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This Klezmer is Your Klezmer

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Monday, December 15, 2003

Buried deep within Woody Guthrie archives are scores of songs by Guthrie that have never been heard by the public — including several lyrics with Jewish themes for Hanukkah. On this edition of Soundcheck, we hear some of folk legend’s lost Jewish songs, performed live by the leaders of New York's avant-klezmer scene, the Klezmatics. If you thought Guthrie only wrote Dust Bowl ballads and populist anthems, these rare gems will cast his legacy in an entirely new light. We’re also joined by Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, music professor and director of the Hillel Foundation at Tufts University, who discusses his research and recordings of traditional music by the Jews of Uganda.
Additional Resources:
  • More about Abayudaya: The Music of the Jews of Uganda
  • More about Rabbi Jeffrey Summit
  • More about the Klezmatics
  • More about Woody Guthrie