The Wandering Muse, a new DVD from IndiePix Films, presents a hugely entertaining survey of contemporary music from the Jewish Diaspora. The viewer meets musicians — Basya Schechter, Shura Lipovsky, Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin), Vanessa Paloma, Daniel Kahn, Psoy Korolenko, Jeremiah Lockwood, et al. — in their homelands and on the road, from Brooklyn to Budapest to Berlin to Uganda. The 94-minute documentary directed by Tamás Wormser is subtitled From Ram’s Horn to Beatbox, Music of the Jewish Diaspora. Wormser notes that itinerant Jewish musicians “have always absorbed, exchanged and spread music around the globe… Along the way, liturgy went lyrical, the traditional turned popular. And oy begat joy.” The DVD version of the 2014 film includes 45 minutes of outtakes and deleted scenes. — Mordecai Specktor
