For today’s episode of “Many Voices”, I was delighted to get to chat in person with Dr Nori Jacoby (https://norijacoby.com) from Cornell University while we were both in the Netherlands for a symposium about music and evolution. I enjoyed hearing Nori share music from his own performance of thousand-year-old songs to contemporary songs adapting rap to teach the ancient Hebrew alphabet.

Nori is one of the world’s leading scientists in the cross-cultural study of musical diversity, and one of the smartest scientists I know. But his scientific articles are usually focused on technical details and don’t give a sense of his personal background or his talents as a composer and performer, so it was a real treat to hear this side of him too. It was also special to hear about the complex ways he wrestled with questions about music, science, and cultural identity as a secular Israeli raised speaking Hebrew and now living in the USA, and the hopes he had that music might help bridge some of the deep divides in his homeland during these troubled times of war in the Middle East. I hope you also enjoy hearing Nori share his music and personal story.

For more information on Nori’s research, composing, and performing, visit https://norijacoby.com. And as always, for playlists with full recordings of music from these and other Many Voices episodes, visit http://many-voices.com, where you can also find links to YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Tune in next week for our next episode with Brenda Suyanne Barbosa sharing the music of her Indigenous Guaraní culture from Brazil. And please like and subscribe to help us keep the whole world singing!

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:32 1 (meaningful): “Laila” (https://youtu.be/SIdljPIHYr8)

07:14 2 (traditional): “Moshe” - Tafillalt (https://youtu.be/SCmWXvo3XOs)

13:08 3 (contemporary): “The Aleph-bet song” (Hosha'ana) - Victoria Hanna (https://youtu.be/Bl1epz3tSSA)

16:07 4 (happy): “The Princess and the Hedgehog” (excerpt) - Nori Jacoby (https://youtu.be/playlist?list=PLDA0E15B98880AB9E)

18:44 5 (sad): “Let Me Hear Your Voice” / “השמיעני” - Victoria Hanna (https://youtu.be/C4a8bpss9Ng&t=109)

21:49 6 (dance): “Adir Adirim” (feat. Victoria Hanna) - Balkan Beat Box (https://youtu.be/2Dgt27ILk8g)

26:37 Broader thoughts on music, science, and identity

Credits:

Recorded on April 19 2026 in Leiden, the Netherlands

Guest: Dr Nori Jacoby

Presenter/producer/editor: Dr Patrick Savage

Intro/outro music: "Hearing music evolve" (Patrick Savage, Hideo Daikoku, Kenta Ueda, Yoichi Kitayama, Marin Naruse, The HU, Timbaland, Gakuto Chiba, Sona Jobarteh, et al., https://youtu.be/Qe1R-R1-Q7A)

Many Voices logo design: Dr Florence Nweke