Re: Ari Davidow as an authority

[Klezcorner <Klezcorner...>]

To Ingemar Johanson,

I am not apologizing for Ari in any way, however, I feel I have to come to his
defense on certain issues that you bring up.

 Re:"Gojim".. It's a shame Ari had not heard of them before, however, their
recordings have not had any representation in the U.S. until I acquired the
distribution of the Extraplatte label.  I sent Ari a copy of their new CD, and
as you can see, he reviewed it in very short time.  From now on, I will be
sending Ari copies of all Extraplatte Jewish recordings, Yiddish, Klezmer, and
Ladino.  I shall also be sending him copies of other European labels that have
never had distribution in the U.S. -one of which, "Farbotene Lider Oyf
Yiddish" by Basia, is from your country, Sweden.

"The Machaya Klezmer Band" is my #1 selling Klezmer recording for over a year
and a half, however, I would not expect a "Klezmer" expert in Sweden to be
familiar with their music unless they were sent a copy by their distributor,
and since the majority of the bands distribute their own recordings, it is not
practical for them to send copies to every radio station and reviewer in the
world.  The majority of these recordings are not very successful
"commercially" and these artists do what they do for the love of the music
..Basically, you can't review something that you don't have.  I receive
approximately 30  unsolicited recordings every month from the various band and
companies, I can imagine how many Ari or any reviewer receives.

As to his comments of John Zorn ;  I also don't understand his music, yet, I
carry it for those who do.

You state that Ari said that he is unqualified to review a particular J. Zorn
recording, well, I consider that a lot more honest than when someone does
write about something which they are totally unqualified to write about.  A
friend of mine is soon to be the music reviewer for a major Jewish
publication.  The first thing he told me is that he can't wait to review John
Zorn - everything by Zorn -who he considers a genius. I still can't understand
Zorn, so I don't ever feel qualified to give an opinion on his work.

Enjoy The Music,
Simon
Hatikvah Music
Los Angeles, Ca