Re: Patinkin pilpl

[MaxwellSt <MaxwellSt...>]

Bravo, Yankl!  All of this talk of authenticity reminds me of what the
President of a congregation for whom I was once a hazzanit said.  She
criticized me for not singing the "traditional" melodies to the shabbat
evening service.  What did these turn out to be?  They were the ones that she
grew up hearing in Cincinnati in the 1950's at her Reform temple.  Nu,
everyone has their own "authentic tradition."  If your zayde was Richard
Tucker or Sophie Tucker and that's what's authentic Yiddish to you--power to
you.  If you only like to hear the Queen's Yiddish, there are lots of people
at YIVO who are working hard to preserve the most original folklore--enjoy.
There is no need to engage in snobbish behavior that divides the tiny
community of them that love Yiddishkeit into still tinier factions.

First we kvetch that no one is listening to Yiddish anymore, then we blast
them for their lack of taste.  Enough bickering, Yidn!  Freylech zol zein! 

Lori Lippitz

In a message dated 6/8/98 1:44:08 PM Central Daylight Time,
jackfalk (at) teleport(dot)com writes:

<< Did anyone here catch Aretha Franklin on TV a few months back, 
 belting out a magnificent, albeit idiosyncratic, "Nessun Dorma"? 
 Did you spend your time kvetching about her pronunciation, or 
 were you swept away by the emotion in her performance?
 
 I grew up singing Yiddish with my grandfather, which makes 
 me kinda authentic, I guess.  It doesn't necessarily mean 
 that I sing well.  Nor does it imply that I speak Yiddish 
 grammatically and consistently.  It is what it is, and Dots-All.
 
 I also enjoyed listening to my parents' Connie Francis albums, 
 maybe because it was such a novelty to hear a popular Talyenerke
 singing in mame-loshn.  And I took a certain pleasure in hearing 
 the late Paul Robeson tackling the Bardichever Kaddish ("Git MORGN
 dir, Riboyno shel Olom!").  I don't think that either Connie or 
 Paul was a native speaker - but it made me happy that they, and 
 other non-Jews, chose to sing for my family rather than for some
 Albanians.  (Now that I've fessed up to these awful sins, I'm 
 waiting for the Vaad HaKlezmer to show up in the middle of the 
 night and haul me off for Good Taste violations.)
 
 I haven't heard the Patinkin album.  I don't plan to buy a copy.  
 There's already too much good music out there right now, and not 
 nearly enough time to listen to everything I want to hear.  But 
 if we're gonna pillory Patinkin, or his recording, let's keep 
 our focus.  Either Mandy sings this material well, or he doesn't.
 (Not having heard it, I can't say.)  But it is specious of anyone
 to suggest that Mandy's faults, whatever they might be, have to 
 do with whether he is a native speaker.  (Molly Picon, anyone?) 
 
 There are a lot of good Yiddish singers out there today who grew 
 up speaking English, or Spanish, or Hebrew, or ....  Yes, it takes
 a lot more work for a non-native speaker to master both the text 
 and context of a song, but it can be done.  The opera is full of
 great singers who have learned French, or Italian, or German, in
 order that they might sing -- and personalize -- great repertoire.
 It has nothing to do with authenticity, and everything to do with 
 artistry. 
 
 You want authenticity?  Go to the local moyshev-z'keynim, find
 a 90-year-old from Odessa who still remembers some of the tunes
 of her youth, and turn on your tapedeck.  The record companies
 won't release it, but you'll have an Authentic listening experience,
 plus you might make an old person happy.  
 
 Jack (Yankl) Falk
 
 
 503-452-3882/voice
 503-452-7652/fax
 jackfalk (at) teleport(dot)com >>