[HANASHIR:14734] RE: The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music

[Adrian Durlester <adrian...>]

Rebecca:

By copy of this reply to you, I am making the list aware of your response.
Thanks for letting us know that our genre is part of the project.

That being said, however, I once again looked carefully at the sight. While
you are correct that nothing on the site indicates that "contemporary
popular Jewish music is excluded from our collection," there is no
indication on the site so far that it will be, except in oblique references,
like "contemporary prayer settings in the idioms of Broadway, jazz and rock"
(and I particularly note the absence of the term "folk") on the "Why An
Archive" page, and the link to two sites-- www.ehavanashira.org , and
www.jewishentertainment.net. The preponderance of material and listings on
the site refers to musicians and musical ensembles of the klezmer,
chazzanut, and classical variety. All the pictures are or classical
ensembles, cantors, et al.  If I had seen at least the name or picture of
one contemporary popular American Jewish music composer or performer, I
might feel differently. For the moment, this community remains unrepresented
on the site.

Perhaps making your repertoire list public is one way to change this?

I wish to also correct what may be a misapprehension on your part. While the
Hava Nashira workshop is sponsored by the Reform movement, and the
discussion list and web site are hosted by them, the membership of the list
includes liberal and traditional Jews. Contemporary American Jewish music
includes music not only used in Reform or other liberal settings, but also
in traditional communities. This music is not only a liberal phenomenon.
Artists like Sam Glaser and Yehuda et al belong to the contemporary American
Jewish liturgical music genre and are from a clearly traditional
perspective. And the members of our community use and are familiar with the
works of people like Abie Rotenberg and others writing for the Hasidic and
other traditional communities.

I can also assure you that there is a large body of unrecorded work in this
community, the costs of producing one's own album being expensive and most
of the people writing this music are doing it for love of Judaism rather
than money. The members of the Hava Nashira community are probably the best
resource for identifying all this unrecorded music.

Although I understand that you have spoken to people familiar with our
genre, there does not seem to be anyone on your editorial board that appears
to be truly knowledgeable about this genre.

Again, I would ask you to view the archive web site with a critical eye, and
understand that, while it may not say that our genre is excluded, it
certainly does not give any appearance that it will be. We're looking for a
sign...

B'vracha,

Adrian A. Durlester, MTS
E-mail: adrian (at) durlester(dot)com  URL:www.durlester.com
Director of Education, Beth El Hebrew Congregation, Alexandria, VA
education(dot)director (at) bethelhebrew(dot)org
Co-Director, Hazamir/JTAI Choir of Greater DC
Past Conf Chair, CAJE 27, August 4-8, 2002, Trinity University, San Antonio,
TX
List Owner, hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Jewish Songleaders/Performers List
www.ehavanashira.org
Co-Owner, l-torah (at) shamash(dot)org; Liberal Torah Discussion List
(eff 7/1/03) Director of Education & Congregational Life, bethesda Jewish
Congregation, Bethesda, MD www.bethesdajewish.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Rebecca Rona [mailto:rrona (at) mff(dot)org] 
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 7:43 PM
To: Adrian Durlester
Subject: RE: [HANASHIR:14572] RE: The Milken Archive of American Jewish
Music

Dear Adrian:

Thank you for your e-mails expressing interest in the Milken Archive.  We
are making every effort to respond quickly, but you can well imagine the
deluge of interest since the new site went up!

Nothing in our advance announcements can have given the impression that
contemporary popular Jewish music is excluded from our collection. In fact,
among the more than 600 pieces we have recorded thus far, and which will be
released over the next two years, there is a good number of selections from
contemporary popular Jewish music; our repertoire list, however, has not
been made public. Moreover, settings by some of the very song leaders/song
writers you mentioned are already slated to be included in specific volumes
at a later date.

The release schedule of our initial joint Naxos CDs, beginning in September,
is based upon the identification of works that have not previously been
recorded and which are intended for Naxos's classical audiences. Functional
liturgical music, especially on those CDs devoted to contemporary and Reform
synagogue orientations, will be released later down the road. 

I should also point out that we license rather than re-record whenever
pieces have already been commercially released. Furthermore, we do not
commission new music for recording.

I hope this explanation gives you further insight into the Milken Archive.
You may want to share this information with your members.

To stay abreast of our recordings, please return to our Web site:
<www.milkenarchive.org>.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Rona
Administrative Director
Milken Archive of American Jewish Music


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