Re:Hora and Travels

[Solidarity Foundation <svzandt...>]

Jennifer and others,

Anyone who gets involved in the world of klezmer music soon realizes that there
are  at least as many different "takes" on the music today as there are bands.
Nevertheless, there really is a klezmer tradition, and it's not all chaos. 
Hence I am a bit mystified by a statement of the usually lucid Fred Jacobowitz,
that "In terms of a ***KLEZMER*** band, a "hora" means a FREYLAKHS/BULGAR (and
sometimes a SIRBA)."

True, in non-Jewish Moldavian folk music, dance forms similar to what
klezmorim call freylakhs, bulgar, and sometimes even sirba, may be called
"hora." But it is precisely in terms of a klezmer band that they are NOT
called
horas. In terms of a klezmer band, what is normally called a hora is the slow
hora just as in The Complete Klezmer. This tempo is also called "joc," though I
don't know that this term is any "more proper" than hora, but in the klezmer
tradition, they are equally proper -- either "hora" or "joc" applies only to
this 
klezmorim call freylakhs, bulgar, and sometimes even sirba, may be called
"hora." But it is precisely in terms of a klezmer band that they are NOT
called
horas. In terms of a klezmer band, what is normally called a hora is the slow
hora just as in The Complete Klezmer. This tempo is also called "joc," though I
don't know that this term is any "more proper" than hora, but in the klezmer
tradition, they are equally proper -- either "hora" or "joc" applies only to
this 
3/8 slow dance-tempo.

Thus I see nothing confusing about the name "Romanian Hora and Bulgar." I don't
know exactly what piece FJ is referring to, but it is quite normal to follow
what in the klezmer tradition is called a "Romanian hora," in other words a
slow hora, with a fast dance like a bulgar.

The main thing is not to break your heads over this, because THERE IS NO
SIMILARITY WHATSOEVER between the slow 3/8 hora and the modern Israeli hora. As
FJ says, all the word "hora" actually means is "dance." For that matter, all
the word "joc" actually means is "dance." Since these are both Romanian words,
it is not surprising that in the Romanian/Moldavian tradition, a wide variety
of different dance tempos may be referred to as either "hora" or "joc."
Doubtless that is where the modern Israeli "hora" (which is actually related to
the freylakhs of klezmer tradition) got its name. 
        Klezmer terminology started to break down in the 1940s-1960s. 
Personally I
can't recall any freylekhs, bulgars, or sirbas referred to by non-Israeli
klezmorim as "hora," but if there are any, I'm sure this comes from confusion
with the Israeli hora since maybe the 1950s. I seem to recall that at 
simkhes in Brooklyn in the 1950s people would call any fast circle dance --
which was even then usually "Hava Nagila" -- a "hora". But not "in terms of a
klezmer band" (!) And certainly with the klezmer revival having come as far as
it has, I see no reason for klezmorim to perpetuate this confusion. 
        Above all, we should not get confused between words and things. There 
may be
one dance-tempo with 5 different names and 5 different dance-tempos with one
name. This may be a bit complicated, but it doesn't require that our brains
turn to jelly the minute a word like "hora" is mentioned. 
        Many people know the steps to the slow hora. Michael Alpert, for one, 
usually
teaches it in his dance classes, and it is always taught at KlezKamp in
December. In the meantime, why not listen to more horas? To hear a really
classic performance of a slow hora with the subtle nuances it is capable of, I
recommend the so-called "National Hora" as played by Abe and Sylvia Schwartz
and reissued on "Klezmer Music from the Collection of Prof. Martin Schwartz,"
Folklyric 9034. 
Itzik-Leyb Volokh (Jeffrey Wollock)