Sunday, September 25, 2011

Marvelous Musical Memories Megasite


















The electronic age has brought us the fabulous Hebrewbooks.org website, where close to 50,000 Seforim are now available for free download, or simply to look up a source. No longer does one need to visit a brick-and-mortar Shul, Yeshiva, Seforim store or library to find a necessary Sefer.

The good folks at Florida Atlantic University have now brought us the beginnings of a musical equivalent. One may search for old phonograph recordings which are no longer available.

There are over 1,000 albums to choose from. One may choose from either Cantorial, Chassidic, Children, Comedy, Holiday, Israeli, Sephardic or Yiddish. Several albums/performers that I was familiar with were: Neginah, David Werdyger, Safam, Rosenblatt, Jo Amar, Ben Zion Shenker, Ben Zion Miller, The Rabbis Sons and Kol Salonika.

One can listen to the entire recording in order, or one can skip around. One can view the back and front covers of the albums, to see who composed the songs and who sang them. It is a fantastic trip down memory lane to view the names in Jewish music of yesteryear.

We are moving closer and closer to the day when every possible bit of information will be at our fingertips. What was once lacking due to funds or resources is now only lacking due to time. So many records. So little time. As mentioned before on this blog, this should cause us to reflect, especially in these days of Tishrei, on how we can better make use of our time.

Hat Tip: RYGB

8 comments:

  1. Kol Salonika rules! All the great songs from the 70's were composed by Reb Boruch Chait and friends. Min Hamaytzar, Lecha Ezbach and of course the old time favorite - Kol Haolam Kulo. Even Kayl Hahodaose made famous by Avraham Fried was composed originally by Reb Boruch Chait. What an awesome site. I plan to spend many hours there. Thanks SoMeHoW and RYGB.

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  2. Not to mention Av Harachamim, on Kol Salonika Volume III. Pulls at the heart every time.

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  3. How can you mention Kol Salonika and Rabbi Chait without noting Mi Haish?

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  4. I purposely posted the picture of Kol Salonkia because they are personal favorites. Can't label particular songs because they are all good.

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  5. Mi Ha'Ish is RBC, but not KS - it's The Rabbis' Sons. That album is also on the FAU archive.

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  6. Thanks for stopping by, RYGB, and for prompting this post. Seems like we grew up in the same era, listening to KS and TRS's and Neginah and reading the JO. In those years, it seems that everyone bought any record that was produced because they were in such short supply. Reb Abie Rottenberg noted that "a new tape comes out every week"; nowadays it is more like every day.

    Reminds me of the joke when a teacher asked a student to name all the presidents of the USA. The student was unnable, and the teacher responded when I was your age I was able to list them. Yes, replied the student, but in your days there were only several of them.

    Interestingly enough, Y. Begun and Abie Rottenberg make appearances on the KS records.

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  7. Dartmouth has a similar project albeit with many more albums. http://djsa.dartmouth.edu/

    (came her through shirshelyom)

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