Dr. Johanna Spector (1915–2008) was an ethnomusicologist at the Jewish Theological Seminary who made two real documentary films about the Cochin Jewish community: About the Jews of India: Cochin (1976) and a follow-up, Two Thousand Years of Freedom and Honour: The Cochin Jews of India (1992). Her 1976 film opens with the line: “For 2000 years, Jews lived in freedom and prosperity in the south of India. Today, they are gone.”
About Her Work
Spector, an ethnomusicologist by training, incorporated recordings of Judeo-Malayalam songs throughout her films, preserving musical traditions that survive today largely because of her fieldwork. Her audio and film archive is held at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Background on the films (Jews of Cochin blog) • Biography, Jewish Women’s Archive • Johanna Spector Audio Collection, JTS.