Music Professor Mark Slobin has received a Jewish Cultural Achievement Award for his work in Jewish ethnomusicology by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture (NFJC). Celebrating a lifetime achievement, the award is one of the most prestigious honors awarded by the NFJC.
“They usually don’t give this award to people who work in my area, normally it is reserved for more mainstream Jewish studies, but they told me they wanted to make a slight departure from the norm,” Slobin said.
Slobin was recognized for his longtime work in the field of Jewish ethnomusicology, and more specifically for three of his largest projects.
The first of these projects was published in 1989. Titled “Chosen Voices: The Story of the American Cantorate” examined the role of the Cantorate, or synagogue singer, in American Judaism. In 1995 Slobin published “Tenement Songs: The Popular Music of the Jewish Immigrants,” examining the music of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Most recently, in 2000, Slobin released “Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World” focusing on Klezmer, the traditional Jewish style of music that originated in Europe before being brought to the United States.
According to Slobin, the reception of this award can only help improve the stature of both the University Jewish Studies department and the Music department.
“Recently there has been a growth in the field of Jewish studies, and hopefully this award will help improve the stature of that program,” Slobin said.
Slobin, who has taught at Wesleyan for over 30 years, said this award provides him with some sort of validation for his numerous studies into music in general and, specifically, Jewish ethnomusicology.
“It’s nice to see that people appreciate the long trajectory of the work you’ve done,” Slobin said.
Created in 1960, the NFJC advocates Jewish cultural creativity and preservation in America. It sponsors conferences, programs, and publications on trends in contemporary Jewish culture. It also sponsors hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual grants to writers, filmmakers, artists, composers, choreographers and scholars.
According to the NFJC website, the award seeks to recognize artists or cultural institutions who demonstrate a significant body of work or consistent achievement to Jewish life and culture in America.
Slobin has worked on much more than just Jewish ethnomusicology in his career, writing numerous books and studying other topics, such as traditional Afghani music.
Besides teaching and conducting research, in his time at the University, Slobin has led and been a part of many projects. Music Professor Neely Bruce, Slobin’s longtime colleague, recalled one such project in the 1970s in which Slobin spearheaded a revival of a popular Yiddish musical piece from the 1890s entitled “David’s Violin.”
“It was a wonderful collaborative effort, involving faculty and students from many departments, which Mark spearheaded,” Bruce explained. “With it, Mark brought musical styles to my attention which I knew absolutely nothing about before him. He has brought many musical styles not just to the attention of the Jewish community, but to the world.”
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