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African American Studies | New York State History | 20th Century America | Judaic Studies | Music and Performing Arts

American-Jewish Music & African-American Music: Shared Visions and Dreams

A lecture by Robert L. Cohen

This lecture is no longer available for 2010 bookings due to high lecture demand. Still available for Speakers in the Schools. Lectures can also be booked independently: See contact information below and visit www.rlcwordsandmusic.net/music/jewish-music-lectures.

"America is not made up of separate, free-floating cultures but, rather, of a constant interplay and exchange" (Ralph Ellison). American-Jewish music has incorporated African and African-American musical idioms -- blues and jazz, reggae and world music, even gospel and rap -- to express the exuberance and vitality of contemporary Jewish life and to enable the mainstreaming of Jewish popular music; while Jewish texts and Jewish musical themes have spoken to Africans and African-Americans alike, who have enriched them musically and enhanced their message. We'll listen in on the ongoing musical conversation between blacks and Jews.

This lecture is available from December 1, 2008 to January 1, 2012

Can be tailored to a high school audience

Mr. Robert L. Cohen

Robert Cohen has produced and hosted over 100 radio programs on Jewish culture and identity - including National Public Radio's One People, Many Voices: American-Jewish Music Comes of Age, part of the permanent collection of the Paley Center for Media in New York. He has lectured and taught at the New York Public Library, the New England Conservatory of Music, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Abigail Adams Smith Museum, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the New School -- where he worked with Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Richie Havens, Elizabeth Swados, and other notable musicians. He has been a consultant to musicians and radio hosts; has written on Jewish music and American folk music for MOMENT magazine, NEWSDAY, and other publications; and produced the compilation CD Open the Gates! New American-Jewish Music for Prayer.

Telephone: (718) 762-1195
Website: rlcwordsandmusic.org
Address: 182-12 Horace Harding Expressway
Apartment 2M
Fresh Meadows, NY  11365
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