Re: What Makes Music Jewish

[Michael R. Leavitt <mleavitt...>]

Since this thread apparently isn't going to die, I'd like to throw in two
ideas that may be a little controversial.  First, as appealing as the
question is, I suspect "what is Jewish music" can not be answered
satisfactorily in a fundamental sense.  At the very least, one needs to
include in any definition, something like "if some Jewish community in the
world, at some time in their history, identified with that music, as a
community, and considered it Jewish music, then it's Jewish music."  The
problem is, as others have said, the context.  If we today were to be
presented with Khazar music from the 10th century without knowing the
context, and if we were asked "is it Jewish?" I suspect we'd have to answer
"no way."  Once we are told the context, we might say, "oops" or something
equally profound.  The point is that music doesn't have to have anything to
do with us, in our cultural context, for it to be Jewish. If this is true,
then why are we asking that question in the first place?  Just to come up
with an academic definition that fits something?

No, my preference would be to always include the context in the question,
and then maybe the question becomes a little more interesting.  "What is
Jewish music in twentieth century USA?"  "What is Jewish music in the
Sephardic tradition in the 16th century?"  If someone then wants to ask,
"and so what is similar among all those traditions/contextts?"  that might
be another academic question, but I wouldn't be that all interested in the
answer.

Comments?

Mike Leavitt <mrl (at) alum(dot)mit(dot)edu>
Reston, VA