Shoga Speaks

"I have concluded from the melancholy nature of my subsequent development that the artifacts hung up on a child's wall can have a permanent effect on his life."

So begins the essay on the role the Art played in my formation, an evolution spanning Southern California, France, the groovy Sixties, Africa. "Still Life" will reveal the malefic influence of "the original Joe Vogel," plumb the mysteries of “Ten Nights in a Barrel,” revel in the salvation of Dutch realism -- and picture this, so much more!

If you didn't grow up in a family of visual artists or art collectors, the prints and paintings that adorned the walls of your house were probably reproductions of the Beautiful (landscapes! Impressionist paintings! photographs from that amazing trip to South America!). What effect might this art which you took in consciously or not every day have upon whatever taste you developed as you became your own person?  Welcome to the Philipson Museum of Eclectic and Accidental Art! 

Host Info
Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson
Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality.

Music 

“What I’ll Do” - Chet Baker

“Vincent” - Daniel Champagne 

“Lute Music - Netherlands: Courante” - Konrad Ragossnig 

“Magnetic Rag” - Scott Joplin

"Pictures at an Exhibition" - Khatia Buniatishvili-Mussorgsky

“Pictures at an Exhibition” The Piano Guys

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Christian, Jew, or undeclared, all are subjected to the music, the rituals, the legacy of the Victorian Christmas which exercises an annual month-long grip on American culture. How can one not be warped, influenced, sentimentalized by this slow-motion avalanche. We can take "Christ" out of Christmas, but we cannot remove it from our hearts.

Host Info
Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson
Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality.

Music

“Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” - Dean Martin

"Winter Wonderland" - Michael Bublé

“The Christmas Song” - Nat King Cole

“O Come, Oh Come Emmanuel” - The Piano Guys

“Sleigh Ride” - The Ronettes

"White Christmas" - Bing Crosby

"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" - Kenny G

"O Tannenbaum" - Vince Guaraldi Trio

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Website: shogafilms.org
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Meet Doris Hale, the most intimate and important African American that my famlly knew and trusted, in her own words. Dr. Philipson conducted and transcribed the interview back in the early 90s. In anticipation of releasing the manuscript of the family memoir, we present certain chapters as podcasts performed by voice actors. "Skinny" was recorded and mixed by Joyce Licorish.

Host Info
Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson
Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality.

Connect With Us:
Website: shogafilms.org
Instagram: @shogafilms
Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms
Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms
Sign up for our newsletter at shogafilms.org

Website: www.shogafilms.com;
Instagram: shogafilms;
Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms;
Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, Robert Philipson traces the intertwined threads of family, faith, and identity, beginning with his great-uncle, Reform Judaism leader Rabbi David Philipson, and winding through his own complex upbringing in mid-century America. From the unlikely honor of portraying Shylock in a high school English class to confronting assimilation, antisemitism, and inherited legacies, Philipson reflects on what it means to be Jewish in a world that often demands forgetting. At once humorous, poignant, and historically rich, this episode explores the weight of ancestry, the power of literature, and the unfinished work of defining oneself.

Host Info
Hosted by Dr. Robert Philipson
Robert is a former professor of African-American studies with a passion for jazz and art. A published author and Harlem Renaissance historian, he has produced multiple films about the intersectionality of race, music, and sexuality.

RESOURCES

Literature:

The Jewish Encyclopedia (Vol. X, 1905) 

Philipson, David. My Life as an American Jew 

Philipson, David. The Reform Movement in Judaism 

Philipson, David. The Jew in English Fiction 

Philipson, David. Max Lilienthal, American Rabbi

Encyclopedia Judaica

The Pittsburgh Platform (1885) 

Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice

Dr. Seuss. Horton Hears a Who! 

Music: 

A Gesang Fun’m Berditchever Rebbe - Mordechay Hersman

Oboe Concerto In D Minor: 1. Andante e Spiccato - Marcel Ponseele & Il Gardellino

La Rosa Enflorece - The Jewish Starlight Orchestra

Misirlou & The Flatbush Waltz - Budapest Cafe Orchestra

Due Tramonti - Ludovico Einaudi

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Dave Drexler of the San Diego's Jazz88.3 FM  conducted an interview with Dr. Robert Philipson when his documentary, "Body and Soul: An American Bridge" was selected as the closing night offering of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and was watched by over 1000 people. Philipson discusses the composition of the song "Body and Soul" by Jewish composer Johnny Green in 1930. He then uses the early performance history of this most-recorded of jazz standards to unfold the various aspects of Black-Jewish interrelations in popular music. As in the film, the contributions of Libby Holman, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson are examined in some detail. Drexler ends the interview by asking Dr. Philipson about the film's reception and what challenges he faced in its making. 

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In 2019, the Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, spread her fame to tens of thousands of Americans. The film starred Viola Davis as the bisexual blues diva and enshrined Chadwick Boseman's final performance before his untimely death to cancer.

In a blog post I wrote about the film at the time, I  prophesied that Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman would be nominated for numerous acting awards, that kudos would flood to all involved but that there would be little discussion of the complexities of Ma's sexuality."

Our new Shoga Speaks podcast, "Our Queer Feminist Take on Netflix's Ma Rainey," finally gives this neglected aspect a full and fascinating airing. Dr. Philipson dialogues with Natasha Johnson, a Black queer activist currently crusading against female genital mutilation, about the source of Ma Rainey's power, the complex and nuanced depiction of her relationship with her girl-toy Dussie Mae, and the inspiration that Natasha herself takes from this early and at-that-time (1984) unique depiction of a Black queer woman fully in control of her world.

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Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson holds a dialogue with African American composer Ozie Cargile about the possibilities of Black classical music. Find out what an orchestra "hit" is.

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Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson discusses the question, "Can Classical Music Be Black" with African American composer Ozie Cargile. Does there need to be something recognizably “Black” in classical music compositions by Black composers? Indeed is there anything “Black” about the classical music tradition or is it, as Dr. Philipson contends, a white preserve fiercely defended as such by white conductors, impresarios, music critics and other gatekeepers of High Culture. Ozie Cargile urges us to look beyond the too-familiar narrative of African Americans overcoming white resistance. This is a story told all too often and one that robs agency and inspiration from African Americans themselves.

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Website: www.shogafilms.com;
Instagram: shogafilms;
Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms;
Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms