my 2 cents (plain)

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

On the subject of what should be called "klezmer", (and please pardon me for
repeating myself), I think we'd do well to consider the original meaning of
the word.  It's often said that "klezmer" means "musician".  This is true in
so far as it goes, but yiddish has a perfectly good general word for
"musician" which is "muzikant," out of the local vernacular.  What's the
difference?  My experience with yiddish shows me that Hebrew words are not
to be used lightly or randomly.  To call a musician a "keley zemer", a
"vessel of song" is to indicate that that musician performs a function of
religious significance, namely to assist the communinty in performing the
mitzve of entertaining and exalting the bride and groom at the wedding.
That's a very specific role.  In that sense a klezmer could be said to be a
"keley koydesh", a vessel of sanctification, that is, one whose role in the
community is in the service of religious observance.  So, a klezmer might
not even be a full-time professional musician.  I heard the late Leon
Schwartz, who was a baal tfile and had been a "real" (sorry) klezmer in
Bukovina, say that the klezmorim in his village were all barbers.  "Why were
they barbers?" someone asked.  "Because they wanted to make a living," Leon
deadpanned.  What a wiseguy.  So, the point of all this ramble is that (I
THINK) "klezmer" music should properly be defined as the music a klezmer
plays when he's being a klezmer.  Wedding repertoire.  I know what a
humongous can of worms I may have opened here; I mean what if the kale wants
to hear "The Locomotion?"  I've played at weddings where guests ask for
something "old and traditional, you know, like Sunrise, Sunset."  But we can
recognize a large body of traditional material (bulgars, freylekhs, horas,
hongas, shers, etc.) that makes up the core repertoire of any band out there
playing "klezmer music".  That's the stuff.

That said, the category of "klezmer music," defined as anything a "klezmer
band" plays is pretty much a fait accompli these days.  It's been in use for
over twenty years.  When a band uses "Klezmer" or "Klez" in its name, it
brings its whole repertoire inside the Klezmer tent.  The Klezmorim started
out with a polyglot mix of Jewish, Romanian, Greek, etc.  The Klezmer
Conservatory Band has always presented theater and vaudeville songs, art
songs, popular songs.  The Klezmatics push the envelope out towards
avant-garde world beat.  Interestingly enough, the bands who take the most
folkloristic approach, Brave Old World and Budowitz, seem to eschew the
"klez" label. Anyway, my point, while I still remember it, is that whatever
labels you synthesize for this stuff we're talking about, people will
probably continue to use the organically-generated "klezmer" label.  And
that's okay, too.

On another topic, and I'll be brief, Hankus Netsky, who says the name
"Klezmer Conservatory Band" started as a joke implying the existence of a
conservatory for klezmorim, once suggested a discussion on why klezmer bands
like to give themselves silly names.  This was in response to a group called
The Hava Nagila Monsters.  Any takers on band names?

Owen

_________________________________________________________________________
        Owen Davidson, Amherst, Mass.
        The Wholesale Klezmer Band

        The Angel that presided o'er my birth
        Said Little creature formd of Joy and Mirth,
        Go love without the help of any King on Earth. 

                                Wm. Blake