Re: The Status of the Accordian in Traditional Klezmer Melodies

[Dean Bandes <deanb...>]

Samuel Liebhaber asks:

>       ...  And yet many Klezmer ensembles whose recordings I
>       have utilize this instrument.  [accordian]  Is this simply a
>       mistake committed by contemporary recording artists?

Many people, as is well known, consider ANY use of the accordian a
mistake.  When I attended the summer course in Yiddish Music
Performance Styles at New England Conservatory a few summers ago,
Hankus Netsky (the instructor, and founder of the Klezmer Conservatory
Band and an accordionist) and the MIT Hillel rabbi, another
accordionist, were trading accordion jokes as follows:

1. Far Side cartoon, in two sections: Top panel -- Saint Peter at the
pearly gates, greeting the line of new arrivals "Welcome to Heaven,
here's your harp."  Bottom panel -- Satan amid flames, greeting the
line of new arrivals "Welcome to Hell, here's your accordion."

2. What's the difference between an onion and an accordion?  Nobody
cries when you chop up an accordion.

Hankus plays the accordion with KCB.  That's authentic enough for me.
Klezmer instrumentation changed through the years, as instruments
changed and musicians learned other ones (e.g. people learned to play
brass in military bands.)  If an instrument has that "Oy vey" sound
and is loud enough to dance to, klezmorim will play it.

Dean Bandes
deanb (at) ma(dot)credence(dot)com