New Sub-Categories and Adjectives for Jewish Music

[Steven Lowenthal <lownthl...>]

Klezcorner wrote:
>  
>  Today there is a tendencey to lump many styles of music
> into the such broad catagories as "Jewish" or "Klezmer".
> Recently, there was a recording released called "Jewish Music" (I beleive it
> was on Tzadik, but I'm not sure).  The entire album was a collection of Burt
> Bacharach songs performed by contemporary artists.  Why was this called
> "Jewish Music"?  According to the distributor, "...because Burt Bachrach is
> Jewish!"  I told them that Irving Berlin also was Jewish, however that doesn't
> make "White Christmas", or "Easther Parade" Jewish music.

Good Point!  I find it hard to believe that a business person could be 
so insensitive.  Perhaps the distributor suffers from a latency that
manifests 
itself in creating stereotypes.

> 
> There was a time when Klezmer was "traditional Eastern-European Instrumental
> music".  Too many new recordings include so many vocals, that I can not
> classify them as klezmer.  
> 

Why not? They're not in Yiddish?  They teach Yiddish in "Klez Camp".

I have created a 5/4 time adaptation of a prayer book song that sounds
Arabic.
It has a distinct sound and beat that you could either dance or davon
to, 
but defies categorization.

How about some recommendations for categories, sub-categories and
adjectives
that would not pigeon hole, stereotype, or limit our Jewish artists and
their 
still-evolving music?  (What ever happened to the term "fusion"?).

Regards,

Steven Lowenthal