Re[2]: Identity in Klezmer

[richard_wolpoe <richard_wolpoe...>]

Dear List,
        Indeed this discussion has been revived again!  Just who is a Jew?
(Please pardon me as  I mount my soap box.)

Culturally speaking her are my humble opinions...

1)  Yiddish/Klezmer is no better and no worse than any other of our traditions 
that include "Oriental" Jews as well as Western European.  I don't think that 
Yiddish culture should be denigrated nor ignored; on the other hand, I think it 
is ighly Eastern-Eurocentric to equate Jewish cutlure with "yiddish" culture.  
One can be a good Jew and know nothing of Yiddish, then again one cannot 
possibly no the totality of Jewish culture without knowing a lot of Yiddish.

2)  I don't buy the my rebbe is better than your rebbe scenario above and I 
don't think it's relevant today.  I think all of us Yiddn, religious, secular, 
etc. should live in the present.  As a history major, I have immense kovod 
(respect) for our traditions.  I think we SHOULD preerve them.  However, they do
not necessarily dictate what klezmer SHOULD be etc.  There is no reason that we 
Americans or Western Europeans or Israelis cannot come up with as valid a 
klezmer style as Moldavians, Romanains, Hungarians, Ukrainians did 75 years ago.
 I really think it's illogical to impose what WAS on what IS.  By and large we 
are NOT living in Kishinev and all of us are NOT living in Kishinve circa 1910! 
That stuff was and is beautiful, but NOT mandatory.  Bottom line we should 
respect the past, but not live in the past.

3)  Bascially repeating point #2.  Why not come up with our own American Jewish 
culture that incorporates the old world stuf fbut goes beyond it?  When Jews 
migrated to Eastern Europe, they were not afraid of picking up Eastern European 
styles?  Why should Americans be afraid of Western styles?  I think we can still
preserve the old world classics and still move on.

Good Shabbos to all,
Rich Wolpoe,
Chairman of "Traditionalists for Progress.


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Identity in Klezmer 
Author:  <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org> at Tcpgate
Date:    6/5/98 5:58 AM


> At 10:59 AM 6/4/98 +0300, Berlin Moshe wrote:
> >I think that in Israel there was no revival to klezmer, because there
> >was no
> >need for it as the whole life was full with Jewish culture and
> >tradition.
> 
> To put it mildly, I disagree.  How can you be "filled with Jewish culture
> and tradition" without the Yiddish language and culture (including Klezmer
> music)?

I think you are right, Mark, but the fact is that many peoples think 
that their cultural background is the authentic one. The middle and 
east European Jews do not like the music from northern Africa and the 
Jewish oriental music. The same as many Israelis do not listen and 
practically ignore Klezmer and Yiddish music, many eastern European 
Jews (even to this day in middle Europe) do not know about / do not 
listen / ignore orienta and Sepharadic Jewish music.