Re: Klezmer Themes

[Michael Singer <michaelsinger...>]

Alex Jacobowitz <Alex_Jacobowitz (at) compuserve(dot)com> snode (snought?):

> ...
> In Hindemith's terms, we could easily call klezmer a form of
> Gebrauchsmusik, that is, a music with a clearly delineated function > 
inside its society
> ...
> From the 18th century, it was polarized between the
> Lithuanian yeshivish mentality (halacha - intellect for its own sake) 
> > and Chassidish (mystical-emotional within the confines of the > 
intellect). Chassidism eventually won, but it took a long time.
> ...
> The parallel evolutions of East European Judaism and its music
> - between the "Written Law" (musical notes) and "Oral Law" (music
> recordings)including the Commentaries (shmoozing) and pilpul (this > > 
clarinet discussion), will inevitably create a new Masora (tradition) 
for > the "talmidim" (students) of neo-Klezmer.
> ...
> May I suggest that we focus on "Duties of the Heart" long before > > 
we become entangled in questions of "sound"? For if we want our > > 
Jewish music to reflect our Jewish souls (do we not?), we simply > > 
must place the discussion of Jewish ethics on a higher level than > > 
Greek esthetics. For if we don't, our music must rapidly stagnate, no > 
matter what today's market may indicate.
>
> I come here to raise Klezmer, not to bury it.
>
> B'ahava,
> ...

I'm at work and short on time (and don't have sources close enough at 
hand) but have to weigh in (again) -- just to caution Alex and his 
readers that these is very emotionally loaded language, and that your 
philosophical mileage should be expected to vary (in other words, I 
think that lots of what Alex says here is -- to put it mildly -- 
minority viewpoint, in more than one historical, religious and musical 
context (which should put it right up his alley, or at least in the 
neighborhood).  As before, I'm concerned that those who aren't familiar 
with the references here willl be mislead.

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