Misplaced Pages

Schmekel

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Allcatsarebabes (talk | contribs) at 02:47, 13 March 2023 (move Jewish institutions to own section from summary). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 02:47, 13 March 2023 by Allcatsarebabes (talk | contribs) (move Jewish institutions to own section from summary)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Jewish folk punk band
Schmekel
OriginBrooklyn, New York, United States
GenresFolk punk, queercore
Years active2010–2014
LabelsSchmekel Music; Riot Grrrl, Ink
MembersLucian Kahn
Ricky Riot
Nogga Schwartz
Simcha Halpert-Hanson

Schmekel was an all-transgender, Jewish folk punk band from Brooklyn, New York, known for their satirical lyrical material. Eddy Portnoy of The Forward cited Schmekel as an example of the cultural movement "Queer Yiddishkeit." Schmekel made their audiences more comfortable with transgender topics through jokes, but also often included lyrical references to obscure queer, Jewish, and punk content that only cultural insiders would recognize. The Advocate (magazine) compared Schmekel to Pansy Division and Tribe 8, and the book Listen to Punk Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre compared Schmekel’s song “I’ll Be Your Maccabee” to Pansy Division’s song “Homo Christmas.” Susanne Mayer of Die Zeit contrasted the celebrities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's fashion exhibit PUNK: Chaos to Couture with Schmekel's dirty song lyrics, antimilitarism, and criticism of same-sex marriage as bourgeois.

Members

Discography

  • Queers On Rye (Riot Grrrl, Ink) – December 2011
  • The Whale That Ate Jonah (Schmekel Music) – October 2013

In literature

In the final Tales of the City novel, The Days of Anna Madrigal (2014), the character Jake reports his love interest, Amos, flirting with the lead singer of Schmekel.

In Jewish institutions

According to an interview with Tablet Magazine, the different members of Schmekel did different amounts of religious observance but they all had experienced difficulty in synagogue because of being transgender, which they addressed in their music. However, in an interview with Jewcy, they expressed feeling accepted at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and Nehirim.

Other projects

Following the group's disbandment in 2014, keyboardist Itai Gal aka Ricky Riot formed a new project called Itai and the Ophanim, which released a debut album, Arise, in 2019.

See also

References

  1. Hugh Ryan (25 November 2011). "Schmekel, a Band Born as a Laugh". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  2. Eddy Portnoy (19 October 2011). "Transgender Jews May Be Nothing New". The Jewish Daily Forward.
  3. Croland, Michael. Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk. Connecticut: Praeger, 2016. p. 66.
  4. https://www.advocate.com/reasons-pride/2012/05/15/reasons-have-pride-2012-part-1?page=0%2C3
  5. Pulliam, June Michele. Listen to Punk Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre. ABC-CLIO, 2021. pp. 104
  6. https://www.metmuseum.org/Exhibitions/listings/2013/PUNK
  7. https://www.zeit.de/2013/21/ausstellung-punk-chaos-to-couture/komplettansicht
  8. Maupin, Armistead. The Days of Anna Madrigal. New York: HarperCollins, 2014. pp. 84-85.
  9. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/schmekel-transgender-punk-band
  10. https://www.jewcy.com/arts-and-culture/schmekel_your_friendly_neighborhood_alljewish_all_transgender_punk_band/
Categories: