On March 23, 2022, Nani Vazana released her song “Una Segunda Piel” (“A Second Skin”). For the Judeo-Spanish community, her music has great significance, uniting and enriching the culture of Sephardic Jews. 

Sultana Daoud, also known as Reinette l'Oranaise, was an Algerian singer, oud player, and composer of Arab-Andalus music. For the majority of her career, she was a representative of the Hawzi folk music of Algeria. 

The incredibly problematic lyrics Avril Lavigne and others performed reflected a cultural acceptance of sexism at the time.

Despite my love for Swift, her music, and the community she provides, we as Swifties must recognize that her activism, and specifically her feminism, deserve our critique.

Simply showing up and being loud while making something beautiful was another form of protest in itself.

Bradley Cooper’sMaestronose, in context, reads less to me like internalized antisemitism and more like Cooper’s deep, spiritual obsession withgetting it right.

When I heard Alicia Jo Rabins' performance of “River So Wide,” it brought the world of the Torah close to me in a way it had never been before.

Singer Shlomit Levi is dedicated to depicting music’s power to connect. Her singing career portrays the beauty of finding one’s way back to one’s own roots, as well as the importance of defying boundaries. She is mainly self-taught, and as she describes, “When I compose, I just do it by singing. You find your ways. Sometimes it turns out special because I do stuff other musicians wouldn’t do” (Jewish Standard).

The face and voice of Leila Murad were well-known to the Arab world between the 1930s and the 1950s. Murad, like many other Jewish movie stars, struggled to reconcile her career with a religion that oftentimes obstructed paths to success. Her father, a Jewish chazan (cantor) and respected musician, nurtured her stardom, training her and introducing her to prominent Egyptian actors and musicians.

Our new series7 Questions For... debuts with Black Jewish actor/singer/songwriter Tatiana Wecshler. 

Judaism’s core teachings oftikkun olam, social justice, and equality are what the riot grrrl movement was all about. Sleater-Kinney is no different.

Betsy Friedman Abrams interviewed Helen Hirsch on August 8, 1997, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, as part of the Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Hirsch discusses her childhood in Boston, her father's involvement in founding a synagogue and tailoring business, her education, her work during the Great Depression, her participation in religious and community organizations, and her love for music and family.

Betsy Friedman Abrams and Roberta Burstein interviewed Selma Gross Finstein on September 30, 1997, in Waltham, Massachusetts, as part of Women Whose Lives Spanned The Century Oral History Project. Finstein discusses growing up in a predominantly non-Jewish area, her involvement in Temple Israel, her education at Boston Teacher's College and teaching at the Boston Public Library, her second career at Brandeis, and the influential people in her life.

Roz Bornstein interviewed Louise Azose on April 18 and May 26, 2001, in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Weaving Women's Words Oral History Project. A Sephardic Jew from Turkey, Azose shares her immigration experience, family life, involvement in her synagogue, traditional cooking, cultural customs, the challenges of separation from her family, raising her children during World War II, the role of singing in her family, and her travels.

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Richard Perles on September 1, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Perles is a lawyer, musician, and active volunteer from Boston who now resides in New Orleans, serving on the board of a Jewish Day School, practicing law, playing music, and engaging in various charitable activities.

Sandra Stillman Gartner and Ann Buffum interviewed Deborah Markowitz on July 12, 20005, in Montpelier, Vermont, as part of the Vermont Jewish Women's Oral History Project.  Markowitz explores her Ukrainian heritage, family history, the influence of music, her Jewish education, her commitment to Tikkun Olam, her role as Secretary of State in Vermont, and her efforts to improve civic engagement and support victims of domestic violence.

The Posen Library shares a nearly 3000-year-old figurine of a woman playing a hand-drum.

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Ben Jaffe on September 6, 2006, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina’s Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Jaffe talks about his upbringing in the French Quarter of New Orleans, his family's contribution to the revival of traditional jazz through Preservation Hall, his experiences during Hurricane Katrina, and his efforts to rebuild and preserve the city's music culture.

Sandra Stillman Gartner and Ann Buffum interviewed Phyllis Wolfson Isaacson on January 24, 2008, in Brattleboro, Vermont, as part of the DAVAR: Vermont Jewish Women's History Project, Isaacson shares her family history, musical journey, experiences as a music teacher and conductor, and her involvement with Jewish communities, highlighting the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated field.

On February 21, 1930, Habiba Msika, a Tunisian actress and singer, was murdered. Often called the “first star of Tunis,” Msika rose to fame across the Maghreb and Middle East because of her beautiful voice and unique talent to entertain. Her life of luxury was brought to an untimely end by her murder by a jealous suitor.

On October 19, 2014, Ester Rada, an Ethiopian-Israeli actress and singer-songwriter, released “Nanu Ney.” The song was a major success and became the first Amharic song played on Israeli pop radio. (Traditional Amharic songs were played on Amharic stations, whose audience was mostly older Ethiopian-Israelis.)

Abriel Louise Young interviewed Shannie Goldstein on January 12, 2005, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Women Who Dared Oral History Project. Goldstein explores her family history, childhood in Lowell, Massachusetts, her Jewish education, her involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement, her undercover trips to the Soviet Union, her views on feminism, her battle with breast cancer, and her engagement in the Jewish community.

Rosalind Hinton interviewed Rachel Van Voorhees on August 2, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana, as part of the Katrina's Jewish Voices Oral History Project. Van Voorhees shares her path as a harpist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and discusses her life in New Orleans, including her Jewish identity and the impact of Hurricane Katrina on her home and family.

This holiday season, skip the blockbusters and watchGrace Of My Heartinstead.

New Zealand singer-songwriter Mahinaarangi Tocker (1955-2008) was best known as a Maori musician, but her Jewish heritage was an essential component of her identity and her music.