Re: New Sub-Categories and Adjectives for Jewish Music

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>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. 

It was a Burt Bacharach album on Tzadik, John Zorn's label.
Since he doesn't believe in liner notes, it isn't clear why
he thought the music belonged on his label or what he thought
it conveyed. Most likely, it was John Zorn goofing on the label.

>> 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.  

I have to disagree. I have a hard time seeing why a term that
was not commonly used until the revival (and was considered
derogatory, referring to an itinerant, unskilful musicial,
prior) should necessarily be tied to "traditional Eastern-European
Instrumental music." That is an affection that has much more to
do with the vagaries of the recording business and how recordings
were marketed, than otherwise. (As Henry Sapoznik notes, the same
musicians and bands were backing Yiddish theatre records made 
during the same period).


>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"?).

This is a different kettle of herring. If you are playing
music that is still-evolving, how can it be labeled? More
to the point, are there enough people doing what you are
doing with the music such that a generalized term has meaning?

"Fusion" as a term has no useful meaning. Fused with what? 
To what end or skill or vision? 

There are some emerging categories. Some working distinctions
that I am noticing are that most modern bands claiming to be
klezmer bands primarily play that pre-WWII American Jewish 
entertainment music to which Henry referred--Yiddish theatre, 
instrumental, ocasionally new music based on same, rarely Yiddish 
folk, even more rarely, liturgical or Israeli folk or folk dancing.
(an interesting distinction--the music Jewish musicians play most
at simkhas is klezmer music; the music identified as "Jewish" for
evenings of folk dance is from Israel. There's a fascinating 
fracture in modern Jewish life: Hebrew vs. Yiddish; Klezmer vs.
Israeli; secular vs. some form of religious. It's also a fracture
that applies partially to many people and instances, but isn't
as clear cut as I just wrote it for most people, given the different
meanings those concepts have in different parts of the Jewish
community. Compare the differing sense of the meaning of these 
dichotomies when you talk to chasidim, members of Workmen's Circle,
or college attendees at a Hillel event.)

[] Okay, so that group, the ones focusing on the canon of of
pre-WWII Jewish entertainment music are often called the
"traditionalists." And if they sneak in some sephardic song,
or Yiddish folk or liturgical stuff, so be it. They're simkha
bands, and if our world has grown a bit since back when, so 
be it, even on simkhas.

But, wait, you point out. How do I describe the people playing
klezmer so traditional and old-timey that there aren't horns,
aren't even clarinets; klezmer in which violin and tsimbl are
the main instruments; klezmer from that period when Jews weren't
allowed to play those "loud" instruments (or not so evolved since).
To oversimplify a bit, that would be the sort of klezmer typified
by Jeff Warschaer's recent solo album, or Alicia Svigals', or 
the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble or Budowitz or Di Naye Kapelye.
These bands, I might add, never have a vocalist (at least not
so far).

[] Some people use the highly unsatisfactory term, "old-timey."
This does evoke the right sort of setting, but it still
doesn't fit. It's also, sometime called "early" klezmer,
which is even more unsatisfactory, implying that such
sounds have no place at a modern dance.

At the other end of the scale there are a variety of musical
mishmoshes that include klezmer to greater or lesser degrees.
You can describe them to some extent by noting those that 
some have strong mixed of arabic/middle eastern instrumentation
(and sometimes melody)--Davka or Medina are two examples of
that, although in neither case is the klezmer element even
obvious. Then you have the bands in which what you notice
most is the mix of klezmer (and often balkan) melodies and
modalities with jazz--New Klezmer Trio, Paradox Trio, Naftule's
Dream, for instance. And finally, you have true mishmoshes--
bands that mix everything, sometimes well enough to occasionally
seem to have forged coherent new something, and most often, 
just plain confused potpourries which contain, among other 
elements, klez. The Kabalas or Benny and the Vildachayas
might be reasonable examples of that grouping. I've heard
of klezmer/jewish/reggae and dub, and of many other "these
are the influences of which we are aware in playing our
music" combinations. Why not? So long as no one passes them
off as "traditional" klezmorim ;-).

[] Sometimes I call these folks "post-klez" or "klez-xxx" 
fusion, depending on what they are doing or where they come
from, but neither is a terribly satisfying term.

And at some point, it is worth noting that for most Jews, 
except when they look for a band for their wedding, none of
this is what they are most interested in when they think 
"Jewish music" or "music that is important to me and among
other parts of my identity, I am Jewish". But that's another
story :-). Arguably, one reason the term "klezmer" was needed
for the klezmer revival is because the concept "jewish music"
was far too vague and broad to be useful any more. 

We create boxes. We escape boxes. We create boxes.

ari


Ari Davidow
The klezmer shack: http://www.well.com/user/ari/klez/
owner: jewish-music mailing list
e-mail: ari (at) ivritype(dot)com