Schmaltz

[Benjamin_Laden <Benjamin_Laden...>]

I used to play my accordion to accompany a woman who sang Yiddish/Hebrew
songs. There was one part of the show where she would talk about parents
and then we'd do Momaleh and Poppa Can You Hear Me (from Mentyl). When we
were done, many people in the audience would be wiping tears from their
eyes. To me, this was the epitome of Schmaltz, a segment of each show that
was designed to create this emotion in our often older audience. Perhaps
part of schmaltz is that it is kind of formulaic, it worked everytime,
thereby robbing it somewhat of the sense of the "genuine".
Benny