Re: ATTENTION - The German thing...

[Alex Jacobowitz <Alex_Jacobowitz...>]

B"H Basel

Since I've been asked to name my interest and my emotions on this issue,
which have over the years
turned into a not-quite-published book, I could easily bore the newsgroup
to tears with my thoughts and
experiences on the subject; yet my goal was to form an idea of what OTHER
thoughts were.

I'm an American Jew from New York, now living in Israel, classically
trained marimbist, orthodox, and it just so happens that I've become a bit
famous in Germany and Switzerland, where I've been performing the past five
years, with regular TV & radio appearances (I've learned to do the
interviews in German), and newspaper coverage.

Recently I've recorded an album of Jewish music, which I was hesitant
about, as I didn't want to be put
in the situation, or of putting myself in the situation, where it could be
stated that I'm "selling" my Judaism
to the Germans, who are only too willing to buy "forgiveness". This
uncomfortable situation can easily
be worsened by other Jews, some of whom are ONLY interested in the money
Germans willingly proffer 
(and believe me, the money in Germany and Switzerland is HUGE).

I bumped into Giora Feidman the other day in Leipzig -- we had met at the
Schleswig-Holstein Festival
a few years ago. That's the biggest music festival in Germany, and Feidman
was giving a 'course' on
Jewish music at that time. Everybody thought it was great how he'd hand out
dittos of Jewish music,
how he'd teach the audience to sing 'Dona, Dona', or whatever. And there
were others who weren't so
amused about him playing Wagner in Auschwitz for German TV, or playing
Jewish music on Shabbos,
or playing in churches, in front of THOUSANDS of Germans, day in, day out,
TONS of money, becoming
almost a cult figure.

The Germans have an expression "verdeutsched zu sein", to become
Germanized, or Teutonicized, and
the lure of German money, fame and love is something that can turn the
heads of many a Jewish musician,
especially if used to the lack of respect, the financial catastrophes and
general ignorance of American
audiences. My goal was to get an idea about what people's thoughts
are/were, something about their
experiences. It could be that Germany becomes a kind of museum of klezmer
music, at least for the
time being, and I'm very concerned about whether Jews -- even Jews who play
Jewish music for a 
living -- are involved with the historical issues, or are simply all too
willing to vote themselves a 
'heter' to play music in a place believed by many to be the most 'treif' of
all.

Shalom u'vracha,

Alex Jacobowitz