Tikva Records was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

which was operated by Allen B. Jacobs in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

from the 1940s to the 1970s, releasing around 170

LPs LPS may refer to: Science and medicine * Lipopolysaccharide (Endotoxin) * Levator palpebrae superioris muscle Schools * Leighton Park School in Reading, England * Lexington Public Schools, a school district in Massachusetts, USA * Lincoln P ...

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originate ...

and

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

History

Allen B. Jacobs, who had previously run other record labels, started Tikva Records around 1947 as a budget label; he recorded the albums cheaply, designed the covers and mixed the music himself, for the most part. The label released many kinds of Jewish music. It released religious Jewish music by singers such as David Kusevitsky and the

Malavsky Family The Malavsky family was a Jewish-American family who appeared throughout the Jewish world in concerts of Hazzan, cantorial and Jewish folk music. The father of the family, Samuel Malavsky (1894–1985), a renowned cantor and composer, was often t ...

, Israeli music by

Jo Amar Yosef "Jo" Amar ( he, יוסף (ג'ו) עמר, ar, يوسف (جو) عمار) (1 June 1930 – 26 June 2009
nyt ...

and Tova Ben Zvi, klezmer music by

Dave Tarras Dave Tarras (c. 1895 – February 13, 1989) was a Ukrainian-born American klezmer clarinetist and bandleader, a celebrated klezmer musician, instrumental in Klezmer revival. Biography Early life Tarras was born David Tarasiuk in Teplyk, Ukraine ...

and

Marty Levitt Marty may refer to: Names * Marty (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters, also includes stage names * Marty (surname), a list of people Places in the United States * Marty, California, a former settlement * Marty, Min ...

, Yiddish singers such as

Leo Fuld Lazarus 'Leo' Fuld ( Yiddish: לעאָ פֿולד; Rotterdam, October 29, 1912 – Amsterdam, June 10, 1997) was a Dutch singer who specialised in Yiddish songs. Possessing an instantaneously recognizable voice, Fuld recorded throughout Europe a ...

Ben Bonus Ben Bonus ( yi, בען באָנוס, 1920–1984) was a prominent American Yiddish theatre and Broadway actor and Yiddish language singer of the twentieth century. He and his wife Mina Bern were credited with keeping Yiddish theatre alive in United ...

and Martha Schlamme, Hasidic music, spoken word, and many more eclectic or unknown artists. Most of these releases have been archived on such sites as

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 1 ...

'
Judaic Collection
or th
Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive
The eventual end of Tikva Records is poorly documented. A member of the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation who researched its history said he believes the original masters and records were all destroyed after a shady deal by Jacobs. In 2011, the Idelsohn Society released a compilation of Tikva Records materials titled ''Songs for the Jewish-American Jet Set: The Tikva Records Story 1950-1973''. To promote the release, they recreated a pop-up shop on

Mission Street Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in Daly City and San Francisco, California that runs from Daly City's southern border to San Francisco's northeast waterfront. The street and San Francisco's Mission District through which it ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, in which they recreated a 1960s-style

record store A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...

filled with Tikva Records LPs.

External links

Discogs profile on Tikva RecordsAllMusic review of Tikva reissue album

References

Jewish music Defunct record labels of the United States {{record-label-stub