Re: Hungarian/Romanian

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>I find it interesting that while the southern Romanian style of music, as
>played by Gypsy musicians, has come to exemplify "Romanian music" as a
>national style, it is the northern style, from Moldavia and Besserabia that
>seems most closely related to "klezmer" music.  In my band, I often stand
>accused of creeping Romanianism: use of patterns in accompaniment, passing
>tones (accidentals not in the mode), and harmonic extravagances.  I
>explained to Sherry, our clarinetist, that I love to hear the music move
>along against a constantly-changing harmonic landscape, as if travelling in
>a vurdon.  "It must be the Gypsy in me," said I.  Sherry immediately shot
>back, "But we're not Gypsies, we're Jews.  We like to stay in one place, and
>only leave when someone kicks us out."  She went on to say that
>over-harmonization robs the melody of its tension and thus of its power.
>I'll have to confess that she quite convinced me.

Hmmm. I believe that Josh Horowitz makes a point similar to Sherry's
in the liner notes to the Budowitz album. His comments are online at
   http://members.styria.com/budowitz/interview.html
(or you can search for "horowitz" on my klez shack and follow the links).
In a question on harmonization, he says, "This music is non-harmonic by 
nature...." and goes on into quite a lengthy discussion of natural
dissonances in Jewish music and the difference between melody and
harmony.

ari


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
http://www.ivritype.com/