Khazones Underground is a new recorded music series that presents the best and brightest of contemporary artists delving into the archive of phonograph era "golden age" cantorial music. Khazones Underground takes the goal of promoting art projects that draw inspiration from the spiritual heritage music of Yiddish speaking Jews and their descendants.
Through recording projects, concerts, multi-media presentations and educational workshops, series curators Jeremiah Lockwood and Judith Berkson present the work of artists engaged in personal culture making projects. Drawing on decades of experience in music production, archival research, and composition, Berkson and Lockwood bring their unique and radical perspectives on the khazones tradition to the forefront in their promotion of new communities devoted to creativity, celebration of outsider voices, and heritage reclamation.
Join the Underground!
We are seeking a community of likeminded explorers who want to expand the archive of memory and extend the work of khazones into the future with a line of new albums that celebrate, elevate and reanimate tradition.
Voices from the Khazones Underground Our first line of action is to release three albums of new khazones. Supporters of the Khazones Underground mission will receive copies of these ground breaking new records, as digital downloads or vinyl LPs.
Khaznte is the Yiddish language term that was used in the early 20th century to describe Jewish women who sang khazones. The Return of the Immortal Khazntes documents the work of new Jewish women’s voices who turn to the cantorial gramophone era to help build their own creative practice. This album features four artists working on personal projects of heritage reclamation: Judith Berkson, accompanied on this record by new music icons Kronos Quartet; Shahanna McKinney-Baldon, whose performance project is dedicated to the only known African American woman performer of khazones in the cantorial golden age period; internet celebrity Riki Rose, a singer who has moved beyond her Satmar Hasidic community to frame a liberatory career as an artist and creative persona; and Rachel Weston,accompanied by rising stars in the traditional music world Fran & Flora.
Golden Ages: Brooklyn Hasidic Cantorial Revival Today
originally released in 2022, this groundbreaking album documenting Hasidic Cantorial Revival almost immediately went out of print. Khazones Underground is proud to make this important album available again!
In today’s Brooklyn, there is a remarkable music revival bubbling with life, hidden away from view of most music fans. A small but vibrant group of young singers have taken up the style of pre-World War Two cantorial music as their art form of choice, performing tracks recorded almost a century ago. Featuring stars of the Hasidic cantorial scene including Yanky Lemmer, Shimmy Miller and Yoel Kohn, Golden Ages documents the raw and vital sounds of communication across the divide of time. In a community that places many limits on self-expression, Hasidic cantorial revivalists have found creative voices by delving into the past. This recording project, produced by Jeremiah Lockwood at Brooklyn’s home of soul, Daptone Studios, is a celebration of new life paths and new sounds culled from the hidden sonic world of classic cantorial records.
The Dream Past is the latest project of the “unclassifiable and uplifting” (The New Yorker) Brooklyn rock band, The Sway Machinery. The Dream Past extends the band’s long running project of cantorial revival—excavating the otherworldly potentials of Jewish sacred music and lost melodies to instigate a party, break boundaries between communities, and touch the past. This new work turns to a lost and now rediscovered archive of bootleg recordings of live prayer leading as the source material for its ecstatic transformation.
We give great thanks for your deep listening to the cantorial archive! We will acknowledge deep listeners with special thanks in our social media updates.
Friend of the Underground
Donate $50.00 or more
Amount over $24.00 is tax-deductible.
Friends of the underground, we salute you! In thanks you will receive a digital download of all three records
Peering into the Underground
Donate $75.00 or more
Amount over $49.00 is tax-deductible.
We greet your curiosity with joy! In thanks you will receive one vinyl LP from the new collection (of your choice) and digital downloads of all three albums.
Archive explorer
Donate $200.00 or more
Amount over $99.00 is tax-deductible.
Archive explorers embrace the mission of the khazones underground and sustain the labor of new artists. Thank you! For this level of support you will receive vinyl copies of all three LPS, plus digital downloads.
Khazones Maven
Donate $360.00 or more
Amount over $99.00 is tax-deductible.
Copies of the three albums, personal consultation with Lockwood and Berkson on khazones related queries.
Founding member
Donate $1,000.00 or more
Amount over $99.00 is tax-deductible.
Founding members help build the khazones underground, creating new opportunities for artists. We gratefully acknowledge your generosity! Founding members receive a private zoom concert lecture for themselves and their community with Jeremiah Lockwood and Judith Berkson. In addition they will receive vinyl LPs of all albums and digital downloads.
Sustaining member
Donate $2,000.00 or more
Amount over $99.00 is tax-deductible.
Sustaining members are vital to the community of new khazones. Visionary philanthropists who believe in the work of new music. In addition to copies of all the records, sustaining members will receive an in person concert/lecture with either Jeremiah Lockwood or Judith Berkson at a time of mutual convenience. (If donors at this level would prefer to donate by check, please reach out to us by email at drjeremiahlockwood@gmail.com or judithberkson@gmail.com. Thank you!)
