Klezmer Forest& Trees(was Re: what is Klismer music?)

[moshe denburg <denburg...>]

On Sat, 25 May 1996 18:08:19 -0400 (EDT), Fred Jacobowitz wrote:
 
>       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. 

Of course I agree that Klezmer is, *in its origins*, primarily an
instrumental genre. Your post is informative and accurate, IMO.

However, we cannot disregard the work of Jewish musicians _in the present_,
whose task it is to take that which is given by tradition and to develop and
vary it. So in speaking of the roots of Klezmer, you are correct; but if
today's musician adds a Banjo, a Guitar, or indeed if Singers add their
voices to the ensemble, which indeed is the case with the majority of
Klezmer bands today, is their music not to be called Klezmer?

I ask this question at face value - at what point does the music cease to be
Klezmer, and ought to be dubbed by some other name? For example, my
ensemble, Tzimmes, does only a little of what one may call traditional
Klezmer, and ironically, it is not _we_ who choose to call our music
Klezmer. It seems that today, the appellation 'Klezmer' is often foisted
upon a variety of Jewish Musical genres that represent other facets of
Jewish Musical experience. This, I believe, is due to the popularization of
the term amongst audiences who have nothing but the term to go on.

Whether or not this can, or should, be rectified I do not know. But it is
probably a sign of a healthy creative ferment that the terms are somewhat in
limbo; and though, as artists, we can take some steps to educate others, it
is, IMHO, not so wise to 'nail down' these terms too fastidiously.

History is a matter of facts, but a creative process is always under revision.

Moshe Denburg