Jewish Underground Freedom Songs to Be Heard on Wqxr

An unusual and significant two-part broadcast concerned with discussion and music of the Russian Jewish community in Moscow will be broadcast over WQXR (AM & FM) on Saturdays, May 22 and 29, from 7:06 to 8 p.m. The program will be part of “Woody’s Children,” WQXR’s series of contemporary folk music, Robert Sherman, WQXR program director and host of “Woody’s Children,” will have as his guests on both programs Theodore Bikel, actor-singer, composer Issachar Miron, and a young scientist whose name, for broadcast purposes, will be Ben Tzion (Son of Zion). As a research student in Moscow, Ben Tzion became friendly with members of the Russian Jewish community and eventually brought out of the country tapes of their underground protest songs. Issachar Miron, the former Music Deputy of Israel and Officer-In-Chief of Art and Music of the Israel Defense Army during the War of Liberation has taken several of these songs and arranged them for voices and an instrumental ensemble. Bikel has recorded them for an album due for release in early summer. All three men will discuss the music and its significance. with Ben Tzion providing first-band accounts of Jewish life in Russia today. The cost of the recording has been underwritten by the American Jewish Congress and the proceeds from the sales of the record will be used to set up scholarships for young Russian Jews studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.