Re: survey of who is doing what jewish music

[Alex Lubet <lubet001...>]

Responding to the message of <v03020907b1075786c4ed (at) 
[205(dot)252(dot)8(dot)191]>
from jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org:
> 
> [...]
> 
> >Okay, now it's the turn of the person on my left ;-).
> >
> >ari
> 
> 
> OK ari, although I suspect I'm slightly to your right :)
> 
> My band, Klezmos ("World-Klez music" tm), is my major outlet for Jewish
> musical expression as an instrumentalist. We play "old-world" klezmer,
> whatever that is, mixed with whatever else we like that seems to go with it
> (including swing, irish, tango, scandinavian, greek, balkan, french, and
> other "ethnic" music). But when we play a klezmer tune, we're fairly
> conservative about interpretation -- it's just that we play a lot of dances
> and we like to medley compatible tunes from different traditions.
> 
> I listen to lots of other stuff, including different kinds of Jewish music.
> I love Yiddish song, especially the old traditional songs; and Sephardic
> melodies, along with other Mediterranean music. I'm a lot more interested
> in the kinds of songs people sing with their families, than material more
> geared to performance or recording.
> I like to find unusual melodies for z'mirot (table songs for Shabbat and
> holidays), and I have a very strong interest in cantorial music (including
> nusach and trope), especially as it relates to actual tefillah -- the
> concert material, not so much. I like to experiment setting traditional
> prayers to unusual melodies. For example, I have borrowed a klezmer tune
> for Shehu Noteh Shamayim (part of the Aleynu prayer), to replace that
> dreadful Itsy Bitsy Spider melody - the cantor at my shul is now using it
> with the congregation, and another cantor has asked for the sheet music. I
> use a snippet of a Prokofiev (?) symphony for Ma Tovu, an English country
> waltz for Adon Olam, a Brazilian forro tune for D'ror Yikra, etc. Whether
> these last 3 really qualify as Jewish music to everyone is rather
> unimportant to me, and I'm not interested in debating the point, just in
> case... :)
> 
> OK, that's enough from here. Next?
> 
> 
> ========================================================
> Wendy Morrison - Klezmos
> "Of all the Klezmer bands in the U.S., we're one of them"
> sushiqn (at) cais(dot)com, work:hmtrad (at) hmtrad(dot)com
> http://www.dc.net/wendy/klezmos.html
> http://www.hmtrad.com/wendy/wendy.html
> ========================================================
>
Everything that everyone's brought is of interest to me.  I've played klezmer, 
currently perform in a voice/guitar duo that does Yiddish, Hebrew (mostly 
religious), and English (Broadway by Jewish composers/lyricists; in other words,
most of it and ceretainly the best) and am the leader of Blended Cultures 
Orhcestra, a world music improvisation ensemble with several Jewish members (as 
well as African, African-American, Latino, American Indian, Asian, and 
Asian-American musicians).  I'm also a classically trained composer with a 
strong emphasis on Jewish sources.  My works "Masada" and "Shema Yisraeil" have 
both been heard on St. Paul Chamber Orchesta concerts.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of work in (non-operatic) theatre.  My first 
musical was a klezmer-based piece for children ("The Wise Men of Chelm").  It 
had a 14-performance run in Minneapolis in 1996 and was quite well-received.  
I'm currently doing a musical with a couple of Chinese playwrights that takes 
place in China and that leads me to an interest that's not discussed much on 
this list.  It's been my observation that very few of us can make a living just 
doing Jewish music (to say nothing of the fact that many of us have other 
interests).  Those of us who are fortunate earn the rest of our living in other 
music and/or Jewish pursuits.  Regarding the former, I'm interested in how we 
brings our Jewishness into the more general musical world.  For example, as a 
theatre composer with a particular interest in musicals, it's personally 
important to me that the genre has been so heavily populated by Jewish writers, 
including, imho, most of the best, although relatively few shows (there are 
notable exceptions) have had overtly Jewish content.  I like to think of the 
musical (also the classic Tin Pan Alley song) as a Jewish genre, although I'm 
not exactly sure what's Jewish about it.  (lbviously, there are Yiddish theatre 
antecedents, but I specualte that there's more).  One could speculate about the 
substantial Jewish contributions to other genres as well (like Western classical
music, or even Arab classical music).  Anyways , that's something I think about 
a lot, I don't have any answers, and I'd love to hear responses.  



Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American Studies
University of Minnesota
100 Ferguson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 (o)
612 699-1097 (h)
612 626-2200  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)