Welcome to the Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive

Lewis Glinert - Cultural Director - Middle Eastern Studies

Alex Hartov - Technical Director - Professor of Engineering Emeritus

 

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NOTE to new users and people wishing to access the DJSA:  SEE OUR HELP PAGE.

Chave Alberstein - Like a Wildflower

2025 is fifty years since the appearance of Chava Alberstein’s iconic album Kmo Tzemach Bar (Like a Wildflower).  The near-calamity of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war ushered in a time of trauma, protest and introspection. The Israeli cultural establishment, which had defined Israeli culture for so many, had been shaken to the core. The initial musical response, the escapism of Sippurei Pugi, modulated into wistfulness and private grieving. Chava Alberstein’s magical album set the tone. Today, these lyrics by some of Israel’s outstanding poets and composers (yemei binyamina, chofim, pegisha le’ein ketz) still come back to haunt and console.

 

Aaron Lebedeff - Rumania Rumania - 100 Years and going

Aaron Lebedeff (1873 Grodno, 1960 NYC) was a most prolific and popular singer of the Yiddish theater.  His song Rumania Rumania was first published on Vocalion (13026) as "דער פרעהליכער רומענער" (Der Frehlicher Rumener) on February 3, 1925.  This is possibly the best known Yiddish song of its era which pretty much extends to the entire 20th century and continues to this day to be recorded and performed.  Mr. Lebedeff recorded that song again under the new title "רומעניע, רומעניע" (Rumenie Rumenie) for Columbia (8226-F) 16 years later.  Those were relatively short ~3 minutes versions occupying a single side of a 10in 78RPM record.  The popularity of the song remained strong, and in circa 1947 (date approximate) he recorded a long version of about 6 minutes that occupies the two sides of the Banner B-514 record.  This version has been reissued many times on LPs and is probably the best known and most favored by listeners.

 

The Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive was established in 2002 as a repository of sound recordings for researchers and students. Please note, it is not a free music download site. If you are a student, member of the faculty or staff at Dartmouth College, you may access the archive from any computer on campus.  You may also access the archive from other locations by using the Dartmouth VPN. 

Users not affiliated with Dartmouth will need to have a user account.  To register you will need to demonstrate a legitimate scholarly or research purpose. User accounts are good for 1 year and can be renewed as needed.  

You will find in the Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive a wide range of material:

• Web-based access to Jewish recordings that are not commercially available.
• Related, searchable information that can aid in the study of Jewish music and culture, Jewish society, and the history of Jewish recordings.

You will find here a rich array of recordings, some of them rare, dating back to the early 1900s. Our database includes sound files, scanned images of record covers and labels, and details of the recordings and their contents.  Our site also provides access to non audio material that is relevant to the world of Jewish music, see our Reading Room  (accessed through the Home tab on any DJSA page).

The Jewish Music Research Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (JMRC) and the Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive are collaborating closely to identify and properly catalogue many of the tracks.  We are grateful in particular to Prof. Edwin Seroussi for his help in establishing this collaboration.

Finding Material: We recommend you try using the Quick Search field on the right panel of any window in this site, it's the easiest way to find tracks. More advanced searching and browsing features are also available in the Search or Browse tabs on the upper right of this page. 

Please Note: Material available in our archive may be copyrighted and should not be downloaded or reproduced. Please read the copyright page.