Re: what is Klismer music?

[Fred Jacobowitz <fredj...>]

Hey folx, 
        You miss the forest for the trees. Klezmer (that is how I learned 
the word and it most accurately transliterates a Hebrew/Yiddidsh word) is 
NOT sung, as a general rule. It IS the wedding music, i.e. the dance 
music/partying music of the Eastern European Jews, most of whom spoke 
Yiddish as their home language (or Mamaloshn). It is INSTRUMENTAL music - 
not vocal, though occasionally words were written to some tunes. While there 
are occasionally singers who sing songs which have Klezmer melodies or 
Klezmorim (plural of Klezmer) who will appropriate a popular/folk song 
and play in their own style (with or without the singer), I DARE you to 
find a "Klezmer" recording with a singer. We have hundreds, nay, 
thousands of old recordings from the turn of the century and NONE has a 
singer except occasionally Hassidic nigunim or a "badkhn" intoning a 
prayer, neither of which are danceable. Furthermore, the instrumentation 
was not ragtag. The standard band never included some instruments and 
always included others, depending on what country it was from. And while 
the instrumentation could change, it was as unusual to see, for example, 
a banjo in a Klezmer band as it was in the orchestra (with apologies to 
Henry Sapoznik - the exception proves the rule, and he is a different 
case, being in a modern band).
        The Klezmorim were generally village musicians who sometimes 
could read music. They know dozens (if not hundreds) of tunes from many 
different ethnic and religious communities because they played throughout 
the region for all the communities. However, they were always based in one 
place and simply traveled to their gigs - just like today! That hoary 
stereotype of the three musicians wandering through the fields from 
village to village playing for the farmers and looking for handouts is a 
quaint bubbe meisseh. It is about as accurate a depiction as 
Step-'n-Fetchit was of the southern Blacks. 

Fred Jacobowitz
Machaya Klezmer Band in Washington, D.C./Baltimore

On 21 May 1996, Moshe Denburg wrote:

> yoel (at) netvision(dot)net(dot)il wrote:
> >
> >In Article<4nfheg$lku (at) aphex(dot)direct(dot)ca>, <denburg (at) 
> >direct(dot)ca> writes:
> >> yoel (at) netvision(dot)net(dot)il wrote:
> >> >
> >> >Klezmir is an eastern European style of music sung in Yiddish and 
> >> >normally 
> >> >played by a rag-tag band including (but not limited to) accordion, 
> >> >violin, 
> >> >clarinet. 
> 
> (deletions)
> 
> >> Pardon my didactic intrusion, but the name is 'Klezmer'; 
> 
> (deletions)
>  
> >You want to be didactic? okay, I'll be didactic too.  The spelling 
> >klezmer/klezmir is a transliteration of the Yiddish, and it depends which 
> >Yiddish you happen to speak.  Litvaks pronounce the word "klayzmir" and 
> >normally spell it with a yod.  Galitzianers shorten the second syllable and 
> >will normally spell it with an eyn.  I have also heard the plural pronounced 
> >"kleyzmorim" suggesting a spelling with a vav.
> >
> >Your nitpick...
> >
> 
> What dictionary are you using? In my experience, words derived from the 
> Hebrew may vary in their Yiddish pronunciation but not in spelling. See 
> the entry in the Weinreich dictionary under the Hebraic spelling (this is 
> the only entry). Klezmorim ('musicians') is indeed a Yiddish 
> pronunciation of the plural form of Klezmer ('musician'), but nowhere 
> have I seen it written with a vav. Also, in the Weinreich, and in accord 
> with the general rule that words derived from the Hebrew are written 
> Hebraically, regardless of their Yiddish pronunciation, I see no hint of 
> Klezmer with a yod. The 'normal' spelling with a yod that you mention, is 
> a case of working from pronunciation to spelling. I believe that the 
> general orthographic tendency in Yiddish, where Hebrew derived words 
> are concerned, is to preserve the source form of a word primarily, its 
> pronunciation secondarily. 
> 
> Pursuant to my original response to your using the term Klezmir - I 
> wouldn't take anything away from variant pronunciations; however, in 
> referring to the context in which the term was being put forward, namely, 
> the style of Jewish Music that the original poster asked about, Klezmer 
> is the only orthography I have ever seen, until coming across your unique 
> usage.
> 
> Moshe Denburg
> 
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>