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 EliNathan (talk | contribs) at 13:38, 24 March 2023 (fixed italics). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 13:38, 24 March 2023 by EliNathan (talk | contribs) (fixed italics)(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
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. Hugh Ryan for The New York Times compared Schmekel's sound to Pansy Division and compared Lucian Kahn's songwriting to Jewish singer/songwriter and satirist Tom Lehrer. 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.” Schmekel's lyrics frequently referred to Jewish holidays, and their first album started with Kahn sounding the Yom Kippur "tekiah" and bassist Nogga Schwartz blowing a shofar before launching into a punk song. The Jewish Music Resource Centre at Hebrew University of Jerusalem noted that Schmekel's music used "direct musical quotes from traditional Jewish melodies such as Chad Gadya, Ma'oz TzuMa'oz Tzur, and Al Chet”. Professor of Musicology Edwin Seroussi compared Schmekel’s tongue-in-cheek allusions to prayers to similar inside jokes in Yiddish theatre and vaudeville at the turn of the 20th century.

Schmekel performed with other Jewish punk bands local to Brooklyn, such as The Shondes, at New York City venues like the Knitting Factory, the Delancey, and Otto's Shrunken Head. They also played at colleges in the Eastern United States like Brandeis University, Yale University, State University of New York at Purchase, Hampshire College and the University of Mary Washington, sponsored by Jewish and LGBT student clubs.

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. Schmekel broke up in February of 2014 to focus on other projects.

Members

Discography

  • Queers On Rye – 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.

Schmekel was part of a course at Hampshire College in 2015 about the creation of Jewish identity.

In Jewish institutions

According to an interview with Tablet Magazine, the different members of Schmekel participated in different amounts of religious observance but had all 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. Singer and guitarist Lucian Kahn became a writer and game designer of tabletop role-playing games with LGBT, Jewish, and subcultural themes, making Dead Friend: A Game of Necromancy, Visigoths vs. Mall Goths, and If I Were a Lich, Man (Hit Point Press, 2023).

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. "Reasons to Have Pride in 2012 Part 1". www.advocate.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  5. Pulliam, June Michele. Listen to Punk Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre. ABC-CLIO, 2021. pp. 104
  6. Croland, Michael (2017-08-23). "Punk bands prove shofar isn't just for the High Holidays". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  7. ^ Adelman, Eliahu (October 1, 2013). "I'm Sorry, It's Yom Kippur: Atonement through Punk (and Traditional Jewish Music)". Jewish Music Research Centre - Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-24. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; October 2, 2013 suggested (help)
  8. "Out and About". The Forward. 2011-12-19. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  9. "Hanukkah Events -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  10. "Check Out Mr. Transman 2011". www.pride.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  11. "Schmekel: Your Friendly Neighborhood All-Jewish, All Transgender Punk Band". Jewcy. 2010-10-09. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  12. Binding of Isaac at Otto's Shrunken Head, retrieved 2023-03-24
  13. "The Brandeis Hoot – Archive » Triskelion offers safe space, educational opportunities". Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  14. "Trans/gender Awareness Week 2011 | Office of LGBTQ Resources". lgbtq.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  15. I Heart Str8 Men (But Not 4 Sex) at SUNY Purchase Queer Music Fest, April 2011, retrieved 2023-03-24
  16. Homotaschen at Hampshire College 10/20/12, retrieved 2023-03-24
  17. "A Positive 'Schmound' at the Underground – The Weekly Ringer". Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  18. "PUNK: Chaos to Couture". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  19. "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". www.zeit.de. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  20. "So Long, Schmekel". The Forward. 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  21. Queers on Rye, 2011-12-01, retrieved 2023-03-24
  22. The Whale That Ate Jonah, 2013-10-30, retrieved 2023-03-24
  23. Maupin, Armistead. The Days of Anna Madrigal. New York: HarperCollins, 2014. pp. 84-85.
  24. "Fall 2015 Course Descriptions" (PDF). Hampshire College. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  25. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/schmekel-transgender-punk-band
  26. "Schmekel: Your Friendly Neighborhood All-Jewish, All Transgender Punk Band". Jewcy. 2010-10-09. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  27. Presents, The Boston Synagogue. "Concert: Zach Mayer + Itai and the Ophanim". JewishBoston. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  28. Hall, Charlie (2022-12-15). "The best tabletop RPGs we played in 2022". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  29. D'Amato, James (2019-07-23). "88. Lucian Kahn". The One Shot Podcast. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  30. Joyce, Justin (2021-06-02). "The best tabletop role-playing games are sold online, but not through Amazon". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  31. D'Amato, James (2020-05-11). "355. Visigoths VS Mall Goths Part 1". The One Shot Podcast. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  32. "What We Do in the Shadows and Russian Doll inspired this trio of comedic Jewish RPGs". Dicebreaker. 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  33. "Previous Award Winners". Indie Game Developer Network. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Categories: