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Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation: About Us

ABOUT US

The Idelsohn Society believes that music creates conversations otherwise impossible in daily life. Our goal is to incite a new conversation about the present by listening anew to the past. We will do this by unearthing lost classics from the archive, sounds that are languishing in thrift-store crates across the nation. The stories that accompany them have yet to be told: hybrid identities, eclectic communities, racial dialogue, and pioneering musical style. This is music that forces listeners to ask themselves who am I, what have I inherited, and what am I going to do about it?

We are named for Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, legendary Jewish musicologist and writer of everybody's favorite classic, "Hava Nagila." Idelsohn devoted his life to studying, gathering, and classifying Jewish music in all of its forms in order to better understand the very nature of Jewishness itself.

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Here’s how you can support our mission:

• Send us your vinyl to add to our growing archive, or add stories and memories of your favorite performers on our Idelsounds wiki.

• Purchase our lost classics.

• We are dependent on the support of those who believe in our mission. Make a donation here.



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The Idelsohn Society is a 501c3 non profit organization. We are possible due to the generous support from: Reboot, The Taube Foundation, and The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.