Re: Mandy Patinkin's Yiddish album

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>Patinkin, as I understand him, is a pop singer, in the tradition of
>classic pop singers, who apply their "instrument" (pop voice) to the work
>of an "other" -- a songwriter, say, or a style, not of their own creation.
...
>SO, to fault Patinkin's Yiddish album with "inauthenticity" would seem to
>be at best a redundant argument, no?

Well, maybe, but by your definition, a Joan Baez, who seldom
penned her own material, is a "mere" pop singer, while Sonny
and Cher, for whom Sonny wrote much of the material, are "voices."
I would argue that Baez is far more important and significant
to those who heard her music (even many who haven't), than Sonny 
and Cher.

For that matter, the person held up as the antithesis of Patinkin
by the person who opened this conversation was Wolf Krakowski. 
Like Baez, and like Patinkin, Krakowski has not penned the material 
he has recorded. I don't think that either of these artists would 
consider that factoid relevant to their desire to communicate with
their audiences. Both Krakowski and Patinkin may arrange their 
music to the tastes of very different audiences, but both would 
probably point to that combination of choosing appropriate songs, 
and choosing an appropriate style of music as key. And the
issue of what music is appropriate, as though one style might fit
all, seems as unsatisfying and unanswerable as usual. (I have my 
own documented disagreements with Krakowski's choice of material; 
I'm trying hard to avoid the usual namecalling and vituperation 
that is returned by Krakowski and some supporters when the subject 
of this disagreement comes up.)

In an absolute sense, to argue that "Motl the Operator" is more
shmaltzy, or somehow less significant than "Shabbes Shabbes" (to
choose a song each from the respective Yiddish repertoires of the
two performers being compared) seems to avoid the respective points 
each singer was trying to make.

I might also add that both Krakowski's and Patinkin's albums have
been featured, each in its time, in Mark David's Yiddish Voice store.

For someone writing new material in more of a Bob Dylan vein, I 
would point to Kapelye co-founder Josh Waletzky (generally better 
known for his filmmaking--"Partisans of Vilna," et al) whose songs 
regularly crop up on albums and in performances, and who is currently 
performing a show of his Yiddish songs called "Ariber di shons" 
(Crossing the Shadows). I mention Dylan in this context only because
Waletzky's songs are both political and cultural (sometimes both),
and because the intent behind his songs is more than entertainment--
by writing songs that remember the past, that express universal
feelings, and that also address the present (his song memorializing
Yitzhak Rabin, for instance), Waleztky proves that Yiddish culture
lives and is a part of our times, today.

(The fact that Waletzky is performing with Jeff Warschauder and
Deborah Strauss, two equally talented musicians is an aside, but
is also a good reason to give a plug for their upcoming NYC performance,
next Sunday, June 14, at Temple Israel (12 E. 75th, bet. Park & Lexington)
at 7:30pm.)

ari

Ari Davidow
The klezmer shack: http://www.well.com/user/ari/klez/
owner: jewish-music mailing list
e-mail: ari (at) ivritype(dot)com