[HANASHIR:14640] Why 60s Folk Music (and 50's too) IS relevant

[Laura Ferguson <allenderl...>]

Maybe the question isn't whether the person who wrote this folk music is 
Jewish, BUT rather, which of these pieces expresses Jewish ideas that are 
relevant to services or performances of Jewish music.

For example, I think many people would agree that "Blowing in the wind" 
fits into certain Jewish settings.... and this could be said about much of 
the folk music.

We each need to decide what's appropriate for our setting.  This list is 
inclusive of many singers  & musicians who perform in many different Jewish 
related venues.  An Israeli folk song can be as secular as an American folk 
song, yet often the composers of both are Jewish.  Folk songs of any kind 
often have messages, eg. "the world is a narrow bridge" vs. "if I had a 
hammer ... I'd hammer out the love between my brothers and my 
sisters".  The language of the song is not the relevant question, but 
rather what that song says.     When a song is used in a setting where 
there is a synergy between the meaning of the song and the meaning of the 
event, then it won't matter if the composers language was Hebrew, English 
or for that matter, Swahili.

Jewish music has been greatly influenced by folk music, and there is no 
reason why this list is not an appropriate place for discussion of the 
relationship between American folk music and Jewish folk music.

Lastly, I hope folks will remember to be at least minimally civil, and 
preferably decent and kind in their emails.  We are here to learn and 
share, and this kind of sarcasm has no place on this list.

Laura Ferguson


------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+