Overview of "Conversations: Musical and Literary Insights from the Jewish-American Perspective"
The Lowell Milken Center for Music of the American Jewish Experience is set to launch a new blog series titled "Conversations", delving into the fascinating world of American Jewish music and its profound connection to culture and history.
The primary focus of "Conversations" is to examine the blending of personal and cultural narratives within American Jewish music, offering a unique perspective on Jewish identity and experience. Guest authors, whose identities will be announced, will contribute to this enlightening series, shedding light on various aspects of this rich musical tapestry.
One of the key topics to be explored is the Kwartin Project, which aims to delve into the material and social conditions that led to the cantorial "golden age" and the pop culture phenomenon of star cantors. This exploration will be centred around Cantor Zawel Kwartin's Yiddish language autobiography, Mayn Lebn (My Life).
Another fascinating subject will be the Malavsky Family Choir, led by Cantor Samuel Malavsky and featuring Goldie Malavsky. This choir, which straddled the line between liturgy and borscht-belt entertainment, staged ritual events in non-synagogue spaces, offering a unique insight into how Jewish Americans used music to create spaces for "outsiders" to become authorities.
The series will also feature research by Simone Salmon on Sephardi music and the post-Ottoman diaspora, providing a broader perspective on the diversity of American Jewish music.
Daniela Smolov Levy, a lecturer at the University of Southern California, will be giving a five-part lecture series at UCLA this year on the role of Jews in opera. Each lecture will be accompanied by a post reflecting Smolov Levy's research in this under-researched area.
"Conversations" will appear weekly for a year, often featuring hybrid digital events due to the ongoing pandemic. The series will also offer updates from the multiple worlds of Jewish music in Brooklyn, NY, through Dispatches from Brooklyn, focusing on sites of research like cantorial lessons, the klezmer scene, and the world of Chassidic music.
Through these discussions, the author hopes to open conversations about the persistence of memory and change in Jewish music and the use of the sounds of the past to address present needs. The series aims to offer a kind of musical census, illuminating lineages and imagining futures of American Jewish music over the course of the upcoming academic year.
In summary, the "Conversations" series centres on personal and cultural narratives within American Jewish music, and the broader program around the Center explores various aspects of Jewish cultural heritage, language, and history, which may be among the subjects for the upcoming year.
[1] The "Conversations" series presented by the Lowell Milken Center for Music of the American Jewish Experience focuses on exploring themes related to the blending of personal and cultural narratives within American Jewish music and history.
[3] These give a sense that upcoming topics might continue to engage with Jewish cultural and historical themes, including language, identity, and memory, consistent with the Center’s mission.
[1] The "Conversations" series, initiated by the Lowell Milken Center for Music of the American Jewish Experience, delves into the merging of personal and cultural narratives within American Jewish music, encompassing fascinating topics such as the Kwartin Project, the Malavsky Family Choir, Sephardi music, and the role of Jews in opera.
[3] As the "Conversations" series advances, it is likely that further discussions will continue to touch upon themes of Jewish cultural heritage, language, identity, and memory, aligning with the Center's commitment to deepening our understanding of these aspects.
