The Lord’s Song In a Strange Land:
Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship
By Jeffrey A. Summit,
Oxford University Press, March 2003

Winner of the 2000 Musher Publication Prize by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture

Combining oral history with an analysis of recordings, The Lord's Song in a Strange Landexamines this tradition in contemporary Jewish worship and explores the diverse links between the music and both spiritual and cultural identities. Alive with detail, the book focuses on metropolitan Boston and covers the full range of Jewish communities there, from Hasidim to Jewish college students in a transdenominational setting. It documents a remarkably fluid musical tradition, where melodies are often shared, where sources can be as diverse as Sufi chant, Christmas carols, rock and roll, and Israeli popular music, and where the meaning of a song can change from one block to the next.
–Oxford University Press

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Abayudaya: The Jews Of Uganda
By Richard Sobol and Jeffrey A. Summit,
Abbeville Press, August 2002

The 600 members of the Abayudaya community living in a remote area of eastern Uganda lead a life devoted to traditional Jewish practices. They observe the Sabbath and holidays, attend services, follow dietary laws, and cling tightly to traditions in their small mud and brick synagogues. Surrounded by Muslims and Christians, facing poverty and isolation, these people have maintained their Jewish way of life for four generations since the initial conversion of their leader Semei Kukungulu in 1917. Even during Idi Amin's reign of terror, when synagogues were closed and prayers had to be held in secret, the Abayudaya did not abandon their beliefs. Richard Sobol is the first photojournalist to document this Jewish community's way of life and to relate their heroic story. His sensitive portraits and moving landscapes depict everyday life as well as their religious celebrations and rituals. His intriguing text chronicles the story of this community from its conception to the present. The book includes an annotated CD filled with powerful music and songs recorded by ethnomusicologist Jeffrey A. Summit, who has also provided an essay examining this unique mix of African and Jewish sounds.

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Abayudaya: Music From the Jewish People of Uganda
Various Artists, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, October 2003

Abayudaya: The Music of the Jews of Uganda presents a unique collection of African-Jewish music in which the rhythms and harmonies of Africa blend with Jewish celebration and traditional Hebrew prayer. This compelling repertoire is rooted in local Ugandan music and infused with rich choral singing, Afro-pop, and traditional drumming. The repertoire includes lullabies, political and children's song, religious rituals, hymns, and celebratory music, with song texts in Hebrew, English, and several Ugandan languages. This singular community of African people living committed Jewish lives has survived persecution and isolation and asserts, "We have been saved by our music." 24 tracks, comprehensive notes, lyrics, and translations. Recorded, compiled and annotated by Jeffrey A. Summit.

Media Appearances: “Here and Now” on WBUR radio on Boston National Public Radio, “The Tavis Smiley Show” on National Public Radio, Hillel International article about Grammy nomination, Tufts E-News article about CD

Nominated for a Grammy Award.

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"Nusah and Identity: The Contemporary Meaning of Traditional Jewish Prayer Modes" in Music and American Religious Experience. Edited by Philip V. Bohlman, Maria Chow, and Edith Blumhofer, Oxford University Press, 200

For students and scholars in American music and religious studies, as well as for church musicians, this book is the first to study the ways in which music shapes the distinctive presence of religion in the United States. The sixteen essayists contributing to this book address the fullness of music's presence in American religion and religious history. Sacred music is considered in the broadest aesthetic sense, stretching from more traditional studies of hymnody and worship to new forms of musical expression, such as ritual in nonsectarian religious movements. Musical experience intersects with religious experience, posing challenging questions about the ways in which Americans, historical communities and new immigrants, and racial and ethnic groups, construct their sense of self. This book features an interdisciplinary approach that includes scholars in both musical and religious studies; a broad range of methodologies; historical breadth extending beyond denominational and church studies, and beyond Judeo-Christian traditions; and a comparative study of traditional religious communities and of emerging groups representing multiethnic America.
-Oxford University Press

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“If You Prolong Your Stay at Table, You Prolong Your Life: Jewish Music and Food” in The Ethnomusicologist’s Cookbook. Edited by Sean Williams, Routledge Press, 2006

The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook takes you around the world on a culinary journey that is also a cultural and social odyssey.

Many cookbooks offer a snapshot of individual recipes from different parts of the world, but do nothing to tell the reader how different foods are presented together, or how to relate these foods to other cultural practices. For years, ethnomusicologists have visited the four corners of the earth to collect the music and culture of native peoples, from Africa to the Azores, from Zanzibar to New Zealand. Along the way, they've observed how music is an integral part of social interaction, particularly when it's time for a lavish banquet or celebration. Foodways and cultural expression are not separate; this book emphasizes this connection through offering 47 complete meals, from appetizers to entrees to side dishes to desserts and drinks. A list of recommended CDs fills out the culinary experience, along with hints on how to present each dish and to organize the overall meal.
-Routledge publishing

"I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy?" Identity and Melody at an American Simhat Torah Celebration."  Ethnomusicology 37/1, 1993

Ethnomusicology is the official organ of the Society for Ethnomusicology and contains scholarly articles on the wide variety of cultural study areas, theoretical questions and interdisciplinary approaches that are characteristic of the field of ethnomusicology. The journal also includes book, recording, film, and video reviews. Peer-reviewed by the international membership of the society, Ethnomusicology has been published three times a year since it emerged from the fledgling society's newsletter first published in 1953.

A Cabaret in the Warsaw Ghetto. Produced with Hankus Netsky. Hillel Foundation at Tufts University, 1993. Expanded and reissued by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, 2005

Read article about Cabaret on The Hillel Foundation's website and the article in The Boston Globe.

Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda. CD to accompany the book, Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda. Abbeville Press, 2002

Only available with purchase of book.

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The Lords Song in a Strange Land. CD to accompany the book The Lord's Song in a Strange Land: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship.  Oxford University Press, 2000

Only available with purchase of book.

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Shepherd of the Highways. Lyrics and music by Jeffrey A. Summit. Recorded as LP. Mount Moriah Music, 1976