The Women Who Kept the Songs:
From India to Israel–The Musical Heritage of Cochin
An Embassy Night at 16th and Q!

April 7, 7:30pm–9:30pm
Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater, Washington DCJCC, 1529 Sixteenth St, NW
$15, Discounted Member, Senior, Under 25, Student $10

For centuries Jewish women along India’s Malabar Coast filled notebooks with Jewish-themed songs they wrote and sang in Malayam at weddings and community celebrations and rituals. Indian, Israeli and American researchers aided a group of Cochin Israelis in restoring and bringing to modern ears the voices of their aunts and grandmothers. The women gathered monthly in Israel over five years to re-learn each precious blessing, biblical narrative or ode to Israel, stringing them together into what has been deemed “a palm full of pearls”.   Members of Israel’s Nirit Singers will perform their songs, discuss and illustrate stories of the music’s re-discovery with their colleagues, and join us for a reception after the program.

Presented in Partnership with the Embassies of India and Israel, University of Maryland Center for Jewish Studies, B’nai B’rith International Center for Jewish Culture, and Library of Congress Asia Division