Who are we?
The primary mission of the Judaica Sound Archives (JSA) at Florida Atlantic University Libraries is to collect, preserve, and digitize Judaica sound recordings from 1901 to the present. The JSA provides a unique scholarly resource for students, scholars and researchers. It also provides educational programming for the general public.
Located in the Wimberly Library at Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton, Florida campus, the Judaica Sound Archives has grown, since its inception in 2002, into a major center for the collection and preservation of Judaica sound recordings. The JSA’s collection includes Yiddish theater, Israeli folk, cantorial, and Sephardic music. The JSA has created the largest and most comprehensive on-line digital collection of Judaica music and comedy in the world. Thousands of these sound tracks can be heard on the public website www.fau.edu/jsa.
Our History
Originally established as the Judaica Music Rescue Project (JMRP) in 2002, the name was officially changed to the Judaica Sound Archives (JSA) in 2005. Nathan Tinanoff is the founder and director of the JSA.
The original mission was to create a “haven” for old Judaic 78-rpm recordings. In danger of being broken, lost or discarded, these recordings represented a unique historical and cultural legacy. Over the years the JSA has been able to bring tens of thousands of these recordings together under one roof at FAU Libraries. Using modern computer technology to inventory, digitize, and enhance sound quality, the JSA has created an accessible, useable resource of Judaic sound recordings.
After a while, the mission of the JSA was expanded so that it can now accept LPs, 45 rpm recordings, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes and CDs as well as 78 rpm recordings.
What’s in? What’s out?
We are often asked to describe the types of materials that are accepted into the collection. The JSA defines its collection criteria as any recording fitting into any of the three categories listed below.
- Sound recordings relating to the Jewish experience, regardless of language. Hebrew, English, Yiddish and Ladino are the major languages currently represented in the collection.
- Instrumental pieces identified as relating to the Jewish experience or composed or conducted by a Jew.
- Sound recordings by prominent Jewish performers, composers or conductors, even if there is no clear “Jewish” content.
JSA Public Website
JSA’s website allows visitors to hear thousands of songs by scores of different performers in a non-downloading (streaming) audio format. Music collections on the website are primarily organized by performer or recording company label and are continuously being expanded and updated. All materials on the website are either in the public domain or appear by agreement with the copyright owner.
A listing of all playable songs in the following “collections” are available from a drop-down menu on the home page.
Cantorial Comedy Sephardic
Chassidic Holiday Yiddish
Children Israeli
Individualized searches for specific 78-rpm recordings, albums (LPs, cassette tapes and CDs), and individual songs are also possible on the website.
JSA Research Station
The Judaica Sound Archives – Research Station (JSA-RS) was developed to specifically meet the needs of students, teachers and independent scholars. It is a unique academic resource that includes materials under copyright and is therefore restricted to qualified users only.
JSA Blog
The Judaica Sound Archives Blog is edited by Dr. Maxine Schackman, Assistant Director of the JSA.
For further information call (561) 297-0080.
Themocracy
Thank you for the Judaica Sound Archives,
It is wonderful to be able to listen to this important music and know that it will not be lost.
I have a question concerning Cantor Karl Neumann. After he fled Berlin (he was the cantor in the largest temple) he and his wife came to Boston and he eventually obtained a job in a local temple. His son, Richard was a musician and composer. Karl taught many Cantors but I have not been able to find any of his recordings or any real biographical work on him. If anyone has information on Karl I would much appreciate it. He originated from Sedilkov in Ukraine, the same village that my grandfather came from.
Bob Roudman
Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. I was looking around at some of your other posts after I found your blog through one of my students blogs. Keep up the good work and thanks for taking part in the university blog system.
As a young boy I had the privilege of singing with Cantor Neumann in a choir at Congregation Chai Odom in Boston where he served as cantor for many years. I believe he left eastern Europe and sang with the Vienna Opera before coming to the U.S. in the late 1920’s.
“Beyond Recall” is a 14 cd album which has several recordings of Karl Neumann included. “Subtitled A Record of Jewish Musical Life in Nazi Berlin 1933-1938, Beyond Recall is the ultimate artifact of Germany’s 15-year-long fascination with klezmer revivalists and parallel interest in extinct Eastern European Jewish culture: eleven CDs, comprising 14 hours of 78s made by or featuring members of the Jüdische Kulturbund (Jewish Cultural Organization), the only legal employer of Jewish musicians in Germany from the Nazi seizure of power through the Kristallnacht pogrom. The set isn’t merely the “Best of the Jüdische Kulturbund,” or a Kulturbund sampling, but everything. That is,everything that exists—even test pressings.” “Their cantorials represent two distinct modes—that of Eastern European Jews, based on virtuoso solo performance, and the reformed Western style, in which arrangements were fixed and the cantor’s voice more integrated into a chorus. An echt urban stylist, oberkantor Karl Neumann sings a solemn “Had Gadya” in Aramaic with a lilting, trilling German version on the flip side; other German cantors are backed by strings.” In quotes from:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-05-21/music/never-forget/
Karl’s father was Meir Nuchemovitz of Volhynia. Karl was born in Sedilkov, Volhynia, Ukraine on 04 Jul 1884. He came to the U.S. on January 27, 1939 along with his wife Margit. His son Richard Neumann arrived in New York in 1937 along with his wife Anna. Richard was born in Vienna, Austria. Richard was also very much involved with Jewish music as a teacher in New York. He was an expert on Ladino music. Richard’s son Jonathon is a Pulitzer prise winning Journalist. The Nuchemovitz family changed the name to Neumann on Karl’s branch. Another branch changed their name to Shuman.
Feel free to contact me at rcroudman@comcast.net
Bob