Exploring "Conversations": Insights and Tunes from the American Jewish Historical Narrative
The Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience is set to launch a new series titled "Conversations" over the next year. This exciting venture, presented by the Lowell Milken Center at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, aims to stimulate conversation, new listening, and debate about the life and meaning of American Jewish music.
At the heart of the series is the translation of Cantor Zawel Kwartin's Yiddish language autobiography, Mayn Lebn (My Life). The project will feature regular updates, with a focus on questions about khazones that have gone largely unexplored. To broaden the scope, other guest authors, yet to be announced, will join the series, opening up a network of diverse but interconnected musical worlds.
Simone Salmon's research on Sephardi music and the post-Ottoman diaspora will also be presented in "Conversations". This research promises to offer valuable insights into the rich tapestry of American Jewish music.
The series will not only delve into the past but also embrace the present. It will include reports from the world of present-day artists and stories culled from the archive, aiming to illuminate the lineages and help imagine the futures of American Jewish music.
Jeremiah Lockwood, Research Fellow at the Lowell Milken Center, is leading the series. His dynamic live presentations, which often involve animated images created in real-time, blend music and visual storytelling. Collaborators such as Rabbi Misha Shulman and The New Shul Band are also set to contribute, suggesting an integration of Jewish cultural and musical themes.
The series will appear on a weekly basis, providing a consistent stream of engaging content. "Conversations" will also feature regular guest posts from young scholarly voices in the fields of musicology and Jewish Studies. 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 her research.
In addition, "Conversations" will offer regular updates from the multiple worlds of Jewish music in Brooklyn, NY. This includes cantorial lessons with elder cantors in unregulated, non-institutional spaces, the klezmer scene, and the world of Chassidic music.
The Malavsky Family Choir, led by Cantor Samuel Malavsky and featuring Goldie Malavsky, will be the subject of posts. The series will explore how Jewish Americans used music to create spaces in which "outsiders" could become authorities and how changing attitudes towards gender and sexuality in the early 20th century informed the sound and culture of cantorial music.
As the series unfolds, it promises to provide a fascinating exploration of American Jewish music, blending history, culture, and contemporary perspectives. For more information about upcoming events, please contact the Lowell Milken Center or event organizers directly.
- This new series, titled "Conversations," brought forth by the Lowell Milken Center at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, expands beyond American Jewish music's past, incorporating contemporary voices, such as Simone Salmon's research on Sephardi music and the post-Ottoman diaspora, and Jeremiah Lockwood's dynamic live presentations, which focus on music and visual storytelling.
- "Conversations" aims to stimulate not only educational discussions on the life and meaning of American Jewish music but also delve into entertainment sectors like Brooklyn's multiple worlds of Jewish music, including the klezmer scene, Chassidic music, and unregulated cantorial lessons, showcasing the role of music in self-development and cultural expression among Jewish Americans.
