In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Recorded Sound Archives is exploring music through portraits. Enjoy the first of four videos created in celebration of Hispanic/Latino artists. This week discover and learn more about Cuban composer and pianist – Ernesto Lecuona and Lecuona’s Cuban Boys in the video below.
If you enjoyed learning about Ernesto Lecuona you can listen to two of his recordings in the Recorded Sound Archives: https://rsa.fau.edu/ernesto-lecuona
Please feel free to download a coloring page we created of Ernesto Lecuona that you can color and hang up in celebration of Hispanic heritage month and join us next week to find out which Latino musician we end up exploring next.
Looking for music to celebrate the High Holy Days this year? Look no further, the Recorded Sound Archives has a collection of over 40 recordings for you to choose from and share and enjoy with your family.
Here are a few favorite albums, which can be listened to in full on the Recorded Sound Archives website.
If you’re looking to attend High Holiday Services, Cantor Azi Schwartz and the Park Avenue Synagogue will be broadcasting their services through their website.
And will be accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Brass and chamber orchestra.
Do you think player pianos are a thing of the past? Join Ben Roth-Aroni as he shares some new and old tunes on his player piano at home during National Piano month!
Here at the Recorded Sound Archives, we listen to A LOT of music, while digitizing and scanning recordings for research.
With the library being closed, we’ve had to get a little creative in how our department works since we’re so dependent on the physical recordings. So we’ve been working hard behind the scenes doing quality control on recordings and meta data since we haven’t been recording as much these days.
This week, we wanted to start by sharing and highlighting some RSA Staff’s Favorite Eddy Duchin Songs!
Check out the list below and let us know some of your favorites.
Please note, due to copyright some items may only be available as a 45 second snippet.
Are you a Researcher or Educator in need of full access to these recordings? Visit the Recorded Sound Archives website to apply for Research Station Access by click here.
Eddy Duchin never pretended to be a great musician.
One of the members of Eddy Duchin’s orchestra once said “…Many people didn’t listen to him as much as they looked at him, he was the only musician I’ve ever known who could play a thirty-two-bar solo with thirty-two mistakes and get an ovation afterwards…”
So how did Eddy Duchin become the Reisman Orchestra Leader by 1932? Well, While enrolled at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy near Cambridge at the age of nineteen Eddy Duchin auditioned for a part in Leo Reisman’s Orchestra as a pianist. Which he got enjoying tremendous popularity in New York’s Central Park Casino. His effortless technique and charming personality not only won him the job. But also made him stand out among the long list of those aspiring to join. Three years later, his personality and flashy style had captured customers and Duchin had himself taken over the engagement becoming the leader of the Reisman Orchestra.
Throughout the 1930s, Duchin’s Orchestra played primarily in hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and appeared on quite a few radio series along with in two films.
He went on to get married and have a son, named Peter who went on to follow in his father’s musical footsteps. During the war, Duchin joined a commission in the Navy where he paid little attention to music. By the end of the war his popularity had declined and so had his health. In 1951, he passed away from leukemia.
Discover more recordings at Recorded Sound Archives
Please note, due to copyright some items may only be available as a 45 second snippet.
Are you a Researcher or Educator in need of full access to these recordings? Visit the Recorded Sound Archives website to apply for Research Station Access by click here.
During my early childhood (early 50’s) in N.E. Philadelphia, I listened to Gladys Gewirtz singing all the songs from the Jewish holidays and holy days on our big RCA-Victor S-1000.
My grandma Nessie’s hamantashen were so yummy I couldn’t stop eating them. Sadly, she passed away when I was 7 [Z”L]. Many years went by. Now I’m 73 and I work with thousands of recordings (Jewish, Jazz & Classical) at the RSA, but Gladys Gewirtz will always have a special place I my memory. I still miss my Grandma!
Ben Roth
P.S. Prune Hamantashen are my favorites.
Purim – The Story of Esther
Esther (née Hadassah), an orphan raised by her uncle Mordechai, was taken against her will to Persian King Ahasuerus’s harem. There, she was forced to prepare herself for her first night with the King by spending six months doused in oil of myrrh and another six in sweet odors ointments. The night of their union, Ahasuerus loved Esther “above all women” and made her the Persian Empire’s Queen. Esther replaced Queen Vashti, who had been sentenced to death because she had refused to display her beauty to the attendants of the King’s feast.
When events took a turn for the worst and Esther learned that Prime Minister Haman planned to kill all Jews in the Persian empire she decided to act immediately to prevent the genocide. She told her uncle: “Go, gather all the Jews together and fast for me. Neither eat nor drink for three whole days. ” Mordecai argued that these three days fast happened to include the Passover night, which should not be a night of fasting. Esther retorted, “Without Jews, who needs Passover?”
She invited both Ahasuerus and Haman to a private banquet. At that banquet Esther told the king of Haman’s plan to massacre all Jews in his kingdom, then acknowledged her own Jewish ethnicity. The information about Haman enraged King Ahasuerus and he gave an order that Haman be hanged. He also elevated Mordecai to prime minister and gave Jews the right to defend themselves against any enemy.
Looking for music to celebrate Purim, discover over 20 vintage albums to choose from here at the Recorded Sound Archives!
In celebration of Black History Month, the Recorded Sound Archives has curated a collection of Black Blues Artists some of which are currently on display on the 1st floor of the FAU Wimberly Library for the month of February.
Click to discover 14 Blues Artists such as the voices of Huddie Leadbelly, Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith and more in this collection!
In celebration, FAU Libraries and the Recorded Sound Archives have put together a Spotify playlist Celebrating Black Blues Artists coinciding with the exhibit currently on display. Click to listen to 12 recordings and discover who these Blues Artists influenced from Nirvana to The Weavers and more down below. Enjoy!
With over 100 recordings for you to choose from between our Chanukah and Christmas collections, the Recorded Sound Archives staff has put together a list of our favorite songs for you to listen to with family and friends.
While some horror films feature blood-curdling scores (Jaws, Halloween, The Exorcist), there are certain songs that will forever be associated with the movies they helped make all the more terrifying. Just in time for Halloween, here are six vintage songs made infinitely creepier by horror movies, four of which you can find here at the Recorded Sound Archives.
First up, is the Jeepers Creepers franchise which features the song Jeepers Creepers playing through the radio prior to the creature approaching and can be found playing on an old-timey radio as the movie progresses.
But our personal favorite here in the sound archive is Ethel Water’s version of Jeepers Creepers.
Next up is a classic from the 90s, while not necessarily a horror movie we’ve included it in honor of all things spooky. Hocus Pocus features three witches that come back to life after being accidentally summoned. In the movie, Winifred Sanderson along with her sisters sing the tune I Put a Spell on You at the town’s Halloween Party which was originally released in 1956 and sung by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
Watch the clip below to see Screamin’ Jay Hawkins perform I Put a Spell On You back in 1989 on the Arsenio Hall Show.
Another haunting tune that can be found in the Recorded Sound Archives, is Tip-Toe Thru the Tulips by Johnny Marvin who originally sang the song prior to Tiny Tim which is featured in the movie Insidious.
Tip-Toe Thru the Tulipsstarts to play as the Demon who is terrorizing this family uses a victrola-like device to sharpen its nails while the song plays on with marionettes and puppets moving about.
You can listen to the original by Johnny Marvin in the sound archive by clicking here.
Next up is the movie Misery which features Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes an obsessed fan who kidnaps her favorite writer forcing him to rewrite his novel.
And finally, we have Halloween II with the song Mr. Sandman by the Chordettes which can be heard playing at the beginning of the movie’s opening credits and as the film comes to an end.
click here to watch the opening scenes from the movie to listen to the song.
While we only feature six songs, there are tons out there to be discovered four of which you can listen to here at the Recorded Sound Archives.
Please note, due to copyright some items may only be available as a 45 second snippet.
If you are a Researcher or Educator in need of full access to these recordings, click here.