In contrast to music from the synagogue, Jewish folk music is a secular genre, encompassing vocal and instrumental music and tied in with the daily life of Jews. Like folk music of non-Jewish communities, and in contrast to the music of the bourgeois concert hall, it is considered a historical tradition of peasants and workers. Around the end of the 19th century Jewish scholars discovered folk music of Jews living in rural areas of Eastern Europe as a medium for the expression of national belonging.

The concept of Jewish folk music first took shape in the late 19th century [7…