Klarinet Archive - Posting 000153.txt from 2009/08

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fbjacobo@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] New posting on YouTube
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:33:45 -0400

Hey folx (including Danyel),
A little background on Klezmer would be useful:
1. When not used as the Hebrew word for 'musician', Klezmer
(capitalized) means: The wedding/celebration music of the Eastern
European Jews and those musicians who played such music.
2. It was mostly dance music, designed to be played loud for dancing.
There was a component of "tish music" - music to be played while folx
were eating. It was NEVER, NEVER vocal. There were no Klezmer songs.
3. Any performances using those old tunes or the style of ornament/
sounds used in Klezmer are by definition, not Klezmer unless
performed at a 'simcha' for dancing/partying.
4. Those days are essentially gone. Klezmer is rarely heard at
weddings anymore, as marrying-age Jews now associate with Israel, not
Kishinev, Odessa, etc. Klezmer is essentially dead. When I play
Jewish weddings, we play mostly Israeli/Hassidic tunes and lots of
rock and swing jazz. Oh, and the occasional Klezmer 'Freylakhs'.
5. The sound and style of playing, however, is very much alive.
People like it. They like hearing it in concerts. So what do you call
it?????? Well, people are still calling this music Klezmer, even tho
it has no ties to weddings. It now has become a name for a whole
genre of styles/sounds. Thus, Giora Feidman (A wonderful musician,
and perfectly capable of playing weddings, should he be hired and
should he chose to do so) calls what he does Klezmer. By any but a
very narrow historical definition, he's right.
6. To call him a fraud is preposterous. By any measure, he is a
superb performer, musician, and practitioner of the style, even if
his ensembles don't sound like an Eastern European Jewish Wedding
Band. He simply has done what people have done for centuries: adapt a
sound/style for his own uses. By his and most peoples' definition,
what he is doing IS Klezmer. And who is to say no?
7. There are quite a few excellent players in Israel playing in the
style, but not the milieu.
8. Unless you can manage to get people to stop using 'Klezmer' as a
generic name (like 'Jazz'), you're going to have to get used to it. I
am a purist, and am careful to call what I do outside the simcha as
"Klezmer influenced" or "Klezmer derived". However, I know I'm being
unrealistic if I expect the world to be purists with me.

You can check out my Klezmer 'bona fides' online with a Google search.

Fred Jacobowitz

CASE CLOSED Musical Instrument Case Repair Service
Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
Ebony and Ivory Duo

You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.
~Doug Floyd

On Aug 20, 2009, at 9:28 PM, Dan Leeson wrote:

> Danyel,
>
> At first, I decided to ignore this excessively impudent posting.
> After all, you are permitted to express your own ideas no matter
> how bizarre they might be.
>
> But as I thought about it, I felt that you needed to be chastised
> for such an intemperate posting.
>
> Your argument that Fediman is a "disgusting fraud," is so bizarre
> and irrational that I have decided to tell you that such postings
> do nothing but damage your reputation, if you had one to begin
> with. They are, of course, an expression of an opinion, but done
> so badly that I am forced to share my opinion of you.
>
> Anyone who chooses to behave so badly is someone no longer worth
> listening to.
>
> Dan Leeson
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "corvo di bassetto" <rab@-----.de>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 12:37 AM
> Subject: Re: [kl] New posting on YouTube
>
>
>> Sarah,
>> if you think that your yound student could become a genuine
>> musician, please keep him away from that disgusting fraud Feidman!
>> Agreed, Tarras and Brandwein are no longer around, but you will
>> certainly find a real Klezmer in Israel?
>> BTW, the Sephardic musicians I have heard so far play in an
>> Ottoman (Salonikian) tradition which I don't think you would refer
>> to as klezmer (even if played strictly instrumentally which is
>> the exception), so what does that child play and where did his
>> family pick up that style?
>>
>> Bets wishes
>> danyel
>>
>>
>> On Aug 19, 2009, at 4:57 PM, sarah elbaz wrote:
>>
>>> The child is very very talented.
>>>
>>> I have a 13 years old student in Israel, who belongs to the Abu
>>> family from Safed ( 7th genertion of Klezmers)
>>> and he played last week in the opening concert of the Klezmer
>>> festival in Safed. He is a Sepharadic Klezmer,
>>> a little happy and ecsatic creature :-) (for the people who
>>> don't know - the Abu house in Safed is were the Omer festival is
>>> starting every year).
>>>
>>> The child in the video is better, he has a personal style and
>>> good taste. He can be a great klezmer.
>>> Maybe he should come next year to work with Giora Feidman.
>>>
>>> Sarah
>>>
>>>> -------Original Message-------
>>>> From: p_marcus@-----.net
>>>> Subject: [kl] New posting on YouTube
>>>> Sent: 19 Aug '09 03:00
>>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I have posted 3 minutes of Robin Seletsky playing the Chanukah
>>>> Klezmer Medley with the Catskill Symphony from awhile back.
>>>> This is a arrangement of traditional tunes and a work by
>>>> Robin's father that Ed (Marcus) and Robin co-wrote.
>>>> Sorry it's so short...the permission was limited to 3 minutes of
>>>> the performance! The first link is for the video, the 2nd for
>>>> Robin's Catskill Klezmorim webpage, the last is Ed's page.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH5dvxvGTkk
>>>> http://www.catskillklezmorim.com/
>>>> http://sites.google.com/site/edwardmarcusmusic/
>>>>
>>>> Please feel free to pass along the video link to other
>>>> interested people!
>>>>
>>>> Penny
>>>>
>>>>
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