Music as an expression of Jewishness in contemporary Poland
Author(s)
Publication Name
Publication Date
Abstract
Over half a century after the Holocaust, in Eastern European countries where the Jewish community remained only a small part of the population, products of Jewish culture (or what is perceived as Jewish culture), including music, have become vital components of the popular public domain. In Poland, there are festivals and concerts of Jewish music, more and more records with this music, Jewish museums, and renovated Jewish districts, with Jewish cuisine, and music that are offered to tourists visiting Poland as the main attractions. They attract enthusiastic – and often non-Jewish – crowds. I consider how non-Jews involved in this movement in Poland perceive and implement Jewish culture, why they do it, how much it involves the recovery of Jewish heritage, and how this represents the musical culture of Jews in museums and at events organized for tourists. I also consider the relation of non-Jews as a majority group to Jews as a minority group, as well as the impact of the musical actions of the former on the musical culture of the latter. The article is based on field research and observations I have made during more than twenty years, both among the remaining Jews in Poland and in mixed or non-Jewish communities where music perceived as Jewish is promoted.
Topics
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Copyright Info
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Original Language
Volume/Issue
8
Page Number / Article Number
57–71
DOI
Bibliographic Information
Music as an expression of Jewishness in contemporary Poland. 2023: 57–71. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.62779/puls.v8i.19231
