Re: 2 Questions

[Solidarity Foundation <svzandt...>]

On 26 Feb 97 23:44:36 EST George Robinson wrote:

> is there a decent, even good, book on klezmer, in English -- a journalistic
> work...

No, surprisingly enough, not even a bad one. But here are some things you
can read:

An English translation of Moshe Beregowski's "Yidishe Instrumentalishe
Folksmuzik" in _Old Jewish Folkmusic: The Collections and Writings of Moshe
Beregowski, ed. & transl. by Mark Slobin. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

Walter Zev Feldman's "Bulgareasca/Bulgarish/Bulgar: The Transformation of a
Klezmer Dance Genre" in _Ethnomusicology_ 38.1 (Winter 1994), 1-35.

A.Z. Idelsohn, _Jewish Music in Its Historical Development_ , chapt. 20:
"Badchonim and Klezmorim", pp.435-460. New York: Schocken Books, 1967
(originally published in 1929).

Mark Slobin, _Tenement Songs_, chapt. 1: "The Mythic Old World," pp. 11-31.
Urbana & Chicago, Univ. of Illinois Press, 1982.

Most of what's been written on klezmer in English recently is in the form of
liner notes to records and CDs. Particularly informative is Joel Rubin &
Rita Ottens' notes to _Yikhes_ Trikont US 0179, a German CD which you'll
probably have to order.

Also see my "European Recordings of Jewish Instrumental Music, 1911-1914,"
which will be available in April in the Spring 1997 number of the _ARSC
Journal_ (Association for Recorded Sound Collections).

There has actually been a fair amount of journalism on the "klezmer revival,"
but in general it's not very helpful on the history and development of 
klezmer before 1975.

Itzik-Leyb Volokh (Jeffrey Wollock)