A concert featuring local Jewish musical artists was held on May 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with the event becoming the first recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month by The Recording Academy — signaling a shift in the perception of Jewish art and culture.
The Jewish American Heritage Concert featured several prominent Jewish artists, including Rabbi Yosef Goldman, a member of the Recording Academy and the rabbi for Shaare Torah in Gaithersburg, and was staged via a partnership with the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, the Kennedy Center and the Recording Academy.
“It was an honor to be able to represent American Jewish culture and to show the spiritual and creative richness and diversity of our spiritual and artistic heritage,” Goldman said.
Goldman said that it was important for him to be on stage with so many accomplished Jewish musical artists, including Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, Susana Behar and Yoni Battat, and to offer something positive at a time when the Jewish community is anxious and fearful.
He said the event allowed people outside of the Jewish community to see a wide selection of music taking inspiration from Jewish cultures around the world.
“All the seats were sold out. It was really packed, standing room only, a very successful event. The audience was not just from the Jewish community but a broad representation of [people] coming out for the celebration of Jewish American Heritage,” Goldman said.
Goldman credited the event’s impact to Dan Samuels, the director of public programs at the Weitzman, who he described as, “a musician himself and a champion of Jewish music and Jewish music artists.”
Goldman added that the event was significant for the larger arena of Jewish music and Jewish musical artists. Having The Recording Academy put on a program in recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month gives hope to efforts led by Goldman and others to create a Jewish category at the Grammy Awards.
“It feels like a significant first step in this relationship that we are building through this dialogue and an advocacy for recognizing Jewish music, both around Jewish American heritage and the Jewish Grammy category,” Goldman said.
One Recording Academy member strongly behind the effort is Joanie Leeds, a Jewish Grammy Award-winning artist, who submitted a proposal to the heads of the academy to create the category two years ago. She has pushed to get it voted in ever since.
Leeds said the initial proposal failed because there is not a strong ecosystem of Jewish music being submitted to the academy, and there aren’t many artists creating Jewish music for it to be its own category, an issue Leeds is looking to fix.
“When we look at the Jewish music category, there’s not a lot of people that are submitting, really because also there is no place for Jewish music to go,” Leeds said.
Leeds said that she and other supporters are playing “the long game” by encouraging qualified candidates to join the academy and building up a stronger base of Jewish artists.
Goldman said that the impact of having the category and high-profile recognition for Jewish music artists can’t be overstated, especially when he believes there’s a renaissance of Jewish music.
“Within the Jewish community, it can lead to more investment and support both from the audience and from philanthropies and Jewish institutions, which will ultimately help artists see that they can take their own craft and contribution seriously and see a path forward,” Goldman said.
Leeds felt that having the category would push the Jewish music space forward in a way that would “legitimize” it and give more people exposure to music that they might enjoy. Jewish albums now are mostly listened to by Jews, she said.
She added that the initiative and having more events like the Kennedy Center concert would give the Recording Academy a path to recognize the accomplishments of Jews in the music industry.
“We’ve contributed … so much to the music industry. And I believe that deserves to be recognized. And I think a lot of people may not even know about all the contributions early on in the music industry,” Leeds said. “This event at the Kennedy Center I think was a great first step. And I’m hoping for more next year.”