Mazal Tov, Amigos! Jews and Popular Music in the Americas

269 Pages·2016·2.49 MB·English

by  Amalia Ran

Mazal Tov, Amigos! Jews and Popular Music in the Americas
Jewish Latin America
Issues and Methods
Edited by
Raanan Rein (Tel Aviv University)
Editorial Board
Edna Aizenberg (Marymount Manhattan College)
Judah Cohen (Indiana University)
Luis Roniger (Wake Forest University)
David Sheinin (Trent University)
Rosalie Sitman (Tel Aviv University)
VOLUME 7
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/jlam
Mazal Tov, Amigos!
Jews and Popular Music
in the Americas
Edited by
Amalia Ran and Moshe Morad
LEIDEN | BOSTON
The publication of this book was supported by Tel Aviv University’s Elias Sourasky Chair of Iberian and
Latin American Studies.
Cover illustration: The cover image is an album called “It’s a Scream How Levine Does the Rhumba.”
Reprinted with permission. Courtesy of the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ran, Amalia. | Morad, Moshe.
Title: Mazal tov, amigos! : Jews and popular music in the Americas / edited by Amalia Ran and Moshe
Morad.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2016] | Series: Jewish Latin America : issues and methods ; 7 | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015038034| ISBN 9789004184473 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004204775 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Jews—Latin America—Music—History and criticism. |
Jews—United States—Music—History and criticism. | Popular music—Latin
America—Jewish influences. | Popular music—United States—Jewish influences.
Classification: LCC ML3475 .M39 2016 | DDC 781.64089/92407—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015038034
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 2211-0968
isbn 978-90-04-18447-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-20477-5 (e-book)
Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and
Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Figures viii
List of Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Amalia Ran and Moshe Morad
1 Is “White Christmas” a Piece of Jewish Music? 11
Ellen Koskoff
2 The Musical Worlds of Jewish Buenos Aires, 1910–1940 25
Pablo Palomino
3 Tristes Alegrías: The Jewish Presence in Argentina’s Popular Music
Arena 44
Amalia Ran
4 Jacob do Bandolim: A Jewish(-)Brazilian Composer 60
Thomas George Caracas Garcia
5 Walls of Sound: Lieber and Stoller, Phil Spector, the Black-Jewish
Alliance, and the “Enlarging” of America 78
Ari Katorza
6 Singing from Difference: Jewish Singers-Songwriters in the 1960s
and 1970s 96
Jon Stratton
7 ¡Toca maravilloso! Larry Harlow and the Jewish Connection to
Latin Music 109
Benjamin Lapidus
8 Roberto Juan Rodriguez’ Timba Talmud: Diasporic Cuban-Jewish
Musical Convergences in New York 122
Nili Belkind
vi contents
9 Yiddish Song in Twenty-First Century America: Paths to
Creativity 142
Abigail Wood
10 Fight for Your Right to Partycipate: Jewish American Rappers 153
Uri Dorchin
11 Gypsy, Cumbia, Cuarteto, Surf, Blah Blah Blah: Simja Dujov
and Jewish Musical Eclecticism in Argentina 171
Lillian M. Wohl
12 Queer Jewish Divas: Jewishness and Queerness in the Life and
Performance of Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, and Olga Guillot 188
Moshe Morad
13 Third Diaspora Soundscapes: Music of the Jews of Islam in the
Americas 208
Edwin Seroussi
Closing Notes: The Soundstage of Jewish Life, North and South 237
Judah M. Cohen
Index 249
Acknowledgements
This project has begun a couple of years ago, following a friendly conversa-
tion on the role of popular music in Jewish identification processes across the
Americas. It has taken many forms since its inception. Yet our original goal
remained: we wished to present the story of Jews and popular music in the
Americas, which goes beyond issues of nationality, ethnicity, language, gender,
culture, race, or color.
We would like to thank all our collaborators for their dedication, enthusiasm
and willingness to participate in this volume. Our special gratitude is given to
the anonymous reviewers and their valuable remarks. The publication of this
book was supported by Tel Aviv University’s Elias Sourasky Chair of Iberian
and Latin American Studies. We particularly want to thank Professor Raanan
Rein for believing in this project and for supporting us during the manuscript
preparation process. Lastly, we wish to thank all the wonderful musicians, who
inspired us throughout the work on this project.
List of Figures
2.1 Jewish-Argentine Association Dance Program, 1914. IWO, “Asociaciones
Musicales” Box. 29
2.2 Inventory of the Jewish Society of Musical Culture, 1934. IWO,
“Asociaciones Musicales” Box. 31
2.3 Flyer of the Yiddish version of “La Cucaracha,” Jevel Katz, c. 1935. IWO,
“Jevel Katz” Box. 39
8.1 “Cubandalouse” collaboration: Roberto Juan Rodriguez and legendary
Algerian-Jewish piano player Maurice El Medioni. Photo: Yvonne
Kahan, 2013. 133
8.2 El danzon de moisés. Album cover by Roberto Juan Rodriguez. Courtesy
of Roberto Juan Rodriguez/Hung Hung Chin & Tzadik Records 138
11.1 Simja Dujov in the DJ booth at the Pesaj Urbano Street Festival in Plaza
Armenia. Photo by author. 179
11.2 Santificarás la Fiesta album cover. Image provided by Simja
Dujov. 180
12.1 Barbra Streisand, 2003. Manns Bruin Theater / Westwood, CA, USA.
Photo: Lee Roth / RothStock / PR Photos. 196
12.2 Bette Midler, 2014. “It’s the Girls” album cover. Courtesy of Lev Group
Media & Warner Music Group. 198
12.3 Olga Guillot, 2007. 8th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, Las Vegas, NV,
USA. Photo: PRN / PR Photos. 201
List of Contributors
Nili Belkind
completed her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Columbia University, NY. Her
research focuses on the Caribbean and the Middle East. Based on fieldwork
conducted in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2011–2012, her dissertation
is a study of the complex relationship between musical production and politi-
cal life in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Her M.A. thesis focused
on the music of prominent Haitian artists who, due to social and political
circumstances in their country, had relocated to New York. Prior to pursuing
her Ph.D., Nili spent many years working in the music industry as a producer,
record-label manager, and A & R (The Division of Artists and Repertoire), spe-
cializing in music and artists of the Caribbean and the Middle East. As a music
producer, she worked in New York, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto
Rico.
Judah M. Cohen
is the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture and Associate Professor
of Musicology at Indiana University. He has authored Through the Sands of
Time: A History of the Jewish Community of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands (2004),
The Making of a Reform Jewish Cantor: Musical Authority, Cultural Investment
(2009), and Sounding Jewish Tradition: The Music of Central Synagogue (2011),
and co-edited, with Gregory Barz, The Culture of AIDS in Africa (2011). He has
also served as a consulting editor in charge of the Jewish-themed entries for
the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religion (2013). Recent publications include the
“Jewish Music” entry in the second edition of the Grove Dictionary of American
Music, and the Music entry for Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies. His
current projects explore World War II-era narratives in musical theater, nine-
teenth century American synagogue music, and singer/songwriter/liturgist
Debbie Friedman.
Uri Dorchin
received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Ben Gurion University, and is currently
a senior lecturer at Zefat Academic College in Israel. He has worked as a DJ in
several radio stations in Israel, and based on his acquaintance with local musi-
cians he embarked on a research project to study the formation of the Israeli
rap scene and the significance attributed to blackness by non-black Israelis.
Dorchin is the author of Real Time: Hip-Hop in Israel/Israeli Hip-Hop (Resling,
2012). His latest articles include: “Living Authors: On the Authenticity of Israeli
x list of contributors
Rockers,” Journal of European Popular Culture; “Conservative Innovators:
Reviving Israeli Spirit through Black Music,” Journal of Popular Music Studies;
and “In Quest of Truth: The Meaning of Message-Making in Israeli Rap,”
Popular Music.
Thomas George Caracas Garcia
ethnomusicologist and guitarist, is an associate professor at Miami University
(Ohio). He has a doctorate from Duke University, as well as degrees from the
University of Massachusetts and the Juilliard School. He specializes in Brazilian
music, and has performed and lectured throughout the United States, Brazil,
and Europe. His publications include articles on Brazilian music in Luso-
Brazilian Review and The Journal of Popular Culture, and a chapter in Music
and Dictatorship in Europe and Latin America (2009), among many others.
He is co-author, with Tamara Elena Livingston, of Choro: A Social History of a
Brazilian Popular Music (Indiana University Press), which explores the history
and performance practice of this Brazilian urban popular genre. As a guitarist,
he recently was concerto soloist at the Sofia International Music Festival and
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He spends several months each year in Brazil,
both performing and continuing his research on Brazilian music.
Ari Katorza
is a musician, historian, and scholar of cultural studies. He is the author of
several academic essays concerning popular music. His book Tomorrow Never
Knows: Rock in the Twentieth Century (Rimon, Tel Aviv) was published in 2012.
He is editor of the volume, Pink Floyd: Tearing Down the Wall (Resling, Tel Aviv),
a collection of essays about the music of the British group Pink Floyd (2014).
His Ph.D. thesis, “Rock Jews: American Jews, the struggle for Social Justice in
the USA, and Conflicts over Cultural Hegemony during the Post-War Era,” was
awarded the Moshe David 2006/7 prize, as well as the Voddoz prize for excel-
lence in research.
Ellen Koskoff
is professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Rochester’s Eastman
School of Music and director of the ethnomusicology programs there. Her writ-
ings about Jewish music, gender and music, and music cognition are widely
published. Her work includes Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective
(1987), and Music in Lubavitcher Life (2000), winner of the 2002 ASCAP Deems-
Taylor award. Her most recent book is A Feminist Ethnomusicology (University
of Illinois, 2014). She is a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, general editor of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 3,