Re: Re[2]: survey of who is doing what jewish music

[Klezcorner <Klezcorner...>]

Hi Richard  et All,
 I have been often asked which recordings are our best sellers and which
catagories are the most popular.  I think many people would be surprised by
the answer.

Though Klezmer is very strong at my store, Yiddish has always been the
strongest category of music.  When I took over this store, my goal was to
"save" Yiddish music.  There were only a handful of Yiddish Cds, and most of
the cassettes that were available had been around for decades on Lps taken
from old 78s.
We now carry over 200 different Yiddish recordings.  Most of the newer
recordings come from Europe where Yiddish has had a strong revival along with
Klezmer music.  There are numerous non-Jewish  European artists recording
Yiddish (see Ari's review of Gojim's "In A Schtodt Woss Schtarbt").  I have
many 'searchers' in Europe who try to find music that I would be interested in
carrying. I will not carry any Yiddish recordings with synthesizers.  European
arrangements still have the 'shtetl" feel though there are some unusual
recordings that deserve representation.
        Recently, one of the "Jewish-music" list members from Sweden informed 
me of a
Swedish recording "Farbotene Lider Oyf Yiddish" by Basia, a Polish born singer
who now resides in Sweden.  She has the style of a 'cabaret' singer and I
describe her as a combination of Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. Response has
been very good so far. Maybe Ari will review it.
 We also carry Yiddish videos which so quite well, especially overseas.

        The Ladino category has overtaken Cantorial sales at the store, but is 
still
a distant #3 to Klezmer.  When I first started listening to Ladino, there was
very little available in the U.S...primarily, "Voice Of The Turtle".Hatikvah
now has over 70 different titles, and always looking for more. Most of these
are also from Europe.  Some of these Ladino  recordings outsell many of the
more "popular" Klezmer Bands at this store. This is fastest growing category
in sales. There are also a few Ladino Videos.

        Cantorial music, which was the #1 category of music  years ago, is 
starting
to have a very strong revival. There is major interest in such classic Cantors
as Rosenblatt, Koussevitsky, Pinchik, etc.  The market for Cantorial music,
however, is about equally divided by tourists from over seas and American
buyers. We carry very few contemporary Cantors, most of these are imports.

        Israeli music has gone into a major decline over the last 3 years.  At 
one
time, we imported almost every new Israeli recording.  Unfortunately, too many
Israeli artists are M-TV influenced. Heavy metal in Hebrew is just as bad as
in English.  Even in Israel, European imports are more popular than home grown
music though there are artists that never seem to decline in popularity such
as Yehuda Poliker, Shlomo Artzi, and Rami Kleinstein.  We now limit our
Israeli selection to approx. 500-600 titles-from a high of over 1000.  There
are however certain artists that sell very well: Shoshana Damari (my favorite)
, Arik Einstein, Yehoram Gaon,Ofra Haza (her folk songs), David Broza ,and a
few "new" artists such as Achinoam Nini (Noa).
The best selling Israeli recordings at our store, are purchased by non-
israelis who buy collections of "The Best Of Israel",that include "Ba Shana
Haba'a, "Jerusalem Of Gold" and other "folk" songs.

        We also carry "other Jewish Music" such as traditional Yemenite Diwan.  
The
best of these is a European recording called "The Yemenite Jews".  A recent
recording of "Judeo-Arab Music"consisting of original Jewish recordings sung
in ARABIC  recorded in Arab countries (Syria, Yemen, Iraq, etc.)  fom 1910 to
1935.. A consistant recording of interest is"Jewish Ethiopian Liturgical
Music" which you won't find in many liturgical collections.

The last category of recordings is"Jewish Comedy"in both Yiddish and in
English.
Our all time-best seller is "You Don't Have To Be Jewish" a classic recording
originally released in 1965. "Bie mir", this is by far the funniest recording
ever made. Our store has sold well over 50% of the total sales of this
recording since its re-release in 1992 (according to the Record Label) , and
still out sells most of the Klezmer recordings. It's easy to sell something
you enjoy!  
Other popular comedy recordings; everything by "Dzigan & Schumacher"most
popular Yiddish comedians of all time. 
The origianl 4 Carl Reiner & Mell Brooks recordings of "The 2000 Year Old Man"
series. Also: Jackie Mason, Michele Rosenberg,The Barton Brothers, and
(technically Jewish Comedy) Allen Sherman.

Ther is now a renewd interest in Jewish baroque music, primarily in the
compositions of Salomon Rossi, and many labels have released their versions of
"Songs Of Salomon(Rossi)".  I was recently given a 2CD set of Salomon Rossi
compositions from Europe which is very imnpressive. It contains 2 booklets,
one containing tranlation in English. The other has descriptive notes in
Hebrew.I am now arranging to distribute it in the U.S.

Our Three Sellers in Each Catagory Since 1995

Yiddish  #1) The Barry Sisters(3recordings-combined sales)
                2) Talila (4 recordings)
                3) Martha Schlamme

Klezmer   1) Itzhak Perlman(3 recordings- 2klezmer, 1instrumental "Jewish")
                2) Machaya Klezmer Band (2 recordings)
                3) Joel Rubin(5 recordings as artist and/or producer)

Ladino      1) Fortuna (3 recordings)
                2) Esther Lamandier
                3) Accentus

Cantorial  1) Y.Rosseblatt(15+ recordings)
                 2) M.Koussevitsky(15+recordings)
                 3) L.Waldman(3 recordings)

I hope this is of interest to more than just Richard.  I want to thank all the
people on the list that have recommended recordings to me.  Unfortunately, it
is not always possible to locate them all, but I do listen to your
suggestions.

Simon
Hatikvah Music
436 N. Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, Ca 90036 
213)655-7083
Klezcorner (at) aol(dot)com