Re: Patinkin pilpl

[Andy Rubin <andyrubin...>]

And BRAVO to you, Lori, and to Yankl and Ari!! Hey, Pete Seeger never
seemed to be too worried about his scholarly reputation when he sang in
Spanish, or Swahili, or Hebrew, or whatever... and no one ever questioned
his authenticity. All this talk of who should and who should not sing in
Yiddish has an incredibly forbidding tone.

>From one who sings in Yiddish with a distinctly Californian drawl,

Andy Rubin
Sacramento, CA



>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 >>