Comments (4)

By Recorded Sound Archives, August 25, 2011 12:21 pm

It was the “last box packed.” Now it was the last box to be unpacked. After going through 156 boxes of Cantorial, Yiddish and English-language recordings from the collection of Chicago record producer Barry Serota we stared at this box and knew that once it was opened our job of unpacking would be complete.

However, our work organizing, describing and investigating the music was just beginning!

Barry Serota, had devoted his life to collecting great Jewish music and producing high-quality recordings. Although we knew that this was a wonderful donation to the Judaica Sound Archives, we really couldn’t be sure what treasures we would find. As it turns out, we couldn’t be more pleased!

Of the 1,513 LPs that were unpacked we found at least 100 that were still in their original cellophane wrappers. There were also a few 45 rpm records, over seven hundred 78 rpm discs, 101 digital tapes, and 1,443 audio reel-to-reel tapes.

Benedict Stambler, founder of the Collector’s Guild recording company, had been Barry Serota’s mentor and friend. We were delighted to uncover several test pressings from the Collector’s Guild Archives Limited Edition series. There were numerous other test pressings as well, a few of them acetate.

Test pressings include: an acetate pressing of a synagogue service  radio broadcast led by Cantor Dale Lind made in 1941, a live concert by Cantor David Kousevitsky that was recorded in 1968, and a concert of folk songs by Rosenblatt.

The JSA has now been able to create a special collection of about 60 albums on the Musique Internationale label. This rare collection of recordings by a dedicated lover of Jewish music can now be enjoyed around the world on the JSA website.

The Judaica Sound Archives has greatly enhanced its already extensive collection of Judaic music with this acquisition and we are delighted to be able to share it with you. Recordings that cannot be played on the website due to copyrights will be made available on the JSA Scholar’s Research Station.

Comments (0)

By Recorded Sound Archives, August 1, 2011 1:25 pm

Mrs. Blanche Serota holds a recording produced by her son under the Musique Internationale label.

Blanche Serota visited the JSA in February 2011 to arrange for the donation of  her son’s personal record collection to the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.

Mrs. Serota was clearly still grieving over the loss of her son, lawyer and record producer, Barry Serota, when she visited the JSA.  She told me that her son was never interested in making money.  He collected and produced Jewish music recordings just for the love of it.

She wanted to honor his his memory.  It comforted her to know that what he loved so much would find a warm welcome and a permanent home at the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.

Ben Roth-Aroni, RSA’s sound archivist, was especially elated about the gift. His  relationship with Barry Serota went back to the early 1970’s when he was employed as Serota’s tape editor.  “When I first heard about his passing, it didn’t sink in right away.  I couldn’t believe it! I was very fond of him. I called Barry’s mother to offer my condolences and to tell her how much I admired his dedication to the preservation of cantorial and other Jewish music. I invited her to visit the Judaica Sound Archives. She was spending the winter in West Palm Beach and I thought she would be interested in what we were doing here.”

Mrs. Serota was unable to make the trip to Boca Raton that winter but we made arrangements for Ben to visit her in Chicago to assess the collection of recordings and Musique Internationale masters that were stacked in her basement.  “I would have to say that it was pleasantly overwhelming!” he reported.  He estimated that there were approximately 100 boxes of recordings, record masters, and reel-to-reel tapes.

Meeting Mrs. Serota face-to-face for the first time, Ben talked about his memories of Barry. She remembered the beautiful voice of Ben’s father, Cantor Zvee Aroni. And so they talked and ate deli sandwiches for lunch.

Dr. Wiiliam Miller (right), Dean of FAU Libraries, looks on as Blanche Serota (middle) and Maxine Schackman (left) pose in front of the new "gold record" honoring Barry Serota.

Comments (1)

By Recorded Sound Archives, July 21, 2011 3:01 pm

When Barry Serota’s life suddenly ended because of a heart attack in November 2009, the world of recorded Jewish music lost one of its most respected professionals.

Barry Serota, a practicing attorney and executive director of the Institute for Jewish Sound Recording, died suddenly November 16, 2009 on a plane flight between New York and Madrid on the way to Israel.

Serota, widely known for his deep knowledge of Jewish music, had produced more than 100 recordings of Jewish sacred and secular music. Serota’s output at the Institute, based in Chicago, included choral, instrumental, folk and art music. Serota was especially known a promoter of chazzanut. Starting in 1969, he issued many esoteric Jewish music recordings under the imprint of Musique Internationale.

Serota, an advisor to the Milken Foundation, worked on their large project of the Library of American Jewish Music, the recordings which were published under the Naxos label. He was also involved in the Foundation’s oral-history project, for which he interviewed many of the leading figures in Jewish music.

Serota earned degrees at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, and received a law degree from De Paul University of Chicago. He lectured widely, including numerous professional and academic organizations such as the Cantorial Council of America, HUC (Hebrew Union College), TACI (Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute), and the Museum of the Diaspora.

At the time of his death, Jeffrey P. Lieuwen wrote, “I hope the enormous collection he leaves behind will fall into good hands, so it will be preserved for generations to come.” I hope Mr. Lieuwen and others will be pleased to learn that Barry Serota’s mother, Mrs. Blanche Serota, has donated his entire personal collection to the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.

Comments (0)

By Recorded Sound Archives, May 5, 2011 9:18 am

In celebration of Israel’s Independence Day (May 9, 2011) the JSA has compiled a special Israeli music mix to honor the spirit of the pioneers.

During the 1960s and 1970s the State of Israel produced Vistas of Israel, a series of original half-hour broadcasts which were aired on local radio stations throughout the USA. The programs featured popular Israeli performers of the day, topical discussions, and interviews with prominent government officials and academics.

The Judaica Sound Archives has been fortunate enough to acquire an extensive collection of these Vistas of Israel radio broadcasts. Over 400 of these recorded programs will eventually be available to you on this website.

The music and topics on these recordings represent an important time in the history of Israel and remind us of the eager pioneer spirit that founded the country.

This special JSA collection of songs from Vistas of Israel features the voices of Hendl and Eliran, Shoshana Damari, Theodore Bikel, and Yafah Yarkoni. Unfortunately, the specific dates of these broadcasts are not known.

The songs in this Israeli Music Mix are from the following Vistas of Israel broadcasts:

VZL 2: Folk Music of Israel

VZL 6: Folk Music of Israel

VZL 7: Folk Music of Israel

VZL 8: Folk Music of Israel

VZL 12: Folk Music of Israel

VZL 26: Folk Music of Israel

VZL 76: Songs of Israel

VZL 166: Folk Songs of Israel

VZL 172: Folk Songs of Israel

VZL 173: Folk Songs of Israel

VZL 199: Folk Songs of Israel

VZL 236: Songs of Israel

VZL 280: Songs of Israel

Comments (0)

By Recorded Sound Archives, April 28, 2011 8:55 am

When I learned that Marlene Englander (Jack Saul’s daughter) and her husband Jon would be visiting us on Feb. 28, 2011 I couldn’t have been more excited. Marlene had been very helpful to the Recorded Sound Archives in negotiating the details of the delivery of two large truckloads of audio recordings from her mother’s home in Cleveland to FAU Libraries.

As a matter of fact, it was this enormous gift of recordings from the Saul family that inspired FAU Libraries to create the Recorded Sound Archives (RSA). Over the past six years the Judaica Sound Archives has been gaining in prominence and size. So you can imagine the excitement when we started unpacking the Saul Collection and found hundreds of gems that were new the JSA collection. Since Jack Saul had a wonderful collection of early Victor recordings we were able to put together collections of music by such Jewish entertainment super-stars as Al Jolson, Jascha Heifetz, Efrem Zimbalist and Alma Gluck.

FAU Libraries’ large collection of Jazz recordings did not fit within the parameters of the JSA and had been sitting dormant on the shelves at Wimberly Library. This new addition of more than 50,000 non-Jewish 78rpm recordings of classical, popular and folk music as well as historic speeches were also inappropriate for the JSA. Luckily, we were in a position to apply what we had learned processing Jewish recordings to these other music treasures. Creating a more comprehensive Recorded Sound Archives just seemed like the logical thing to do.

We gave Marlene and Jon a tour of the new RSA’s three separate areas: Judaica, Jazz and Vintage 78’s.

Alethea Perez (RSA Operations Coordinator) and Marlene Englander (Jack Saul’s daughter)

“How much of this came from my father?” she asked looking down a long aisle of records. “Just about all of them,” I replied. I was especially pleased to be able to show Marlene the recognition “gold record” that had been placed on our Sound Angels wall and to present  her with a similar plaque to take home to her mother.

Not long ago I received the following email from Marlene.  I am proud to share it with you.

“What a pleasure it was to … see the fabulous things you are doing with both the Recorded Sound Archives in general and the Jack Saul collection in particular. Our family is so pleased with the dedication and devotion of your staff and volunteers in working to provide access to this unique resource.  [We] were pleased to see familiar faces – you, Ben, Alethea, Dean William Miller and Associate Dean Rita Pellen – and to meet a volunteer who was so excited to have found a signed 78 recording from the collection while we there!

Upon returning home, I couldn’t wait to show my mother some of the pictures, and she, of course, was very pleased. She also was touched by the plaque you had made for her and to see that our family’s name is now on your donor wall. I hope she will join us on our next trip – the way the weather is up here, it may be sooner than anticipated!

Again, many thanks for all your hard work, your wonderful blogs (which I read regularly) and your ongoing commitment to preserving not only my father’s collections of Jazz, vintage and Judaica recordings, but those of others as well.”

Marlene and Jon Englander

(Jack Saul Family)

Comments (1)

By Recorded Sound Archives, April 8, 2011 8:37 am

What makes this holiday different from all other holidays?

Growing up in a Jewish home has given me wonderful memories of the Passover holidays we celebrated when I was a child.  Weeks before Passover my mother would start liberating the Pesach tableware from the nooks and corners where they had been stashed since last year. The whole house had to be cleaned. When we were done, of course, not a crumb of chametz remained. And the cooking and baking!  I can still close my eyes and imagine the wonderful aromas that emanated from my mother’s kitchen. Matzo meal cookies were my favorites.  It was my job to stick a finger in the center of  the cookie mixture and then fill the indentation with a bit of strawberry jam.

Now my grand-daughter helps her mother make the cookies. The cast has changed but the play is the same. One generation passes customs and traditions on to the next.

Music helps us to remember the past  while celebrating the present. The JSA has compiled this special mix of holiday songs for you to enjoy. Many of this year’s tunes were on last year’s Passover Music Mix, but there are also a few new  ones.  These songs were selected from albums on the JSA website.  They are for your listening pleasure only.  They may not be copied, reproduced or sold.

All of the songs in this music mix can be heard on the JSA website all year long. Selections from the following albums were used to create this 2011 Passover Music Mix.

Around the Table – A User-friendly Haggadah by Gadi Elon

Celebrate with Cindy by Cindy Paley.

Haggadah Songs by Chaim Parchi.

Psalm Songs from Rock Creek by Cantor David Schneyer.

Mostly Matzoh by Fran Avni.

The Passover Collection by Safam.

Passover Seder Service by Cantor Samuel Malavsky and the Family Choir.

Passover Sing-a-long can be found in the Children’s Village record label collection.

A Singing Seder by Cindy Paley.

Songs My Bubbe Should Have Taught Me by Lori Cahan-Simon can be found in the JSA participating performers collection.

Songs of the Haggadah by Cantor Benjamin Maissner.

Canciones de Pesah/Passover Songs by Gaston Bogomolni can be found in the JSA participating performers collection.

Comments (3)

By Recorded Sound Archives, February 24, 2011 1:15 pm

As part of its KULTUR Festival FAU Libraries will honor and highlight some of the  JSA’s favorite performers. See below for a partial list of some of the wonderful events.

Saturday, March 5 at 7 pm

FAU Wimberly Library 5th Floor, Boca Raton, FL

Singing in the Dark starring Moyishe Oysher

This 1956 movie was Moishe Oysher’s only English-language film.

Click to hear Moishe Oysher’s online music collection.

Sunday, March 6 at 3 pm

Carole & Barry Kaye Auditorium, FAU Boca Raton Campus

Klezmerology

This main event concert features the 25-member KCO orchestra under the direction of Aaron Kula , Director of Music Collections and Performance at FAU Libraries.

Click to hear KCO’s online album.

Click to browse JSA’s online klezmer collection.

Tuesday, March 8 at 2 pm

FAU Wimberly Library 5th Floor, Boca Raton, FL

Zingen un Zogn: Songs & Stories, Phyllis Berk and Roslyn Perry

Yiddishkeit sung and told by two sisters.

Click to hear Phyllis Berk’s online album.

Click to browse JSA’s online Yiddish music collection.

Wednesday, March 9 at 2 pm

FAU Wimberly Library 5th Floor,Boca Raton, FL

Jewish Woman in Song with Helene Williams (soprano) and Leonard Lehrman (piano)

Songs and lecture that celebrate great Jewish women entertainers.

Click to hear Molly Picon’s original album online.

Thursday, March 10 at 7:30pm

Live Oak Pavilion, FAU Boca Raton Campus

Sephardic Soul: The Joe Elias Memorial Concert

The Susana Behar Sephardic Music Ensemble and the Elias Ladino Ensemble, led by Daniel Elias will honor the memory of Joe Elias, a leading American Sephardic musician of the 20th century.

Click to hear the Elias Ladino Ensemble’s online music collection.

Click to browse JSA’s online Ladino/Sephardic collection.

Comments (0)

By Recorded Sound Archives, January 13, 2011 1:38 pm

The Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries joins the rest of the worldwide Jewish community in mourning the death of Debbie Friedman.

Friedman, a beloved Jewish composer and performer, died on January 9th at the age of 59.  Her singable, folk-inspired music combined lyrics in Hebrew and English to make Jewish prayer uniquely accessible. She was deeply committed to Jewish spiritual values and bringing them to us in ways we had never heard before.

Her music is not featured on the JSA website due to copyright restrictions. However, the following 18 of her albums are in the JSA Collection which is available for researchers, scholars and students. These albums are widely available commercially.

Related articles:

Forward: Friedman’s legacy seen in her music, and her message

Daily News: Jewish folk singer Debbie Friedman, 59, dies in California

AOL Music: Jewish folk singer Debbie Friedman dies

Washington Post: Jewish folk singer Debbie Friedman dies

Billboard: Debbie Friedman, Jewish folk artist, dies at 59

Comments (1)

By Recorded Sound Archives, December 14, 2010 10:42 am

What is a renaissance man? According to the dictionary a renaissance  man  is someone who is knowledgeable, educated, and proficient in a wide range of fields. Al Drucker was such a man.

A graduate of Adelphi University, he pursued a career in engineering. He eventually got a job with Grumman where he helped design the guidance system for the lunar lander.

Throughout his life he expressed his love of science and math and engineering by working on fix-it projects.  He loved to use engineering principles to solve practical problems.

A true renaissance man, he was not only creative in the engineering and science fields, he was creative in the arts as well. He loved to paint, was an accomplished photographer, and sang in the synagogue choir.

His grandchildren called him “Albert Einstein” because they thought he was a genius who often involved them in science “projects.” He was not only a genius.  He was a genius who enjoyed using his knowledge to help others. After he moved to Florida he started a small business to coach seniors how to use their computers. He was always available to friends and neighbors when they needed help.

What attracted Al to the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries? Was it his love of Jewish music? His desire to be a part of an historic cultural preservation project? The inclination to help in whatever way he could? For many years Al was a dedicated volunteer at the JSA. He did many jobs and helped out in many ways.

One day he noticed that we were having trouble cleaning 78 rpm recordings, some of which were over 100 years old. These fragile discs accumulated dirt in their grooves which interfered with our efforts to get good sound quality when we digitized them. We had purchased a commercial product designed for this purpose but found that all it did was make mud out of the dirt which then only made matters worse.

Al designed a sonic multi-record cleaner using the same technology that jewelers use for cleaning fine jewelry. With this problem solved, the JSA was able to greatly speed up the process of getting the music out of the trash and onto the website.

Al was 88 years old. All of us at the Judaica Sound Archives are deeply saddened by his passing.

Al Drucker (left) with sonic record cleaner he invented

Comments (2)

By Recorded Sound Archives, October 11, 2010 10:32 am

The question that everyone has been asking me since Nathan Tinanoff resigned his position as Director of the JSA on September 30th  is,”What will happen to the Judaica Sound Archives?

The JSA will continue to thrive…but, there will be changes.

What will stay the same?

1. The JSA will continue to have the largest online collection of Judaic music and voice in the world.

2. The JSA website (rsa.fau.edu/judaic) will continue to delight you with collections featuring performers of the past, cantorial greats and new artists.

3. The JSA Research Station will continue to bring Judaic music to scholars and students at institutions of Judaic studies around the world.

4. The JSA blog will continue to bring you information about new music collections and the goings on at the JSA at Florida Atlantic University.

5. The JSA will continue to be found on the 5th floor of the Wimberly Library on FAU’s Boca Raton campus.

What will change?

The JSA will no longer stand alone.  It is now part of a family of sound archives at FAU Libraries.  The newly formed Recorded Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries is larger and more diverse. The JSA  will join a preservation effort that includes not only Jewish culture but also classical music, opera, jazz and American folk and pop.

I am pleased to accept the position as Director of FAU Library’s Recorded Sound Archives. I have worked closely with Nat Tinanoff since the inception of the JSA. As the JSA’s Assistant Director I have seen it grow from a few thousand recordings into a major Judaic music resource.

I look forward to building upon our success as we develop FAU’s Recorded Sound Archives.