to…
After releasing their debut album Home in 2017, the Jerusalem Youth Chorus finally dropped the follow-up, Paintbrush, this week. Comprising 10 songs, the record is the first from the Israeli and Palestinian collective made…
This is the one about the three Jews who walked into my heart and wrung it out with the beauty of their song. As long as I can remember, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen have been part of my life’s soundtrack. Dylan’s harsh…
God knows why, but Bob Dylan has agreed to speak to me on the subject of the Nobel Prize. Call it an exclusive. We arrange to meet in Clissold Park, where I often walk with my dog, Lobos. Among the park’s many attractions are two goats; one named Bob, the other Dylan. It is they who…
A statement released by Peter Green's family said that he passed away "peacefully in his sleep" on Saturday 25 July in Essex. The musician was famed for founding the international rock band Fleetwood Mac. Born Peter Allen Greenbaum in 1946, the influential guitarist and singer…
Actor Tracy-Ann Oberman has launched a 48-hour boycott of Twitter under the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate. She launched the campaign after Twitter allowed antisemitic tweets by UK grime artist Wiley to remain public for…
The Holocaust is usually thought of as a European story, but at a fascinating talk at JMI’s Yallah conference on Sunday 9 February, Dr Vanessa Paloma Elbaz brought to light a little-known story of Moroccan resistance to…
The concert was opened by the warm-up act 3yin (pronounced ‘eye-in’), a sextet of London-based musicians playing Iraqi, Egyptian and other Arabic or Judeo-Arabic music on Western and Arab instruments. Did I say warm-up? More like ‘heat-up’, as this enthusiastic group of…
Since the Israeli-Canadian violist Rivka Golani first became aware of the Blackfoot – the First People of Canada – she has been inspired by their history. She has performed several concerts in their honour in Canada and has composed pieces, with their permission, that reference Blackfoot…
“In Morocco, in Islam, Jews and Muslims are, in their thousands, enjoying being together. This may not be on the front page of any newspaper or what you watch on the TV, and of course it is not so black and white, but it’s something that should be shared.” Dr Andre Azoulay, counsellor…
For the first time on UK soil, the traditions of Judeo-Arabic music are going to be explored, studied, performed and enjoyed. Thanks to the Jewish Music Institute, the brains behind this initiative, SOAS University in London will…
“Music is the most beautiful language in the world,” proclaimed Weinberg’s gramophone shop in the 1920s. This formed the basis of one of their adverts in a Yiddish language newspaper once sold on the streets of Whitechapel. At the time, swinging dance bands were…
