Beyond the Pale nominated for the 6th Annual Canadian Folk Music Awards

Just a quick pre-shabbat shout out to the Canadian klezmer band Beyond The Pale. As reported by the Vancouver Sun, they received the most nominations of any Canadian folk band in this years Canadian Folk Music Awards. They were nominated in four categories... instrumental group, world group, ensemble and pushing the boundaries. Way to go guys!

According to the CFMA website, the awards are going to be handed out on Saturday, Nov 20, so I'll report back soon with how BTP did.

Here's a recent video of BTP at the legendary Freight and Salvage folk club in Berkley California. None other than the also legendary Theodore Bikel came out to see them play, and then got coaxed on stage to sit in.

Beyond the Pale and Theodore Bikel at the Freight and Salvage

Hat tip to YouTube user ellyrocs for uploading the video

No Grammies this year for Jewish entries (but Amy Winehouse cleans up)

This was a strange year (as they usually are) for Jewish music and the Grammy Awards. There were only two nominees, both were for well known Jewish musicians involved with non-Jewish recordings. And neither won. Oh well.

Klezmer/bluegrass musician Andy Statman was nominated, but didn't win for his mandolin ramble"Rawhide," from his album East Flatbush Blues. (You can hear a clip from Rawhide here). East Flatbush Blues is an "a new album of American roots and original melodies, Statman's first all mandolin release since Andy's ramble" While this isn't a Jewish recording, Stateman is well known for his klezmer mandolin and clarinet playing on numerous recordings. My personal favorite is Statman's first collaboration with David Grisman "Songs of Our Fathers."

Musician/historian/producer Henry Sapoznik was nominated, but didn't win, for People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938. People take Warning presents

"Songs of death, destruction and disaster, recorded by black and white performers from the dawn of American roots recording are here, assembled together for the first time. Whether they document world-shattering events like the sinking of the Titanic or memorialize long forgotten local murders or catastrophes, these 70 recordings - over 30 never before reissued - are audio messages in a bottle reflecting a lost world where age old ballads rubbed up against songs inspired by the day's headlines."

While this isn't a Jewish themed compilation Sapoznik is well known in the the klezmer community for his performances and for his book & CD compilation "Klezmer: Jewish Music from the Old World to Our World."

So, no trophy this year. But congrats to both Statman and Sapoznik for their marvelous work.

On the other hand British Jewish vocalist / disaster Amy Winehouse won 'Best New Artist" and most everything else in sight. She took "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance," "Record of the year" & "Song of the Year" for her album/song Rehab. She also won "Best Pop Vocal Album" for her album "Back to Black" Her producer won Producer of the Year. I'm sure the folks on Jewschool are doing little dances over this.

The history of frum popular Jewish music and other misc.

I've got a ton of things to blog about tonight, but after painting my living room twice (don't ask) I'm beat. Instead of trying to be clever and interesting, I'll get by with pointing to recent cleverness and interestingness out there in weboland.

First, Chaim at Life of Rubin wrote an interesting piece on the recent history of frum popular music. (By frum, I'm mostly referring to Chassidim & Modern Orthodox.) It generated a lot of comments and a great followup piece by YK of 'YK's Jewish Music Form' speculating on the impact of Chassidim in general and Chabad in particular on frum popular music.

The Forward applauds as Conservative "Synagogues become rock concerts" and laments the death (or at least dearth) of Jewish parody music.

Haaretz writes about the rock concert thing also.

You can go vote in JVibe's third annual JVibe Music Awards competition. I'm always interested in who makes the cut in competitions like this one. This year has lots of interesting choices and lots of missed opportunities, go check it out.

The 2007 'Heeb 100'

Ok. This is it. Apology time. Last week, when talking about 'Jewish Emo' I noted that I wasn't much of a fan of Heeb magazine and was a bit critical of their music coverage. Less than a week later, though, I'm back to say they just did something interesting enough for me to consider re-instating my long departed subscription.

Presenting: The Heeb 100.

"They’re young, smart and innovative... and oh yeah, they also happen to be Jewish. No, we’re not talking about the staff at Heeb Magazine; we’re talking about the second installment of the Heeb Hundred, a roundup of 100 people you need to know about. They are bloggers and newspaper publishers, comic artists and novelists, chefs and fashion designers, and while they’ve already got stellar resumes, we believe that the best is yet to come from each of them."

Now, Heeb's list is still very 'hipster' focused, but the music section makes for a very interesting read. I immediately recognized Temim Fruchter of The Shondes, but didn't recognize any of the other names which include, Max Bemis of the rock band "Say Anything", hip hop producer / musician Squeek E. Clean, DJ James Fucking Freedman, prodigy classical composer Jay Greenberg, celebrity DJ Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, British "electro-folk" musician Becky Jacobs, music producer J.R. Rotem, avante-garde rock guitarist Marnie Stern, and British singer Varity Susman.

This is a pretty interesting snap shot of innovative Jewish musicians on the rise. Interesting both because of the resumes of the folks profiled, and because, other than Temim Fruchter, I'm not likely to ever write about them. How come? Because, as far as I know, none of them (other than Tenim) connect their Judaism and their music. (There are hints in the Heeb profiles that Squeek E. Clean and Max Bennis might. I'll check it out.) And, of course, that's what frustrated me about Heeb in the first place. Lots of Jews. No Judaism.

But, it's a great snapshot of Jewish cool and I'm glad they compiled it.

Eliane Hoffman Watts wins NEA Heritage Fellowship

From the NEA Heritiage Fellowship Awards website:

"In 1982 the National Endowment for the Arts established the NEA National Heritage Awards as a way of honoring American folk artists for their contributions to our national cultural mosaic. Modelled after the Japanese "National Living Treasures" concept, the idea began with Bess Lomax Hawes, then director of the Folk Arts Program. Since its inception, over 300 artists have received the Heritage Award"

NEA's Bio for Watts :

"Elaine Hoffman Watts' family came to the United States from a town near Odessa in the former Soviet Union. Her father, Jacob Hoffman, was a prominent member of a klezmer band that was recorded in the 1920s. Elaine received training from her father and uncles in the family's repertoire of polkas, freilachs, mazurkas, shers, and other tunes of Eastern European Jewish musical tradition. She became the first woman graduate in percussion from the Curtis Institute of Music. With many opportunities before her, Watts chose to maintain the three-generation family tradition of playing klezmer music at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other social events. She points out that being a woman and a drummer often was a barrier in her career but as one klezmer scholar observes, "Elaine is an important role-model to young players who otherwise would have no clue that women were indeed a part of traditional Yiddish music. Because those of us who study traditional Yiddish culture have no homeland in Europe to which we can return, we rely heavily on the 78-rpm recordings that were made during the early years of the 20th century. The vast majority of musicians on those recordings were men, and Elaine's presence is critical in redressing this imbalance."

The NEA bio page has a few music samples. Great stuff. You can also pick up her album 'I remember Klezmer, the Art of Klezmer Drumming' at CDBaby.


hat/tip to the Shamash.Org Jewish Music Mailing List

JVibe's Petition for a Jewish Grammy

"To: The Recording Academy

Currently, there are 107 different Grammy award categories. And of those 107 awards, at least six are handed out each year for Christian-themed music. We think it's great that those who record inspirational Christian music are recognized by the Recording Academy. However, we feel its time for the Jewish voice to be heard! ..."

JVibe, the Jewish teen magazine, has launched a petition to help convince the Recording Academy to add a Jewish Music category to the Grammys. I'm signature number 1153. Go add your signature!

The Other Jewish Grammy: Composer Osvaldo Golijov wins for Ainadamar

In all the celebration over other The Klezmatics Grammy win, I missed the fact that other important Jewish artist was honored by the Recording Academy. Composer Osvaldo Golijov walked away with two Grammy awards this year for his opera Ainadamar ("Fountain of Tears"). Golijov was awarded the Best Classical Contemporary Composition award for the opera's score and Best Opera Recording for the recording.

While this opera doesn't draw on Jewish literary or musical themes, Osvaldo is known for adventurous scores that do. May of these are available on disc including Yiddishbbuk (Amazon Song Samples), a Grammy-nominated CD of Golijov's chamber music featuring, The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (Amazon Song Samples), recorded by Kronos Quartet and clarinetist David Krakauer, and Klezmer Concertos and Encores (Amazon Song Samples) recorded by Krakauer, Alicia Svigals, Martha Mooke, and Pablo Aslan.

If you're in the Brooklyn, New York, area, David Krakauer will be performing "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind" on March 10, 2007 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The program called "Bridge to the Beyond" and is part of the Steinhardt Jewish Heritage Festival.

(Via The Jewish Music Centers Announcements)

West Bank Story wins Academy Award for 'Short Film (Live Action)

I'm currently sitting in my living room working on a blog post about Veretski Pass and watching the Academy Awards with my wife. All of a sudden, she started whooping and laughing. I looked up and saw a film clip with what looked like chassids and Arab frycooks doing a line dance. Huh?

It was "West Bank Story" winning the Oscar for Short Film Live Action. According to the Internet Movie Database, it's "A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel stands on the West Bank... David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with the beautiful Palestinian cashier, Fatima, despite the animosity between their families' dueling restaurants. Can the couple's love withstand a 2000 year old conflict and their families' desire to control the future of the chic pea in the Middle East?"

The film's official website was having fits when I (and probably a zillion other people) tried to find an online trailer. Fortunately, YouTube came through:



There's a rumur that you can get the whole film from iTunes for 1.99, but I haven't been able to confirm it yet.

Ok. It's confirmed. iTunes has West Bank Story for $1.99. I checked it myself and also got a confirm from John. Thanks John.

Klezmatics win Grammy! (Matisyahu doesn't)

The Klezmatics won a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary World Music Album (Vocal or Instrumental) for their album "Wonder Wheel". Wonder Wheel is the Klezmatics take on a set of Woody Guthrie lyrics influenced by his Jewish wife and wife's family. (See CD Baby blurb for full description). Congrats to them for a much deserved award.

I'm sorry, but not stunned, that Matisyahu didn't win for Youth. It's just not that great an album compared to his preceding album "Live at Stubbs". Matisyahu had some serious competition and got whupped.

Matisyahu and the Klezmatics nominated for 2007 Grammy Awards

Both Matisyahu and the Klezmatics have been nominated for Grammy awards this year. Not, of course, in Jewish music category. There isn't one. And not in the one of the FIVE Gospel categories (which is fine with me. I'm just grumpy). The Klezmatics album "Wonder Wheel" has been nominated in the World Music category, along with albums by Richard Bono, Salif Kieta, Ladyship Black Mambazo, and Ali Farka Toure. Matisyahu's album "Youth" has been nominated in the Reggae category, along with albums by Buju Banton, Ziggy Marley, Sly and Robbie, and UB40. All worthy musicians (my wife has a non-so-secret fondness for UB40 dating back to her college days).



CBS is hosting the award ceremony this year. As far as I can tell, they haven't announced which awards will be announced live on-air, and which will have been announced pre-show and then reported on during the show. My guess is that both will be off air announcements, but I'll probably watch anyway. It would make my month to see either group get to accept their award (should they win) on national television.