Klarinet Archive - Posting 000283.txt from 2003/11

From: Jeremy A Schiffer <schiffer@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Feidman [and recordings] in New York
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:10:22 -0500

> Ken Wolman wrote:
>
> > So what's Feidman anyway? ... How do you classify a man who makes
> > tango sound like klezmer and klezmer sound like tango? As himself,
> > or if you want a Word, perhaps "fusion" will do.

Fusion seems to work well. Though his music is unique, it in some ways
resembles that of musicians like David Krakauer or Bela Fleck and Edgar
Meyer on other instruments. They have senses for and abilities in music
that are shared by very few people in the world. However, their interests
lie outside of conventionally defined genres, so it is hard to label them
accurately.

The reason why a lot of klezmer purists dislike (or at least don't
like to acknowledge) Feidman, as I've heard it, is that he tends to
receive a lot of credit for the klezmer revival, despite a lack of
original research into historic tunes. As I understand it, he wasn't one
of the ones copying 78s onto tapes or searching sound archives for
unreleased and lost tunes, like many others in the revival movement. Most
of his repertoire came from the now (mostly) out of print Kammen Folios
and other already published materials. This doesn't take away from his
abilities as a musician at all, but it seems to explain why he is a
'controversial' figure in klezmer.

Patricia Smith wrote:

>
> This man sounds downright incredible, Ken. Two quick questions, perhaps
> echoing those of others:
>
> 1) does he have recordings out?
> 2) If so, where can I obtain them?

He has tons of recordings out.

http://www.tara.com is the source for anything that can be classified
"jewish music" and they have most, if not all, of his discography. Some of
it you can even listen to on the website with RealAudio. A quick search
shows me they have 31 Feidman titles, though some are listed twice, once
for CD and once for cassette.

-jeremy
http://klezmer.org

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