Re: Identity in Klezmer

[Francesco Spagnolo <yuval...>]

>I am a student at the University of California, Davis and I am writing a
>paper about klezmer music. I am looking for help with two question. Does
>the music mimic language? It sounds like it to me, especially in some the
>melodies Andy Statman plays. The second question is a more general cultural
>question. How do American Jews view themselves, and how does that reflect
>in the music?
>
>Mark

Dear Mark and everyone,
here is a little "european" contribution to your discussion.

Three general ideas:

1/ The issue concerning identity within Jewish subjects is endless; on
could say that the very word "Jew" implies a question mark. Of course, this
applies to Jewish musics as well, including klezmer. As Yoel Epstein
suggested, you can go on forever trying to find an answer to this. Good
luck!

2/ The linguistic approach is a valuable one: what we call "klezmer music"
(remember that this way of calling the music of the "klezmorim" was
introduced by a scholar during this century, and is not an autonomous
self-definition in the beginning: of course is is now that artists call
their music "klezmer music"...) may be seen structurally as something that
has a lot to do with the Yiddish language. I suggest you read Benjamin
Harshav's "The meaning of Yiddish", especially where he writes about
"writing in Yiddish without writing a single Yiddish word" (is there a
"Yiddish mind"?...).
On the other hand, one should always be able to consider music starting
from Sound, that is within a MUSICAL frame: here you'll have more problems;
these problems can be easily seen if you consider the amount of time almost
every klezmer artist spends nowadays on stage explaining to the audience
what he/she is about to play, instead of just playing it. Is the
explanation almost as important as the music? Could you imagine Herbert von
Karajan standing up before a concert trying to motivate why he chose to
conduct L. van Beethoven?
(then again: this is what happens on the European stages; is it the same in
the US? this leads us to the following point)

3/ Is "klezmer music" simply a Jewish music, is it American Jewish,
European Jewish (it comes from Europe, doesn't it?), or what? Of course, it
changes its styles, and the way it is perceived by the audiences according
to each place and culture. But you should consider the wide differences
that divide the US from the European scene. Here in Europe, many "klezmer
musicians" are not Jewish (nothing wrong with me about this, I'm just
reporting), and learned "klezmer music" from old recordings (if not from
the new ones...). So, here's one more question: does "klezmer music" in
Europe reflect the way the Europeans (not the Jews) view themselves?

Francesco Spagnolo

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