WALLS OF SOUND

the long version

Only very few people are aware of the fact that many popular melodies and compositions such as “God bless America“, “The Christmas Song“, “Edelweiß“, “An der schönen blauen Donau“, “Hello Dolly“ or “My Funny Valentine“ are of Jewish origin or that some of the most beautiful gospel songs of Christian Afro-American music were composed by George Gershwin. This book/catalog features Jewish music and Jewish musicians presented in an exhibition “Walls of Sound – Jewish Music Worlds“ by Oz Almog, an accomplished Austrian/Israeli artist and author. With a very extensive picture gallery of Jewish musicians Oz Almog provides a glimpse behind the Walls of Sound to highlight the importance of Jews in the world of music and the role of music in Judaism as an Powerful stimulus for Jewish spirituality and a guide to the gates of heaven. The Torah is not merely “read”, it is sung in daily sections, and each text passage has its own melody changing seasonally. The important role played by music in every-day Jewish life combined with early literacy has made Jewish people pioneers in three music genres: instrumentation, modality and notation, which had an enormous influence on early Christian chants and, consequently on Western music... ... After Jewish music left the ghettos in the past two centuries (or was displaced from them), Jewish virtuosos, conductors, composers and librettists have come to play a leading role in the music and show business.