Re: New Sub-Categories and Adjectives for Jewish Music

[George Robinson <GRComm...>]

It's fascinating to encounter this debate on the jewish-music list. I
just left it a couple of days ago on the Duke Ellington list. People
interested in music (in art in general, for that matter) are shy of
labels, artists particularly so. They fear -- and rightly -- that a
label reduces the individuality, the uniqueness of what they have
created, sets up a series of false expectations for those who have not
yet experienced their art first-hand. Those are legitimate concerns and
I do not scoff at them.

On the other hand, as a critic (film and music, mostly Jewish for the
latter), I have to rely to some extent on labels; they serve a useful
purpose as a sort of shorthand. If I describe a Wynton Marsalis album as
being in a hard-bop vein, readers/listeners immediately are in the same
ballpark with me as to the general sound. If I say that LA Confidential
is a neo-noir period cop film, viewers will have some idea what to
expect. On the other hand, if that's all I say about the album (and do
we still call them albums or should I switch to "CD" even if I heard a
casette?) or movie I am doing the musicians or filmmakers a disservice.
Labels are not a substitute for a real description and analysis. 

That said, I must confess that as a relative newcomer to writing about
Jewish music, I find there aren't that many genuinely useful labels. The
incredible thicket that Ari describes in his posting is real. But that
is the problem with a form that is evolving as rapidly as what I have
taken to calling New Klezmer, a label that includes a pretty wide range
of musical amalgamations. 

By the way, Alex, it was Pascal, not Voltaire. And I don't disagree with
the basic sentiment of your posting, that "our melodies [should] return
to the simplicity of private prayer." In principle, that is a laudable
goal. However, from my perspective, I need a vocabulary to describe
those melodies to others; if your choices are based on a highly private
diction (as is the case with a filmmaker like, say Tarkovsky or
Kieslowski), I can say that and add a comparison to someone working in a
similarly abstract or personal vein. But I think it's safe to say that
the aesthetic roots of our melodies can be delineated.

Finally, as far as Simon's posting on the nature of "Jewish music" is
concerned, I suppose it's fair to omit Burt Bacharach (although I gave a
favorable notice to the Zorn-produced CD); but Irving Berlin's music,
indeed the music of all the great Jewish Broadway composers -- Rodgers,
Kern, Bernstein, Duke -- often has a genuine Jewish component, a Jewish
sound. "Easter Parade," no, but "Russian Lullaby" definitely.

And I loved the typo that someone had earlier in this discussion,
"Easther Parade." Is that an obscure Purim-lid?

George Robinson

P.S.
Pardon me for running off at the, er, keyboard.