[78-L] New website - Der yidisher gramofon

[Michael Aylward]

Dear List Members,

I am pleased to be able to announce the launch of my website 'Der yidisher gramofon' at:

http://www.yidisher-gramofon.org/

I am hugely indebted to Joel Bresler who generously created this website for me. It is only now the project is complete that I realise what enormous demands I have made on Joel, no doubt on occasion testing his patience (and sanity?) to the limit. Without the enormous amount of work he contributed, the site simply would not exist.

The site falls into 3 broad sections.

The first deals with matters arising out of the 'Discography of Early European Recordings of Jewish Music' that I have been working on for the last 14 years. By way of a sample I have included in its entirety my work so far on one of the smaller labels I have investigated - the French company 'Elesdisc.'

The second section is devoted to the subject of pre-war radio broadcasts. This research is at present in its infancy, but is already proving a rewarding subject.

The third section is more general in nature and probably of less interest to members of this list, containing bilingual editions (original language and my translation) of source material relating to Jewish music, Yiddish and the Yiddish theatre.  Discographical items will, however, be included in the future.

One of the many aims of this site is to explain and promote the work that discographers do. I hope that the site will be used by specialists and the general public in equal measure and with that in mind try to adopt an approach that is neither too technical nor too populist.

This is a very long-term project and in its present form the website represents just the basic foundations upon which in coming years, I hope, a much greater edifice will arise. I am now quite persuaded that publication on the Web is by far and away the most effective form of presenting this kind of information, if only for the far wider audience it can reach.

I hope there is something here for everyone and having 'lurked' on this list for so many years and benefited from its members seemingly inexhaustible knowledge and expertise, I am glad to be able finally to make my own contribution.

Kind regards,

Mike Aylward