Schmekel

Schmekel was an all-transgender, Jewish folk punk band from Brooklyn, New York, known for their satirical lyrical material.[1] Eddy Portnoy of The Forward cited Schmekel as an example of the cultural movement "Queer Yiddishkeit."[2] Schmekel made their audiences more comfortable with transgender topics through jokes, but also often included lyrical references to obscure queer, Jewish, and punk content that only cultural insiders would recognize.[3] Hugh Ryan for The New York Times compared Schmekel's sound to Pansy Division and compared Lucian Kahn's songwriting to Jewish singer/songwriter and satirist Tom Lehrer.[1] The Advocate compared Schmekel to Pansy Division and Tribe 8,[4] and the book Listen to Punk Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre compared Schmekel's song "I'll Be Your Maccabee" to Pansy Division's song "Homo Christmas."[5] Schmekel's lyrics frequently referred to Jewish holidays, and their first album started with Kahn sounding the Yom Kippur "tekiah" and bassist Nogga Schwartz blowing a shofar[6] before launching into a punk song. The Jewish Music Resource Centre at Hebrew University of Jerusalem noted that Schmekel's music used "direct musical quotes from traditional Jewish melodies such as Chad Gadya, Ma'oz Tzur, and Al Chet".[7] Professor of Musicology Edwin Seroussi compared Schmekel's tongue-in-cheek allusions to prayers to similar inside jokes in Yiddish theatre and vaudeville at the turn of the 20th century.[7]

Schmekel
Schmekel at Hampshire College (2012)
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Folk punk, queercore
Years active	2010–2014
Labels	Schmekel Music
Members	Lucian Kahn Ricky Riot Nogga Schwartz Simcha Halpert-Hanson

Schmekel performed with other Jewish punk bands local to Brooklyn, such as The Shondes,[8][9] at New York City venues like the Knitting Factory,[10] the Delancey,[11] Public Assembly,[12] and Otto's Shrunken Head.[13] They also played at colleges in the Eastern United States like Brandeis University,[14] Yale University,[15] State University of New York at Purchase,[16] Hampshire College[17] and the University of Mary Washington,[18] sponsored by Jewish and LGBT student clubs. Schmekel's egg salad sandwich logo was created by queer illustrator and punk rocker Cristy Road[19] while Schmekel was performing with her band The Homewreckers.[20]

Susanne Mayer of Die Zeit contrasted the celebrities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's fashion exhibit PUNK: Chaos to Couture[21] with Schmekel's dirty song lyrics, antimilitarism, and criticism of same-sex marriage as bourgeois.[22] Schmekel broke up in February 2014 to focus on other projects.[23]