Jewish notes

Five volumes of Jewish biographies that have changed modern music

Producer Igor Sandler began collecting music Jews under one cover four years ago, in 2017. It was then that the first volume of his fundamental reference book “People who changed music” came out. To date, five volumes have been released, from A to K, and there will be twelve in total. The time of action is the twentieth century. Genre - popular music. Rock, jazz, epic, musicals. They didn’t take the classics - I would have to write more than thirty volumes. And the contribution is the most different: from producing to several notes played in the studio on the recording of the world hit.

Irving Berlin, Mark Bolan, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershvin, Mark Nopfler, Bob Dylan, Depeche Mode vocalist David Gaan ... and these are only the most famous. Sandler says that he could not even imagine how many Jews in rock music. There is a Jew/was in almost every group: author, arranger, session musician:

“Many years ago I had a dream to write a book about great musicians. But there are so many of them that I could write forever, so I limited my interests and wrote about the musicians of my nationality - about Jews. It is certainly difficult to do this alone. I was lucky to meet the journalist Valery Kucherenko, and the two of us began to work on books. First, the two-volume giants of show business was released together-about the people who created the musical industry. And now we came directly to the musicians. ”

About half of the characters of the book come from Russia. These are Russian Jews, who left the pogroms at one time, and their descendants. Irving Berlin, the author of the famous God Blas America, according to one version, was born in Tyumen, who was then a village. Among other options are Belarus and even Kyrgyzstan. Where could the namesake of the European capital come from in Tyumen? The answer is simple: the composer’s parents were called Moisha and Leia Bayin, and “R” instead of “and brief” appeared in New York.

When, in 1959, Claire, one of the famous sisters Barry, asked if they wanted to perform in the USSR, she said: "We are ready to fly even tomorrow." "What should I answer if our dad is from Kyiv?" So the song "Blutchiki" returned to Russia. And by the way, they performed in the Green Theater of the Central Bank of the Central Bank, where, after 30 years, Tsoi will sing “we are waiting for change”. For Soviet Jews, there were two cult events, which then recalled for many years: the arrival of Golda Meir and a concert of the sisters of Barry.

Or here is hip-hop, black genre. But at the origins of it stood Beastie Boys, three Jewish guys from New York. It would seem, where are the Jews and where is hip-hop? But it happens so.

And there were managers whose merits in the success of the group are sometimes no less than that of the musicians. Would Beatles become what they became, without Brian Appstay? And Led Zeppellin without Peter Grant? Question.

The book has several preface. The author of one of them, the legendary jazzman Alexei Kozlov writes that the Jewish musicians were one of the first to play blues, the music of black slaves - by the similarity of mentality. And those and others pursued and humiliated for centuries. With the emergence of jazz, Jews began to be invited to the Negro bands as clarinetists, they were familiar with a musical diploma and could strengthen the composition. In Soviet Russia, jazz made up from Paris poet Valentin Parneov. Soon, this culture was adopted by Leonid Utesov, the brothers Krasses, Alexander Tsfasman, Isaac Dunaevsky, Matvey Blanter and many others.

There is also the preface of the main rabbi of the Russian Federation Berla Lazar. He explains: “There is an opinion that it was Jews who gave the Jews exceptional musicality. But I think that this is not so - all nations equally received from the creator the possibility of further development and improvement. As for the Jewish people, from the first days of his existence he had an understanding that music and a song are instruments for praise Gd. ”

On the covers of “people” - a seven -heater, the same as on the Israeli coat of arms, a microphone and drum sticks.

“Someone will say that he gives all this to Jewish chauvinism,” says Sandler. - Around there are some Jews, as in a famous song. But every nation should have such an encyclopedia. The Irish, among the Poles, among the Tatars, from anyone. Everyone distinguished themselves, if not in this, then in another area. No one is better and no worse, everyone has something to be proud of.

Katya Tararak, especially for "New"